DeCA for gestorías: the control document across a whole client book
This page is for the gestoría — the Spanish administrative agency — that handles the paperwork of twenty, fifty or a hundred small carriers and wants to know what lands on its desk on 5 October 2026. Plain English, with the source for every statement. For the general guide, see Cabotage in Spain: the DeCA goes digital on 5 October 2026. To tell the DeCA apart from the consignment note and the eCMR, see DeCA, consignment note and eCMR: three documents, three jobs.
Lectores en español: esta página en español.
What changes for a gestoría on 5 October 2026
The Documento electrónico de Control Administrativo (DeCA) is Spain's long-standing road-freight control document — the one in Orden FOM/2861/2012 — in electronic form. From 5 October 2026 it has to be a natively generated PDF with a QR code, and there is no grace phase after that date: the ten months from the entry into force of Ley 9/2025 are the transition period, and they are already running.
For a carrier with two trucks this is a change of routine. For the gestoría it is a change of volume. Transport licences, visados and tachograph checks are handled once a year or once a month per client. The DeCA is not like that: the unit of the obligation is the consignment (expedición), and each consignment of each client needs one, created before the truck leaves.
Do the sum with your own numbers: carriers in the book multiplied by each one's monthly consignments. That figure, not the technical difficulty of producing a PDF, is the real challenge. One exception helps: a single DeCA may cover several consignments when the contractual shipper and the actual carrier are the same for all of them, provided the origin, destination, nature and weight of each consignment are stated separately (Resolución of 5 June 2026, section Sexto).
What the rule requires, with its source
Everything below comes from the Ministry of Transport's DeCA FAQ, the Resolución of 5 June 2026 (BOE-A-2026-12784) or Orden FOM/2861/2012.
- Native PDF, 5 MB at most. Generated from structured data. A scan or a photo of a paper document is not a DeCA: the Resolución declares them invalid in so many words (section Segundo.2). A scan can be the source the data is read from.
- A QR code inside the PDF itself pointing to a unique HTTPS address that downloads the file directly, with no username, password or intermediate click (section Tercero). Any domain will do.
- Created before the service starts, as soon as the data is known. Creation and modification timestamps stay in the PDF metadata (section Segundo).
- Kept for at least one year, by both the contractual shipper and the actual carrier. Download via the URL may be switched off seven calendar days after the service ends; the file is retained (sections Segundo.4 and Tercero.5).
- No mandatory signature. Signing is voluntary; the Ministry says so in its FAQ.
- No Ministry platform. The DeCA is not uploaded anywhere. The PDF must be available at its URL so that an officer can download it at a roadside check.
Who answers for which data
Orden FOM/2861/2012 binds two parties at once: the contractual shipper (cargador contractual) and the actual carrier (transportista efectivo). Both must formalise the document and both are liable for it being on board, unless the contractual shipper proves it was issued (articles 4 and 7). The article 6 items split like this:
- Contractual shipper: a) its own name, NIF and address; b) the actual carrier's name and NIF; c) origin and destination of the consignment; d) nature and weight of the goods.
- Actual carrier: e) the special circulation permit, where the vehicle needs one; f) the date of transport; g) the vehicle's registration plate and, for an articulated unit, the semi-trailer or trailer plate too.
- Either party: h) the remarks or reservations either side asks to record.
The rule does not know the gestoría. If your team enters the data on a client's behalf, liability stays with the contractual shipper and the actual carrier. That is why it matters that there is a record of who acted on whose behalf and when.
The question the rule does not answer: the NIF of a non-Spanish carrier
Article 6.b of Orden FOM/2861/2012 requires the actual carrier's NIF (Spanish tax identification number). Neither the Resolución of 5 June 2026 nor the Ministry FAQ says what to do when the actual carrier is a company from another country with no Spanish NIF. There is no published criterion.
What is known: a foreign company can hold a Spanish NIF (numbers starting with N, or W for a permanent establishment) and, if it does, that is what goes in. If it does not, we will not invent an answer. Treat the item as a visible gap — record which identifier was entered instead and why — and be wary of anyone selling you a confident answer. When the Ministry publishes a criterion, this page will be updated.
How to organise the work client by client
Whatever the tool, the workflow that stands up to a thousand documents a month has these parts:
- One workspace per client. Each carrier with its usual shippers, vehicles and plates loaded once. The fixed article 6 items fill themselves in; the consignment data is the only thing that changes each day.
- Intake from what already exists. The consignment note as a PDF, a scan, or the photo the driver takes from the cab. It is the source the data is read from, never the final document.
- A review queue. The extracted data is checked before anything is generated. If a mandatory item is missing, the document is not generated. The gestoría's professional judgement stays in place.
- Generation before departure. A native PDF with its QR and its direct-download URL, created before the service starts.
- Hand-off to the driver. The link on the phone, or a printed copy with the QR. If data changes en route, the PDF is amended or reissued with a trace, and the driver receives the new version.
- An archive per client. Every document kept for at least a year, with who generated it, on whose behalf and when.
Mudravia is a console built on this workflow so that a gestoría can act on behalf of its whole client book from one place: a workspace per client, client-book import, a review queue, a native PDF with QR and hand-off to the driver. For the founding cohort there is no base fee for the first six months, it costs EUR 12–15 per month per managed carrier, and the first three clients are free to test the flow on real cases; you set your own price to your clients. Mudravia prepares the documents; it does not submit them to any authority and it does not replace the gestoría's judgement. More on the DeCA software for gestorías page and on the pilot page.
Frequently asked questions
I handle paperwork for dozens of carriers. How is this organised?
One workspace per carrier, with its customers, vehicles and plates loaded once, and one DeCA per consignment generated from that data. Several consignments may be grouped in one DeCA when the contractual shipper and actual carrier are the same for all and each consignment is identified. Every document is archived for at least a year per carrier, with who generated it and when, and the driver receives the link on a phone or on paper with the QR. (Resolución of 5 June 2026, sections Segundo.4, Sexto and Séptimo.)
Who is liable if the gestoría enters the data?
The rule does not know the gestoría: liability stays with the contractual shipper (consignment data) and the actual carrier (vehicle data). That is why the system should record who acted on whose behalf and when, and should refuse to generate a document with a mandatory item missing. (Orden FOM/2861/2012, article 7.)
If my client subcontracts the haul, who is who?
The last carrier in the chain, the one physically performing the haul, is the actual carrier. Whoever hires them directly — even another carrier, an agency or a logistics operator — is the contractual shipper. Items a), b), c), d) and, where relevant, h) are the shipper's responsibility; e), f), g) and, where relevant, h) are the carrier's. (Orden FOM/2861/2012, articles 4 and 7.2; Ministry DeCA FAQ.)
Does the DeCA change what goes in the document?
No. The format changes, the content does not. The eight items in article 6 of Orden FOM/2861/2012 stay: contractual shipper (name, NIF, address), actual carrier (name, NIF), origin and destination, nature and weight of the goods, special circulation permit where applicable, date, registration plate (tractor and semi-trailer for an articulated unit) and any remarks a party asks to record. (Orden FOM/2861/2012, article 6; Ministry DeCA FAQ.)
How long must it be kept, and by whom?
At least one year, by both the contractual shipper and the actual carrier. Download via the URL may be switched off seven calendar days after the service ends, but the file is retained. If one party generates it, the other must be able to download it within that year. (Resolución of 5 June 2026, sections Segundo.4 and Tercero.5.)
Does the DeCA have to be signed?
No. Signing is voluntary. If you choose to sign, the minimum is an advanced electronic signature (AdES), which a one-time code or a biometric method gives. No inspector can require a signature or a time-stamp to accept the document. (Orden FOM/2861/2012; Resolución of 5 June 2026, section Cuarto; Ministry DeCA FAQ.)
What does the driver show at a roadside check?
The PDF on a phone or tablet, or a printed copy bearing the QR. The officer scans the QR and downloads the PDF from the URL, which is why the URL cannot ask for credentials. A handwritten note on the printout does not change the document. If data changes en route, either the same PDF is amended (same URL and QR, old data marked invalid) or a new PDF is issued (new URL and QR, old one kept); in both cases the driver must receive the new version. (Resolución of 5 June 2026, sections Quinto and Séptimo; Ministry DeCA FAQ.)
Sources: DeCA FAQ of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (in Spanish); Resolución of 5 June 2026 (BOE-A-2026-12784); Orden FOM/2861/2012 (BOE-A-2013-154), articles 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7; Ley 9/2025 (BOE-A-2025-24545), eighth transitional provision; Real Decreto 1211/1990 (ROTT), article 222. The answers follow the published text; they are not legal advice. Last reviewed: 15/09/2026.
Next step
If you handle a book of carriers and want to see the flow on a real consignment note from one of your clients, write to us and we will show it in twenty minutes.