A GROUND-BREAKING new customer service law has finally been approved by Spain's Council of Ministers after being shelved for nearly two years.
The right to speak to a human rather than a machine, a limit of three minutes for being kept on hold on the telephone, and a requirement for complaints to be resolved within two weeks are included in the new Law of Customer Assistance Services, which the government began working on in November 2021.
Reason for two-year hold-up
Details were released early the following year, but progress on the legislation reform ground to a halt with socialist president Pedro Sánchez's decision to hold a snap general election in July 2023 in the hope of reinforcing the left-wing leader's mandate following a landslide dive to the right in the earlier regional and local council elections.
Pedro Sánchez being sworn in as president in November 2023 (photo: EFE)
Sánchez's gamble paid off, and the socialists (PSOE) will continue in national government until at least mid-2027, along with their left-wing coalition partners Sumar, a regroup of the earlier independent party Unidas Podemos.
It was Unidas Podemos' Alberto Garzón – formerly of United Left – who spearheaded the changes in customer service legislation when he was minister for consumer affairs, and his draft law earned a near-unanimous 'yes' in its first Parliamentary scrutiny: A total of 289 in favour and 54 abstentions, but no votes against.
Coming into effect 'imminently'
Despite the long delay, the final signing-off process and bringing into effect of Garzón's legislation is expected to be straightforward, especially as the new minister for social rights, consumer affairs and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustinduy, has given the text the nod without requesting any amendments.
Doing so was a strategy to ensure the law would come into force as quickly as possible, with any issues or necessary improvements left for later debate and voting, since Bustinduy considered it imperative to 'end, or at least reduce' the 'general levels of dissatisfaction' among consumers with the service they receive.
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