Commercial Registry and Documentation

• The topic is Registro Mercantil y Documentación Contable (Commercial Registry and Accounting Documentation)

El Registro Mercantil (The Commercial Registry)

• It's a public office responsible for several functions
• The Registro Mercantil referred to as RM hereinafter

Funciones del RM (Functions of the RM)

• Publicidad registral: registration of entrepreneurs and other subjects established by Law, and certain related acts/contracts
• Legalización de los libros: legalization of entrepreneurs’ books
• Nombramiento de expertos independientes y auditores de cuentas: appointment of independent experts and account auditors
• El depósito de cuentas anuales: the filing of annual accounts
• Publicación y centralización de información registral: publication and centralization of registry information
• Publicación de información de resoluciones concursales: publication of information on insolvency resolutions
• Convocatoria de junta general: calling of general meetings of capital companies through voluntary jurisdiction proceedings

Organización y funcionamiento del Registro Mercantil (Organization and Operation of the Commercial Registry)

• There's an RM office in each provincial capital, with the possibility of multiple offices based on service needs
• Besides provincial RRMM, exists a Central Commercial Registry (Registro Mercantil Central) based in Madrid
• The Registro Mercantil Central is for general information purposes only without the effects of registry publicity
• It publishes data sent by territorial RRMM in the BORME
• It manages the section of company names to prevent registration of confusingly similar names

Interconexión entre registros mercantiles (Interconnection Between Commercial Registries)

• Commercial Registries of EU member states are interconnected
• It is regulated by the Instruction of May 9, 2017, from the General Directorate of Registries and Notaries

Función de publicidad registral (Function of Registry Publicity)

• RM's main function to provide publicity about specific legal situations relevant to businesses

Características de la publicidad (Characteristics of Publicity)

• Información oficial: the RM is a public service under the Ministry of Justice, managed by Registrador Mercantil through opposition and fee-based access
• Información pública: data accessible through various means
• Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil (BORME)
• Certifications and simple notes
• Direct consultation via computer terminals at the Registry
• Información parcial o limitada: only specific events/acts related to businesses are accessible, with some businesses not required to register

Efectos de la publicidad (Effects of Publicity)

• Publicidad registral can produce two effects
• Constitutivos: the act/event doesn't exist until registered in the RM
• Fusión
• Escisión
• Appointment of a managing director
• Declarativos: the act/event can exist without RM registration
• Appointment of company directors is valid upon acceptance even if unregistered

Principios rectores de la publicidad registral (Governing Principles of Registry Publicity)

• The principles that govern registry publicity are
• Principio de HOJA PERSONAL: the RM is a registry of persons not properties
• A registry sheet opens for each registered entity, where relevant acts, facts, and circumstances are recorded

Sujetos obligados a inscribirse (Subjects Required to Register)

• Listed in art. 81.1 RRM, includes
• Commercial companies
• Credit or insurance cooperatives
• Reciprocal guarantee companies
• Economic interest groupings

Inscripción del empresario individual (Registration of Individual Entrepreneurs)

• Voluntary, except for
• Naval entrepreneurs
• Those seeking Emprendedor de Responsabilidad Limitada status
• Certain professionals under Law 10/2010 (prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing)
• Civil companies can register in the RM

Principio de PUBLICIDAD REGISTRAL OBLIGATORIA (Principle of Mandatory Registry Publicity)

• Registration in the RM is mandatory unless explicitly stated otherwise

Principio de TITULACIÓN PÚBLICA (Principle of Public Qualification)

• Information entering the Registry must be in a public document, typically notarial, but sometimes administrative or judicial

Principio de LEGALIDAD (Principle of Legality)

• The Registrar issues a legality assessment on submitted documents, determining if information can be registered
• This assessment is called calificación registral
• If document respects legality, inscripción proceeds
• If defects are subsanables, inscripción is suspended with a temporary annotation for two months to allow amendments
• uncorrectable defects will cause inscripción to be denied

Principio de LEGITIMACIÓN (Principle of Legitimation)

• Registry content is presumed accurate and valid unless proven otherwise by a firm court ruling

Principio de FE PÚBLICA (Principle of Public Faith)

• Inaccuracy or nullity of Registry entries doesn't harm rights previously acquired in accordance with the law
• Protects bona fide third parties who rely on Registry information

Principio de OPONIBILIDAD O PUBLICIDAD MATERIAL (Principle of Enforceability or Material Publicity)

• Acts subject to registration are only enforceable against bona fide third parties from their publication in the Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil
• For transactions within fifteen days of publication, registered acts aren't enforceable against third parties who prove they couldn't have known
• Third parties of good faith may invoke the publication if it benefits them
• Those who caused the discrepancy must compensate the injured party

Eficacia positiva y negativa del RM (Positive and Negative Effectiveness of the RM)

• Eficacia positiva: an act of mandatory registration, if registered and published in the BORME, is enforceable against all from its publication (erga omnes effect)
• Eficacia negativa: an act of mandatory registration not registered/published in the BORME, cannot be enforced against a third party in good faith

Principio de PUBLICIDAD FORMAL (Principle of Formal Publicity)

• The Commercial Registry is public
• Publicity is provided through
• Certificación registral: the only conclusive evidence of registry contents with public document status
• Nota simple informativa or consulta por ordenador: non-conclusive ways to obtain information

Principio de PRIORIDAD (Principle of Priority)

• A document can be inscribed if another document of the same day could create contradictions

Principio de TRACTO SUCESIVO (Principle of Successive Transaction)

• A principle establishing that registry entries must be coordinated, requiring continuity to prevent incoherencies

Función de legalización de los libros de los empresarios (Function of Legalization of Business Books)

• This function applies to company records
• Currently, books are legalized electronically
• DGRN has stated RM cannot refuse legalization merely because books are encrypted

Función de nombramiento de expertos independientes (Function of Appointing Independent Experts)

• The function is for issuing reports on matters such as valuation of non-cash contributions to companies, mergers, or spin-offs

Función de nombramiento de auditores de cuentas (Function of Appointing Account Auditors)

• The Registro Mercantil appoints account auditors in some cases
• Sociedades obligadas a verificación contable: the society is required to perform auditable verification. If the society must audit its accounts, it is possible to ask the RM to name the auditor
• There are cases when the exercise that must be audited is finished and the general assembly of the society has not appointed an auditor
• The auditor appointed by the general assembly does not accept or cannot perform the task.
• Sociedades no obligadas a auditar cuentas: This are societies not required to audit accounts. The partners that represent at least 5% of the corporation capital can ask the commercial register of the domicile to name an auditor that will be granted to the company
• The society has no voluntarily designated an auditor with anteriority, despite being not required
• The requester or the requesters represent at least 5% of the corporation capital
• No more than three months have elapsed since the closure date of the exercise to audit.
• Nombramiento de auditor para determinar el valor real de las acciones o participaciones sociales: Appointment of the auditor to determine the real value of the shares

Obligación de depositar las cuentas anuales (Obligation to file annual accounts)

• The directors of the society are required to publicly submit their annual accounts to the commercial register of the domicile within one month from their appoval
• El incumplimiento de la obligación de depositar las cuentas anuales provoca el cierre registral: Not fullfilling of the obligation of depositing the annual accounts leads to the registry closing
• The Registry territories must send the central registry the records of the inscriptions that they make. The central registry is in charge of publishing in the BORME the information that has been sent from the registry territories

Función de publicación de resoluciones concursales (Function of Publishing Insolvency Resolutions)

• If an entity listed in the RM is declared bankrupt, relevant details are recorded, such as the declaration of bankruptcy, liquidation phase commencement, and conclusion

Obligaciones Contables del Empresario (Accounting Obligations of the Entrepreneur)

• Fundamento de la obligación contable: the accounting constitutes a legal duty - publicly imposed to every entrepreneur The addressers of this obligation are those other than the businessmen where a jurisdiction rule states it.( foundations, temporary unions of companies etc.)
• Obligados a la contabilidad ordenada y adecuada: The businessman is obligated to carry an orderly and adequate accounting to the activitity of his company

Requisitos formales de llevanza de la contabilidad (Formal requirements of the accounting)

• The RM legalization
• Requisitos de forma en la presentación de la documentación: Every book and document must be clearly written down with dated order, without blank spaces, interpolaations, strikeouts nor erasures. Abbreviations are not allowed and nor the use of simbles which meanings are precise according to law or the commercial practice. Its default may act as a guarantee of lack of athenticity
• Requisitos importantes: The accounts must be signed
• The entrepreneur of the physical person if he is a physical person
• For all the administrators of a corporation

Deberes de los empresarios (Duties of the Entreprenerus)

• Deber de conservación: Store the books and the rest of the relevant documentation for 6 years since the last record.
• Deber de secreto: In the accounting of an entrepreneur is secretly without disregard of what could be derived from the laws

Auditoría (Auditing)

• La auditoría: the verification of accounts it is an activity of control of the accounting information given by an entrepreneur that has the objective to determine the numbers that the annual accounts are to reflect or not if they are a picture of the equity, financial situation and the results of the company
• the auditor appoints the council BEFORE the exercise is done ( for EX auditor has to be name before Jan 1st 2026 to review the accounts from 2025
• No cabe revocar el nombramiento de auditor antes de que finalice el plazo No can be overuled the appointment of the auditor before the end of the term.
• Types of auditories:
• Obligatoria
• Voluntaria
• The function of the auditor is to determinate if annual accounts offer or not a "real picture" of the economic status and results of the company. If that's the case there must be a coordance between the inform and the anual accounts. The results of the job must be plasted on an "informe" . The auduitor has at least one month since they can to present it.
• favorable o sin reservas; the auditor has the opinion is OK
• con reservas, pero que no afectan a la imagen fiel; The auditor have a othe opinion in some parts but it does not affect the picture of the company
• desfavorable, porque las cuentas auditadas no reflejan la imagen fiel; The accounts has a defavorible opinion because it does reflect the picture,
• opinión denegatoria, esto es, el auditor no emite informe por existir alguna limitación al alcance en su trabajo. The statement from the company is denied and there is no report because there is a alimitation in the work