New Spanish Register for Audiovisual Service Providers (Including Influencers and Vloggers)

A year and a half after the approval of Law 13/2022, of 7 July, General Audiovisual Communication, the new State Register of Audiovisual Communication Service Providers, which was already announced in the aforementioned law, has come into operation. The most novel aspect of this is the operators affected, as not only (1) audiovisual communication service providers, but also (2) video exchange service providers through the platform, (3) audiovisual aggregation service providers and (4) users of special relevance of video exchange services through the platform (influencers, vloggers and opinion leaders) will have to register in the register.

All of this is the result of the incorporation into Spanish law of the European Directive (EU) 2018/1808 on Audiovisual Communication Services, which established transparency as the backbone of all new audiovisual regulation. In this sense, the new Register aims to offer all users the possibility of having easy and direct access to information about service providers at all times.

The data to be disclosed and which will be publicly available for consultation are as follows: 

• Data identifying the provider, including the brand name(s) used and its corporate website.
• Data on the service offered, including start date, languages, times, type of broadcast and target audience.
• Method of financing the service (advertising, subscription, pay-per-view, others)
• Holders of significant shareholdings in your service, indicating percentage of capital
• Number and proportion of female members of the company's management body.
• Contact point with the provider available to the user for direct communication with the editorial manager and to guarantee the right of complaint and reply.

The recently approved Regulation also regulates the procedure for submitting prior notification of the commencement of the provision of the service and the information to be provided with it. This duty of prior notification is only required of (traditional) providers of audiovisual media services, who are generally subject to a prior licensing regime for their broadcasts. 

The Register is characterised by the fact that it is state-wide, administrative in nature, public and managed exclusively by electronic means. The powers of sanction for those operators not registered are, among others, those contained in the General Law on Audiovisual Communication.

The deadline for the registration of affected providers is two months from the entry into force of the Royal Decree, i.e. until 21 February 2024. Those providers who were already registered in the former State Register of Audiovisual Communication Service Providers regulated by RD 847/2015 (which has now been repealed) do not need to register again in the new Register, as their data will be automatically transferred. 

However, with regard to influencers, vloggers and opinion leaders, registration in the Register will not be mandatory until two months after the entry into force of the future regulation that specifies the requirements to be considered a user of special relevance.