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Spain's legal reforms have quietly transformed debt collection from a marathon into something closer to a sprint. If you're a creditor based in the US, UK, or Canada chasing unpaid invoices from Spanish companies, the changes that matter most happened in stages — and they all point in one direction: faster recovery.
Law 13/2009 raised the ceiling for Spain's monitorio procedure — the fast-track payment order — from €30,000 to €250,000. That single change brought the vast majority of B2B commercial debts under a streamlined court process that bypasses full litigation entirely.
Before this reform, a €150,000 unpaid invoice required a full juicio ordinario — Spain's standard civil trial, which routinely took 12 to 18 months. Now that same claim enters the monitorio system, where the debtor has just 20 days to pay or contest. If they stay silent, you get an enforceable court order without a hearing.
The same reforms empowered Letrados de la Administración de Justicia (court clerks) to manage payment orders directly. This isn't a minor administrative tweak. It means your monitorio claim doesn't wait for a judge's calendar — it's processed by clerks whose sole function is moving cases through the system.
For overseas creditors, this translates into fewer bottlenecks. Madrid and Barcelona commercial courts, which handle the highest volume of B2B disputes, have seen measurable improvements in processing times since the reform took effect.
Spain's reformed framework also strengthened mediation and arbitration as enforceable alternatives to court proceedings. A mediated settlement agreement now carries the same legal weight as a court judgment — meaning if your Spanish debtor agrees to terms in mediation, you can enforce that agreement through embargo proceedings if they default.
This matters because mediation typically resolves in 3 to 6 months, versus 12 to 18 months for standard litigation. For a foreign creditor weighing the cost of pursuing a mid-size debt, that timeline difference often determines whether recovery is economically viable.
If you're sitting on unpaid receivables from a Spanish company, the reformed landscape gives you more options and faster timelines than existed even five years ago. The monitorio now covers most commercial claims. Court processing has been decentralised and accelerated. Alternative dispute resolution produces enforceable outcomes.
The one thing the reforms didn't change: the statute of limitations still runs at five years for commercial debts. The clock doesn't care about legal reforms. If you're going to act, act before it expires.
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