Government will liberalize trade in tourist cities if they do not define zones

Madrid, Jul 4 (EFE) .- The Government will liberalize trade in the entire surface of the cities considered to be of great tourist influx if they do not delimit the areas with the highest volume of visitors in six months or if the autonomous communities do not resolve this request .

As sources from the Ministry of Economy have indicated today, this “powerful legal incentive” has been incorporated into two clauses incorporated into the royal decree-law of urgent measures for growth, competitiveness and efficiency approved today by the Council of Ministers.

Thus, the Government wants to avoid delays in the designation of these areas of great tourist influx, in which trade is automatically liberalized, as has happened in Barcelona and Bilbao for two years.

In the case of Barcelona, ​​the city has already designated the zones and is awaiting the approval of the Generalitat, although the Ministry of Economy warns that the proposal to restrict the opening until 6:00 p.m. is a “controversial” aspect, since it is prohibited by national law but not by regional law.

In fact, the Government has started the procedure to establish a prior bilateral commission that could lead to the filing of an appeal against the Catalan trade regulations.

In 2012, the Government designated fourteen cities with a large tourist influx -Barcelona, ​​Alicante, Valencia, Zaragoza, Malaga, Seville, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Bilbao, Córdoba, Granada and Cartagena (Murcia), Madrid, Palma de Mallorca and Santa Cruz of Tenerife- to which ten others have joined today -San Sebastián, A Coruña, Santander, Oviedo, Gijón (Asturias), Almería, León and Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), as well as Salamanca and Marbella (Málaga) -.

By virtue of this regulation, cities have to designate the areas with the highest tourist influx, a proposal that once approved by the corresponding autonomous community implies that stores can open whenever they want on those surfaces.

Thus, to avoid excessive delays both in the designation of the zones by the city and their approval by the autonomous communities, the Ministry of Economy has established that if within six months the process is not completed the whole city is liberalized.

Ministry sources have stressed that the extension of the program of areas of great tourist influx to ten new cities has been decided “given the proper functioning” of those designated in 2012, which has led many municipalities to create their own areas without obligation on the part of the State.

On the other hand, Economy has also defended the reduction of the commissions for payments of small amount with card because “it will produce a more intensive use” of these, since currently Spain is below the EU average.

The same sources have ensured that the measures to speed up the installation of commercial establishments are aimed at “preventing any regional regulation from requiring procedures or licenses that are not strictly essential”, that is, requirements “of an economic nature are discarded.”

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