The Exporters' Club and FEEX urge the Government to regulate international teleworking
The Spanish Exporters and Investors Club, in a technical note prepared jointly by the Export Reflection Committee and Ángeles González-Vigil, Secretary General of the Spanish Association of International Labour Mobility (FEEX), considers it essential that Spain has a specific regulation governing the figure of international teleworking to enhance its attractiveness as a destination for foreign professionals and promote economic recovery at the present time.
The Exporters' Club and FEEX consider that there is a lack of regulations in Spain to cover international teleworking, starting with immigration regulations or taxation, which would be generating a situation of legal uncertainty for both companies and employees. In this sense, they underline the need to lay the foundations for a future proposal for a regulatory framework in the areas of migration, taxation, labour and social security.
In addition, they highlight the notable progress made by third countries compared to Spain in establishing specific work authorisation for international teleworkers. Specifically, the countries that have already implemented specific visas for this type of workers include both EU countries, such as Croatia and Estonia, and third countries, such as Georgia, the United Arab Emirates, Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados, to cite just a few examples.
The author of the technical note and the Exporters' Club points out that, in the absence of legal rules specifically regulating the situation of international teleworking, companies have had to find a legal solution to these scenarios using other formulas that were available to them, even though they were designed for this purpose, such as situations of temporary displacement.
"Many companies and workers find themselves providing international teleworking services without adequate legal support and with the consequent risk in the fiscal, migratory and labour fields, including social security", explains Ángeles González-Vigil, author of the technical note and secretary general of the Spanish Association of International Labour Mobility (FEEX).
In her opinion, Spain is also missing out on very interesting opportunities arising from the fact that it is one of the most popular destinations as a place to work remotely. In this regard, a study conducted by InterNations in 2020 indicated that among the best cities in the world in which to combine work and life for foreigners, there are four Spanish cities: Valencia, Alicante, Malaga and Madrid.
"Spain is a very attractive destination for international teleworkers, but there may be administrative barriers as there are no legal regulations that cover and regulate the situation of international teleworking", adds the expert.
In this respect, in order to promote specific regulations that cover these new employment situations, which allow workers to dispense with their physical link to their employer's work centre or centres, both the Exporters' Club and FEEX are calling for regulatory reforms in the areas of employment and social security, immigration and taxation.
Specifically, on the labour and social security side, they consider that the new case of international teleworking could be integrated as a new amendment to the directive on the posting of workers (Directive (EU) 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996). Furthermore, they believe that it would be necessary to extend the content of the current Community legislation by implementing common rules with regard to the prevention of occupational risks in the field of international teleworking throughout the European Union.
In terms of migration, they recommend facilitating and speeding up the granting of visas and residence permits in order to attract investment and talent to Spain, although they point out that the draft bill on the promotion of the start-up ecosystem could implement this category of visa and residence permit in Spain.
Finally, in the fiscal field, they call for the avoidance of double taxation of teleworkers arising from the strict application of current regulations, both at national and international level, which were conceived long before this generalised situation of international teleworking existed. They also believe that promoting tax incentives for this type of work would in turn generate revenue from the international teleworkers' own expenditure, and contribute to increased revenue from, inter alia, indirect and consumption taxes.