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A Spanish debtor owes your company money. You're based in New York, London, or Toronto. The invoice is 90 days past due and your credit team has exhausted the friendly reminders. This scenario plays out thousands of times annually — and the legal infrastructure for resolving it is more developed than most overseas creditors realise.
EU-based creditors benefit from a harmonised enforcement system that treats cross-border debts almost identically to domestic ones. The European Payment Order (Regulation 1896/2006) allows you to file a claim in your home country that becomes directly enforceable against Spanish assets. The European Enforcement Order (Regulation 805/2004) provides automatic recognition of uncontested claims across all member states.
These aren't theoretical instruments. They're working procedures that Spanish courts process routinely. A German manufacturer with an unpaid €120,000 invoice from a Barcelona supplier can obtain an enforceable order without ever setting foot in a Spanish courtroom.
For US, Canadian, and UK creditors, the route is through Spain's domestic legal system. The process begins with a licensed local representative filing a burofax demand, followed by the monitorio fast-track procedure for claims up to €250,000. Spanish courts do not discriminate against foreign claimants — your claim receives the same procedural treatment as a domestic one.
The critical requirement is documentation: contracts, invoices, and delivery confirmations in English are fully admissible with certified Spanish translation. You don't need Spanish-language originals, and you don't need to appear in person. Your local representative handles every procedural step.
If your contract includes a jurisdiction clause specifying courts in your home country, you can obtain a judgment there and enforce it in Spain through the exequatur (recognition) procedure. If there's no jurisdiction clause, filing directly in Spain is usually faster — the monitorio produces an enforceable order in weeks if the debtor doesn't contest, versus the months required for cross-border judgment recognition.
The decision framework: file in Spain for speed when the debtor is unlikely to contest. File at home when you have a jurisdiction clause or when the debt is one of several claims across multiple countries that benefit from consolidated proceedings.
Cross-border debt collection in Spain requires a procurador (court representative) and an abogado (lawyer) for any judicial proceedings. A professional collection agency with Spanish legal infrastructure handles both roles and manages the case from first demand through enforcement — translating not just languages but legal systems, court expectations, and cultural negotiation norms.
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