Murray Grainger is Country Manager Spain and Portugal at Business Keeper AG in Madrid, Spain.
In 2019, Spain’s GDP was $1,394 billion, representing 1.16% of the world economy, and the per capita GDP was $33,349.70, equal to 264% of the global average.[1]
Corruption Perceptions Index ranking
In 2019, Spain climbed from 41st to 30th position globally, with a score of 62/100.[2] Although the position improved last year, the score has remained broadly at this level since 2012.
Legal and regulatory regimes
The Código Penal is the main Spanish legal reference. The first compliance reform happened in 2010 and was amplified by the July 2015 reform, which incentivized corporate compliance.[3] In 2016, the Spanish public prosecutor issued a clarifying Circular.[4] The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development welcomed the reform and noted that it would be watching to see the level of enforcement.
Spain is moving to implement the European Union (EU) whistleblower protection directive,[5] promulgated in December 2019. Although there have been parliamentary debates on this important topic, the directive should be completed before the 2021 deadline.
