What changes with mandatory digital time recording in Spain?

What is already compulsory today

Since May 2019 every employer in Spain must record, each day, the start and finish time of every employee's working day (registro de jornada) and keep those records for four years. This does not depend on the new royal decree: it is already required and already penalised.

What the new royal decree would require

According to the draft put forward by the Ministry of Labour, time records would have to be:

• Digital: no more paper sheets or spreadsheets filled in by hand.
• Reliable and tamper-proof: every clock-in with its date and time, and any correction logged with who made it and why.
• Remotely accessible to the Labour Inspectorate (Inspección de Trabajo) and available for employees and their representatives to consult.
• Detailed for each working day (including breaks that are not working time) and kept for four years.

Current status

The draft has gone through several stages, including an opinion from the Council of State (Consejo de Estado) in March 2026 and several delays. As of 28 October 2026 it has not been approved or published in the BOE. Under the draft, it would come into force twenty days after publication, so there will be little time to adapt. We will update this page once it is published.

How to prepare now

1. Switch to a digital system where clock-ins cannot be deleted.
2. Make sure every employee clocks in, including those working off-site or from home.
3. Review incomplete clock-ins every month and correct them, recording the reason.
4. Check that you can download the records for any month instantly.

Want to sort it without paperwork? With Easy Fichajes your staff clock in from their phones and you have your records ready for the Inspectorate: €22 a month with 5 employees included, no minimum contract.