Only individual or legal entity with interests in or ties to Spain has the right to acquire a ".es" domain. "Interests" or "ties" in Spain are broadly interpreted and include local presence from individuals and incorporated or unincorporated entities that are based, resident or registered in Spain. Examples are companies which wish to aim their services, either partly or in full, at the Spanish market, and those that wish to offer information, products or services that are culturally, historically or socially linked to Spain. The latter is allowed, even if there is not a local branch or services that are marketed in Spain.

UNE is the only Standardization Organization in Spain, designated by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness before the European Commission and with its activities it drives the development of the quality infrastructure, promoting the transfer of knowledge and the strengthening of companies. It is reported that technical standardization committees can include entities without operative headquarters in Spain only in exceptional cases as long as such incorporation is approved by the Committee's Board.

The EU Directive on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) covers traditional broadcasting services as well as audiovisual media services provided on-demand, including via the Internet. Article 13(1) provides for Member States to secure a minimum 30% share of European works in the catalogues as well as "ensuring prominence" of those works. "Prominence" involves promoting European works through facilitating access to such works using any appropriate means to ensure prominence of European works. The Directive has been implemented by Member States in different ways, ranging from very extensive and detailed measures to a mere reference to the general obligation to promote European works.
In Spain, Art. 13 has been implemented via two requirements: Video-on-demand (VOD) providers are obliged to reserve a share of European works in their catalogue and to contribute financially to the production and rights acquisition of European works. Furthermore, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) distributors need to earmark 5% of their operating revenue for the pre-funding of European cinematographic films and films made for television, 60% of that funding being reserved for the production of works in Spanish.
In addition, according to Art. 5 of Law 7/2010, there are additional restrictions such as the amount of European Union and Spanish films to be shown throughout the day or the percentage of Spanish and European Union content of Video on Demand catalogs.

It is reported that Spain imposes an identity requirement for SIM registration. Anyone wanting to purchase a SIM card has to provide their national ID card, or a passport in case of foreigners, to activate a new prepaid SIM card.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbor. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
Act 34/2002 transposes Directive 2000/31/EC. In Spain, the safe harbour framework is mainly defined in this Act. Under certain circumstances, online intermediaries will be exempt from a wide array of liabilities including contractual liability, administrative liability, tortious (delictual) or extra-contractual liability, criminal liability, civil liability or any other type of liability, for all types of activities initiated by third parties, including copyright and trademark infringements, defamation, misleading advertising, unfair commercial practices, unfair competition, publications of illegal content, etc, relating to the content and data uploaded by users. Nevertheless, safe harbour, as a general rule, only applies in if the intermediaries are not aware of the illegality (intermediaries with a passive role) or if aware (intermediaries with an active role) do not act to stop it. In this line, hosting providers and Service providers that provide links to content or search tools have a greater obligation to act diligently in cases where data stored or user's activities may be illegal.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbor. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
Act 34/2002 transposes Directive 2000/31/EC. In Spain, the safe harbour framework is mainly defined in this Act. Under certain circumstances, online intermediaries will be exempt from a wide array of liabilities including contractual liability, administrative liability, tortious (delictual) or extra-contractual liability, criminal liability, civil liability or any other type of liability, for all types of activities initiated by third parties, including copyright and trademark infringements, defamation, misleading advertising, unfair commercial practices, unfair competition, publications of illegal content, etc, relating to the content and data uploaded by users. Nevertheless, safe harbour, as a general rule, only applies in if the intermediaries are not aware of the illegality (intermediaries with a passive role) or if aware (intermediaries with an active role) do not act to stop it. In this line, hosting providers and Service providers that provide links to content or search tools have a greater obligation to act diligently in cases where data stored or user's activities may be illegal.

Under the EU Directive on Data Retention, operators were required to retain certain categories of traffic and location data (excluding the content of those communications) for a period between six months and two years and to make them available, on request, to law enforcement authorities for the purposes of investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime and terrorism. On 8 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared the Directive invalid. However, not all national laws which implemented the Directive have been overturned.
According to Art. 5 of Law 25/2007, the retention period for telecommunication data shall be, as a general rule, one year. Nevertheless, depending on the circumstances the actual timeframe may vary (e.g. from six months to two years).

Spain has a telecommunications authority: The National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC). However, it is reported that the decision making process of this entity is not fully independent from the government.

It is reported that Spain does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power in the telecom sector. However, accounting separation is required for SMP operators. Telefónica is required in several markets, all operators in relation to the call termination markets in fixed or mobile networks with respect to their own networks and Cellnex Telecom in the market for the transmission of television signals.

It is reported that passive sharing is mandated and is effective in both the mobile (based on commercial agreements) and fixed sectors. In addition, Art. 3.2 of Directive 2014/61/EU establishes that Member States shall ensure that, upon written request of an undertaking providing or authorised to provide public communications networks, any network operator has the obligation to meet all reasonable requests for access to its physical infrastructure under fair and reasonable terms and conditions, including price, with a view to deploying elements of high-speed electronic communications networks. Such written request shall specify the elements of the project for which the access is requested, including a specific time frame.

The Directive 2016/943 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) is key in harmonising national laws concerning trade secrets. Spain transposed the Directive through Law 1/2019, of February 20, 2019, on Trade Secrets.

Spain has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Spain has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

There is no general principle for the use of copyright protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principles. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional, but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test” in line with the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.
The Spanish Intellectual Property Act indicates that copyright exceptions must be limited to certain special cases and that it must not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author. As a result, the Spanish Intellectual Property Act has defined the exceptions to Copyright in Spain. These include, inter alia: provisional reproductions and private copies, copies for security purposes and during administrative or judicial procedures, quotations and reviews and illustration for educational or scientific research purposes, their use in databases by the legitimate user and limitations to the exploitation rights of the owner of a database, works without a known author, works on official acts and religious ceremonies and parody.

Copyright is not adequately enforced online in Spain. It is reported that Spain has relevant digital copyright infringement rates, in particular those relating to piracy. Piracy rates remain high and the normal way of enforcing Intellectual Property rights is before civil courts. In addition, the rate of unlicensed software installation in the country was 42% in 2017 (above the 26% rate of the Western European countries), for an estimated commercial value of USD 859 million.