This draft Provincial Decree amends Provincial Decree 111/2008 of 23 December 2008 regulating the obligation to provide information on accounts, transactions and financial assets, as well as property and rights located abroad. In particular, it amends Article 25 of the latter in order to re-establish a periodic obligation to provide information for persons or entities intervening between the assignors and the assignees of dwellings for tourist use.

Previously, this obligation was established by Provincial Decree 30/2019 of 11 June 2019, approving the amendment of the Council’s Provincial Decree 111/2008 of 23 December 2008 regulating the obligation to provide information on accounts, transactions and financial assets, as well as property and rights located abroad (‘Government Gazette of the Historical Territory of Álava’ 19 June).
The Supreme Court and the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country have annulled, in recent judgments (Supreme Court Judgment 1106/2020 of 23 July 2020, Judgment of the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country 398/2020 of 11 December 2020 and Judgment 381/2020 of 4 December 2020) provisions of content substantially identical to the current Article 25 of the Provincial Decree of reference.
The reason for such annulment is the failure to notify the European Commission prior to the adoption of the Provincial Decree, a step which is considered mandatory by the judgments cited above, in accordance with Article 5(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of 9 September, which imposes an obligation to provide information to the European Commission on technical regulations and rules relating to information society services.
Given that one of the fundamental reasons for the establishment of that obligation, namely the prevention of tax fraud, persists at the present time, it is necessary to adopt a new provision containing and establishing that obligation in the same terms as the one previously approved, taking into account the step omitted from the previous procedure.

Draft Provincial Decree amending Provincial Decree 111/2008, of 23 December 2008 regulating the obligation to report on accounts, transactions and financial assets, as well as property and rights located abroad.

The content of the new Article 25 of Provincial Decree 111/2008 of 23 December 2008 regulating the obligation to provide information on accounts, transactions and financial assets, as well as on assets and rights located abroad, the amendment of which is projected to be identical to that currently in force.
It establishes a specific obligation to provide information for individuals or entities, in particular ‘collaborative platforms’, which intervene in the transfer of the use of dwellings for tourism purposes.

This concept excludes the letting or subletting of dwellings, as defined in the Law on Urban Leases as well as the right to use timeshare accommodation.