Spain's clock-in decree can still pass before 29 November

Legal note: This article is for information only and does not constitute legal advice. As of 8 October 2026 the Royal Decree on digital time tracking is still being processed, has no approval date and has not been published in the BOE (Spain’s official gazette).

Update, 14 October 2026: government sources say the time-tracking decree will be approved before the 29 November election (29N) alongside the minimum wage rise, but it was not on the agenda of the 13 October Council of Ministers. More in Díaz wants the clock-in decree and minimum wage before 29N.

The time-tracking decree survives the dissolution of parliament

On 6 October the BOE published Royal Decree 806/2026, which dissolves the Congress of Deputies and the Senate and calls a general election for Sunday 29 November. With the dissolution, the government bills and private members’ bills going through parliament lapse. Digital time tracking is not one of them, because it was never a bill. The Government is processing it as a royal decree, a regulation approved by the Council of Ministers (the Spanish Cabinet) without going through Congress.

Europa Press summed it up on 5 October in a report reproduced by Forbes España: since it is not a law, the decree “would not require any validation and could be approved without problems by the Council of Ministers and enter into force”. The Labour Ministry’s latest public statement predates the election call. On 2 October, Secretary of State Joaquín Pérez Rey said the changes made in response to the Council of State were complete and that he hoped to clear the way to the Council of Ministers “over the course of the month of October” (we covered it here).

The UGT union wants it approved before the new parliament is constituted. “I hope so (that it is approved). I have no grounds to think it won’t be, and legally there is nothing to prevent the Council of Ministers from approving it,” its general secretary, Pepe Álvarez, said on 6 October, according to Europa Press. On the same day, at El Diario Montañés’s Economic Forum, Lorenzo Amor, president of the self-employed workers’ federation ATA, warned that “no one should doubt that we may find a decree or an order implementing the new time-tracking system at a Council of Ministers meeting”. Amor, who is also vice-president of the CEOE employers’ association, called electronic time recording a “new punishment” for the self-employed (Forbes España, with Europa Press).

On 7 October, El País reported that the unions expect Yolanda Díaz, the Labour Minister, to get the strengthened time-tracking rules into the BOE before the election, and that without those changes (the time-tracking rules and the decree that stops employers offsetting the minimum wage rise against salary supplements) they will not sign any more deals with the Government. Vozpópuli added on 8 October that the Labour Ministry “has not yet confirmed” that possibility.

Can the Government approve a royal decree with parliament dissolved?

Yes. And it would not be doing so as a caretaker government, even though some reports already describe it that way. Article 101 of the Spanish Constitution says the Government “shall resign after the holding of general elections”. Until 29 November it keeps all its powers, including the power to make regulations granted by article 97.

The dissolution does affect another instrument with a similar name, the royal decree-law. This is an emergency measure with the force of law that Congress must validate within thirty days (article 86 of the Constitution) and that, while the chambers are dissolved, goes instead to the Diputación Permanente, the Standing Committee that acts for a dissolved chamber (article 78). The time-tracking royal decree is a regulation implementing article 34.9 of the Workers’ Statute, Spain’s core employment law, so nobody outside the Council of Ministers has to vote on it.

From 30 November until the new government takes office, article 21 of the Government Act (Law 50/1997) requires the caretaker government to confine itself “to the ordinary handling of public affairs” and to refrain from other measures “except in duly justified cases of urgency or for reasons of general interest whose express justification so warrants”. In that period, approving a regulation that changes how millions of employees clock in would require justifying that exception, and would hand anyone who challenges it one more argument in court. The CEOE announced in May that it will take the decree to court if it is approved in its current form.

What the decree still needs before the BOE

At least three steps remain before it reaches the BOE:

1. The Council of State. The opinion of Spain’s highest advisory body is mandatory for regulations implementing a law (article 22.3 of its Organic Law) but not binding (article 2.2). It already delivered one in March, and it was unfavourable. The Government can approve the decree departing from that opinion, in which case the text has to say “oído el Consejo de Estado” (“having heard the Council of State”) instead of “de acuerdo con el Consejo de Estado” (“in accordance with the Council of State”). The open question is whether the revised version will be submitted again. Álvarez said on 6 October that the latest information UGT had was that the text “was being finalised to go back to the Council of State”. The Labour Ministry has not clarified this. If an urgent opinion is requested, the law gives the body a maximum of fifteen days to respond (article 19).
2. The Council of Ministers. The campaign starts on 13 November and the election is on the 29th. As of 8 October, that leaves just over seven weeks.
3. Publication in the BOE, which is what gives the rule legal effect.

Even if it were approved before 29 November, it would not apply straight away. The draft examined by the Council of State sets entry into force twenty days after publication, and the opinion itself asked for that to be reconsidered: article 23 of the Government Act provides that rules imposing new obligations on businesses and professionals should take effect on the 2 January or 1 July following their approval, unless the regulatory impact report justifies another date. That same draft also postpones the obligations that depend on the system’s technical requirements until six months after the ministerial order setting those requirements comes into force (sixth final provision). According to Autónomos y Emprendedor, Pérez Rey has already linked the application of the new obligations to that order, which still has no public draft.

What happens if it is not out before 29 November

The dissolution makes pending business in Congress lapse (article 207 of its Standing Orders). This file is in the Government’s hands and remains open. If it is not approved before the election, the caretaker government would struggle to pass it because of the limits in article 21. The new Cortes Generales (Spain’s parliament) will be constituted on 23 December and, once a prime minister has won an investiture vote, it will be up to the new government to decide whether to approve it as it stands, change it or shelve it.

In the meantime, article 34.9 of the Workers’ Statute remains in force. It has required working hours to be recorded since May 2019, and the Labour Inspectorate continues to enforce it: failing to keep the record is a serious infringement, with fines of €751 to €7,500.

Why the self-employed are worried

Amor is talking about the self-employed, but time recording is an obligation the employer has towards its employees. A self-employed person with no staff has no one else’s working hours to record, either under the current rules or under the known drafts of the decree. One who employs one or two people is already bound today, just like a large company, and will have to move to digital recording if the decree comes out. We explain it in our guide to time tracking for self-employed people with employees.

If your business still writes down start and finish times on a sheet of paper, bear in mind that Pérez Rey calls that practice “synonymous with fraud”. If you are going to switch systems, choose one that already meets what the draft provides for (requirements time-tracking software must meet) so you do not have to change again.

The full timeline of the process, with every deadline missed since June, is in our guide to the status of the time-tracking Royal Decree. We covered the latest delay, in September, in the decree misses September too.

How Cleverfy handles it

With Cleverfy your business records working hours today the way the draft provides, whether the decree is approved before or after 29 November.

• Clock-in from the mobile app, the web or a tablet kiosk with a PIN, with the exact time of arrival, departure and breaks.
• On-site or remote work is recorded on every clock-in.
• If someone corrects a clock-in, the original value, date and author are stored, and the employee accepts or rejects the change.
• Dedicated access for the Labour Inspectorate, which can view and export the records; every query is logged.
• Four-year retention and a compliance report that checks the records are complete.

From €1.20 per employee per month on the annual plan, even if you have just one employee (see pricing and all features).

Try it free for 14 days →

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Sources:

• Royal Decree 806/2026 dissolving the Cortes Generales and calling elections (BOE, 6 October 2026)
• Spanish Constitution, arts. 78, 86, 97 and 101 (BOE)
• Law 50/1997 on the Government, arts. 21, 23 and 26 (BOE)
• Organic Law 3/1980 on the Council of State, arts. 2, 19 and 22 (BOE)
• Standing Orders of the Congress of Deputies, art. 207 (BOE)
• Workers’ Statute, art. 34.9 (BOE)
• LISOS (Law on Infringements and Penalties in the Social Order), arts. 7.5 and 40 (BOE)
• Forbes España / Europa Press, 5 October 2026
• Europa Press, 6 October 2026 (UGT)
• Forbes España / Europa Press, 6 October 2026 (ATA)
• Autónomos y Emprendedor, 6 October 2026
• El País, 7 October 2026
• Vozpópuli, 8 October 2026
• Noticias Trabajo, 2 October 2026

Photo: Council of Ministers meeting room, Moncloa Complex (June 2022). Pool Moncloa / Borja Puig de la Bellacasa. Ministry of the Presidency, Government of Spain, via Wikimedia Commons, reproduction authorised provided the source is cited. Cropped image.