Cabotage in Spain: the DeCA goes digital on 5 October 2026
Written for EU carriers established outside Spain who run cabotage there, and for the dispatchers who plan those loads. Plain English, no legal jargon.
Lectores en español: esta página en español — it is a different guide, aimed at Spanish carriers and the gestorías who handle their paperwork. The two pages cover different audiences.
The short version
- Your international leg needs no DeCA. A run into or out of Spain under a CMR note is expressly out of scope. Spanish law sends international carriage to the documents of the applicable convention.
- Your cabotage runs inside Spain do need one. Cabotage is interior transport, so it is in scope — and from 5 October 2026 that document must be digital.
- Being established elsewhere changes nothing. A foreign carrier doing cabotage in Spain is treated exactly like a Spanish one.
What the DeCA is
The documento de control administrativo (DeCA) is the Spanish administrative control document. It covers a consignment — an envío — of goods moved by road inside Spain, and it has to be producible at a roadside check.
It is not the consignment note. The consignment note is the contract between the commercial parties; the DeCA is what the administration wants to be able to see.
A worked example
A Polish carrier loads in Gdańsk and delivers in Valencia under a CMR note. It then picks up two domestic loads inside Spain before running home.
- Gdańsk to Valencia — international carriage. No DeCA. The CMR note is the document.
- Cabotage run 1 — inside Spain. DeCA required.
- Cabotage run 2 — inside Spain. DeCA required.
None of this replaces the cabotage evidence you already have to carry. The duties in Regulation (EC) 1072/2009, article 8(3) — clear evidence of the incoming international carriage and of each consecutive cabotage operation — continue independently, on top of the DeCA.
What the digital DeCA has to look like
The technical rules are in the Resolución of 5 June 2026 (BOE-A-2026-12784):
- A natively generated PDF. A scan or an image of a paper document is expressly invalid.
- 5 MB or less.
- An embedded QR code that resolves to a unique HTTPS address giving a direct download, with no login.
- Created before the run starts.
- Kept for at least one year by both the contractual shipper and the effective carrier.
- A printed copy is still allowed as long as it bears the QR code. The driver may show it on a phone instead. Handwritten notes on the print are disregarded.
The rule against scans is worth reading twice, because it decides whether a tool is usable. Mudravia takes your scan as the input the AI reads, and produces the DeCA as a natively generated PDF built from the extracted data — never a re-wrapped scan.
One thing nobody can answer yet: the NIF field
Article 6 of Orden FOM/2861/2012 requires the tax identification number (NIF) of both parties. A carrier established outside Spain typically has no Spanish NIF.
How that field is populated in that case is not addressed — not in the Resolución of 5 June 2026, and not in the transport ministry's published guidance. We are not going to guess. Ask your Spanish agent or adviser, and treat any vendor who tells you this is a settled question with suspicion.
The same gap matters for a related point: a consignment note that carries all the article 6 data can itself serve as the DeCA. A standard CMR note does not carry both NIFs, so that substitution is conditional, not automatic.
Where eFTI fits
Data handled under the Regulation (EU) 2020/1056 (eFTI) schema discharges the duty to present a DeCA in the prescribed form (Resolución, apartado Noveno). Separately, the eFTI date for authorities accepting electronic freight information is 9 July 2027.
That is the regulator's own bridge from the 2026 Spanish rule to the 2027 EU one, and it is the reason we build around preparing the data once and reusing it.
How Mudravia handles it
A console for producing DeCAs across a whole book of carriers from one place:
- Upload the PDF or scan of the consignment note.
- Extraction reads the data and presents it for review.
- Your team reviews and approves — human judgement stays in the loop.
- Mudravia generates the DeCA as a native PDF with its QR code and unique address.
- The driver gets it on a phone, or prints it with the QR.
- Each client sits in its own workspace with its own audit trail.
Mudravia prepares documents; it does not file them. It does not act before any authority on your behalf and does not replace professional judgement.
Common questions
Does my international run into Spain need a DeCA?
No. International carriage is out of scope. It travels on the consignment note of the applicable convention, normally the CMR note.
Do my cabotage runs inside Spain need a DeCA?
Yes. Cabotage counts as interior transport, so it is in scope, and from 5 October 2026 the document must be digital. Where your firm is established makes no difference.
Can my CMR note serve as the DeCA?
Only if it carries every item of data in article 6 of Orden FOM/2861/2012, including both parties' NIF. A standard CMR note does not, so this is conditional rather than automatic.
I have no Spanish NIF. What goes in that field?
Unresolved. Neither the Resolución nor ministry guidance addresses it. Ask your Spanish agent, and be sceptical of anyone selling you a confident answer.
Can I scan a paper document and use that?
No. The PDF must be generated natively; scans and images are expressly invalid. A scan is fine as the source you extract data from — it just cannot be the DeCA.
Does the driver have to show it on a phone?
Not necessarily. A phone or a printed copy bearing the QR code both work. Handwritten additions to the print are disregarded.
Does the DeCA have to be signed?
No. The Spanish transport ministry says signing is not mandatory. If you do sign, electronic signature rules apply.
Can a driver just photograph the note in the cab?
Today Mudravia works from clean PDFs and scans, which is where extraction is reliable. Capture from the cab is in development and is not offered as an available feature.
What does it cost?
For the founding cohort: no base fee for the first six months, EUR 12–15 per month per managed carrier, and the first three clients free to test the flow on real cases. Agents set their own price to their clients.
Does Mudravia file the document for me?
No. Mudravia prepares documents from the consignment note. It does not submit them to any authority.
Next step
If you run cabotage in Spain and want to see the flow on one of your own real loads, get in touch and we will show you in twenty minutes.