Spain ranked 136 out of 185 countries in 'ease of doing business' survey

Bureaucracy by Quino

More difficult than Zambia to set up a company

MADRID The World Bank's Doing Business 2013 report was released last week. It says that Spain is among the most difficult countries in which to set up a company, in terms both of procedure and cost. This despite the need for the country to crawl out of its present financial crisis, a country where over 80% of GDP is brought about by small and medium companies, a country that loses scientists and entrepreneurs to other more welcoming business climes. The WB's report places Spain three spots below the same survey carried out last year; it takes 10 separate bureaucratic procedures and 28 days to set up a company, at a cost equivalent to 4.7% of the average per capita income. An example from the report, and the subject of a separate article in El País, is that of a businessman in Seville who>>>wanted to establish a company in Vejer de la Frontera, in Cádiz, in Andalucía and one of the country's areas with highest unemployment. It took him three years and €10,000. He had to get through four different, separate administrations, in many cases with contradicting regulations.

At SpainInformer (under construction) we will be offering a step by step guide to setting up a company in Spain, plus the name and glossary of the terms,  forms and requirements to do so. We will soon be able to also offer a Forms Guide, that explains each and every form in English, line by line.

In time we will cover most of the forms for just about every activity in Spain, from birth certificates to living wills, from tax forms to formal letter writing.