In short. A Spanish shop must confirm receipt of acceptance by an electronic acknowledgement within 24 hours or an immediate archivable confirmation through an equivalent contracting channel, unless an Article 28 exception applies.
Definition: As of October 2026, Article 28 of Spain's Law 34/2002 requires the offeror to confirm receipt of the customer's acceptance, subject to specified exceptions. It permits an electronic acknowledgement within 24 hours or an immediate confirmation through an equivalent contracting channel that the recipient can save.
Key facts
- BOE's consolidated Law 34/2002, Article 28(1)(a) allows an acknowledgement by email or equivalent electronic communication within 24 hours after receipt of acceptance.
- Article 28(1)(b) allows confirmation as soon as the customer completes the contracting procedure, provided the channel is equivalent and the recipient can archive it.
- Article 28(3) provides exceptions for an agreement between non-consumers and for contracts concluded exclusively through email or equivalent communications, with an anti-evasion condition for the latter.
- BOE's consolidated consumer protection law, Article 98(7) separately requires confirmation of a concluded distance contract on a durable medium.
Which confirmation methods does Article 28 allow?
The duty in Article 28(1) of Law 34/2002 concerns receipt of acceptance. The offeror must confirm it to the person who accepted the offer through either statutory route:
- Electronic acknowledgement: an email or equivalent electronic message goes to the address specified by the person accepting. The deadline runs from receipt of acceptance and expires 24 hours later.
- Equivalent-channel confirmation: confirmation uses a means equivalent to the one used for contracting and follows as soon as that procedure is completed. The recipient must be able to archive the confirmation.
The same paragraph also addresses cases where a service recipient owes the confirmation. The provider must make one of these methods available, whether the confirmation is addressed to the provider or another service recipient.
When is the confirmation considered received?
Under Article 28(2), acceptance and its confirmation count as received when the parties addressed can have a record of them. For an acknowledgement, the law presumes that the recipient can have that record once the acknowledgement is stored on the server hosting the recipient's email account or on the device used to receive communications. The statutory presumption therefore uses storage on that server or device as its trigger.
When does the confirmation exception apply?
Article 28(3)(a) permits both contracting parties to agree to dispense with confirmation only if neither is a consumer. Both the agreement and the parties' non-consumer status are conditions of this exception.
Article 28(3)(b) separately covers a contract concluded exclusively by exchanging email or equivalent electronic communications. This exception applies provided those means are not used solely to evade the confirmation obligation. A checkout followed by an email acknowledgement does not satisfy the requirement that the contract be concluded exclusively through such exchanges.
What additional confirmation does consumer law require?
A durable medium stores personally addressed information for later consultation and faithful reproduction. Article 59 bis(1)(q) of BOE's consolidated consumer protection law includes email among its examples.
Article 98(7) requires the trader to provide confirmation of the concluded distance contract on such a medium within a reasonable time after conclusion. The latest point is delivery of the goods or, for services, before performance begins. It must include the information in Article 97.1 unless already supplied on a durable medium before conclusion, plus the applicable confirmation of consent and acknowledgement concerning loss of withdrawal rights under Article 103(m). Article 98(10) expressly preserves Law 34/2002's electronic contracting and order provisions.
Related terms
- What must a Spanish shop explain before an online order?
- What must a Spanish shop's order button say about payment?
- What legal information must a Spanish business website publish?
FAQ
Must you always send an email?
Article 28(1) also permits equivalent electronic communication or an immediate, archivable confirmation through a means equivalent to the contracting procedure.
Can you agree with a consumer to skip receipt confirmation?
Article 28(3)(a)'s agreement exception requires both parties to be non-consumers. Article 28(3)(b) separately addresses contracts concluded exclusively through email or equivalent communications, subject to its anti-evasion condition.
Sources
- BOE, "Ley 34/2002", consolidated text updated 23 January 2025
- BOE, "Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007", consolidated text updated 28 February 2026
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