Starting a company in Spain is more difficult than in Rwanda, Jamaica, Afghanistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Chile, Australia, Belarus, Morocco… and so on up to 141 countries. The World Bank says so in its report make transactions, which analyzes the ease or difficulty of doing business in 189 countries. Spain ranks 52nd in the global ranking (including variables such as access to credit, building permits or taxes), but we perform worse in the specific business creation section. Item number 142 of 189. bam!

Why? This measure takes into account four variables: number of procedures, number of days it takes to complete all procedures, procedure costs (as a percentage of per capita income), and the minimum capital requirement (also as a percentage of per capita income). ). In Spain, the case analyzed in the report is the opening of a limited liability company in Madrid. You have to go through 10 procedures, it takes 23 days, the cost of all the paperwork is 4.7% of income per capita (approx. , is 13.4% of income per capita. On average across OECD countries, you have to 11 days to complete 5 procedures that cost 3.6% of per capita income and pay 10.4% of the same per capita income.

“It’s nothing from the other world”

Sebastian Chartier is an entrepreneur. Born in France, he came to Spain in 1999 and has founded seven companies here since then. “I had no idea about Spanish law and it’s nothing special. It’s not much more complicated than in France and has been greatly improved in recent years. Ten years ago it took about five or six weeks and now it takes ten or fifteen days,” he says.

Both in terms of cost and the time it takes to complete all procedures, Doing Business shows this improvement over the last few years (the PAITs, Advice Centers and Start of Processing and the Single Windows unify some of the procedures). The costs indicated in the report (€1,180) increase because it includes about €500 for a notary (costs vary depending on the notary) and the declaration of commencement of activity, which companies with premises need and which must be processed privately (€350).

The companies created by Chartier are service companies (the consultancy CreaCapital, the magazine Capital & Corporate…), so they do not include licenses to open a business. “I understand that it is easier for a service company than for a company that needs a place, but the problem has improved with express licenses as well. Nowadays you can start work earlier,” he explains. In the variable of the Doing Business report that analyzes licenses, “Management of building permits”, Spain performs relatively better: we are country number 98 out of 189; 9 procedures, 230 days and 172% of income per capita cost. The OECD average is 13 procedures, 147 days and 84% costs (based on per capita income).

“In Spain,” Chartier continues, “they’ve always made a world out of bureaucracy, but if that really scares you… It’s the easiest step. More complicated, for example, is the closure of the company, which is never talked about: an experience that I do not recommend to anyone. Starting a service business is easy, the only thing is that once you complicate things, it takes a little longer. The last one I rode was 2009 Creaventure and it took me five days. If people think it’s complicated, don’t assemble it because it’s the simplest.”