The Government of Spain has just published in the BOE (Official State Gazette) the Royal Decree-Law that regulates the cessation of all “non-essential” in-person work activities. You can consult the full text here (PDF). park-
The measures are already in place until April 9 with the aim of people staying at home and reducing their mobility to avoid contagion of the coronavirus.
For all people affected by the cessation of activity, a “recoverable paid leave” will be applied: companies will pay salaries as normal, and the hours not worked will be accumulated and recovered once the confinement ends until December 31 of this year.
This permission will not apply to anyone who is already teleworking or to staff who are already subject to an ERTE or on leave.
Activities considered essential include those that supply and produce essential goods and services such as food, hygiene and health products or medicines; centers and services that serve the elderly; banks or cleaning services.
The complete list of activities defined by the state government as essential is as follows:
1. Those who carry out activities that must continue to be developed under articles 10.1, 10.4, 14.4, 16, 17 and 18, of Royal Decree 463/2020, of March 14, declaring a state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19 and the regulations approved by the Competent Authority and the Delegated Competent Authorities.
2. Those who work in activities that participate in the market supply chain and in the operation of services in production centers for essential goods and services, including food, beverages, animal feed, hygiene products, medicines, health products or any product necessary for the protection of health, allowing the distribution of the same from origin to final destination.
3. Those that provide services in the hotel and restaurant activities that provide home delivery services.
4. Those that provide services in the production and distribution chain of goods, services, health technology, medical supplies, protective equipment, health and hospital equipment and any other materials necessary for the provision of health services.
5. Those essential for the maintenance of the productive activities of the manufacturing industry that offer the supplies, equipment and materials necessary for the correct development of the essential activities collected.
6. Those that provide transport services, both for people and goods, that have continued to be developed since the declaration of the state of alarm, as well as those that must ensure the maintenance of the means used for this, under the protection of the regulations approved by the competent authority and the competent authorities delegated since the declaration of the state of alarm.
7. Those who provide services in Penitentiary Institutions, civil protection, maritime rescue, rescue and fire prevention and extinguishing, mine safety, and traffic and road safety. Likewise, those who work in private security companies that provide security transport services, alarm response, patrol or discontinuous surveillance, and those that are necessary to use for the performance of security services to guarantee essential services and supply to the population.
8. The essentials that support the maintenance of the material and equipment of the armed forces.
9. Those of health centers, services and establishments, as well as people who (i) care for the elderly, minors, dependent people or people with disabilities, and people who work in companies, R&D&I and biotechnology centers linked to COVID-19, (ii) the animal facilities associated with them, (iii) the maintenance of the minimum services of the facilities associated with them and the companies supplying the products necessary for said research, and (iv) people who work in funeral services and other related activities.
10. Those of animal health care centers, services and establishments.
11. Those who provide services in press outlets and in public and private media or news agencies, as well as in their printing or distribution.
12. Those of financial services companies, including banking, insurance and investment companies, for the provision of essential services, and the activities of payment infrastructures and financial markets.
13. Those of telecommunications and audiovisual companies and essential IT services, as well as those networks and facilities that support them and the sectors or subsectors necessary for their correct functioning, especially those that are essential for the adequate provision of public services, as well as the functioning of non-face-to-face work of public employees.
14. Those who provide services related to the protection and care of victims of gender-based violence.
15. Those who work as lawyers, solicitors, social graduates, translators, interpreters and psychologists and who attend procedural proceedings not suspended by Royal Decree 463/2020, of March 14, which declares the state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19 and, in this way, comply with the essential services established by consensus by the Ministry of Justice, the General Council of the Judiciary, the State Attorney General's Office and the Autonomous Communities with competences in the matter and reflected in the Resolution of the Secretary of State for Justice dated March 14, 2020, and the adaptations that may be agreed upon, where applicable.
16. Those who provide services in legal offices and consultancy, administrative and social graduate management, and external and internal occupational risk prevention services, in urgent matters.
17. Those that provide services in notaries and registries for the fulfillment of essential services established by the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith.
18. Those that provide cleaning, maintenance, urgent breakdown repair and surveillance services, as well as those that provide services in the field of collection, management and treatment of hazardous waste, as well as solid urban waste, hazardous and non-hazardous, collection and treatment of wastewater, decontamination activities and other waste management services and transport and removal of by-products or in any of the entities belonging to the Public Sector, in accordance with the provisions of article 3 of Law 9/2017, of November 8, on Public Sector Contracts.
19. Those who work in Refugee Reception Centers and Temporary Stay Centers for Immigrants and privately managed public entities subsidized by the Secretariat of State for Migration and that operate within the framework of International Protection and Humanitarian Care.
20. Those who work in water supply, purification, conduction, purification and sanitation activities.
21. Those that are essential for the provision of meteorological forecasting and observation services and the associated processes of maintenance, monitoring and control of operational processes.
22. Those of the operator designated by the State to provide the universal postal service, in order to provide the collection, admission, transport, classification, distribution and delivery services for the exclusive purpose of guaranteeing said universal postal service.
23. Those that provide services in those sectors or subsectors that participate in the import and supply of health material, such as logistics, transport, storage, customs transit (forwarding agents) companies and, in general, all those that participate in health corridors.
24. Those who work in the distribution and delivery of products purchased in online, telephone or mail order businesses.
25. Any others that provide services that have been considered essential.
