The economics of contact centres push towards consolidation: one location, several languages, many markets. The law pushes the other way, because the obligations attach to the market served and not to the place of establishment.
The clearest illustration is Spanish. Ley 10/2025 applies to undertakings established in Spain or in any other State, provided they operate in Spanish territory. An operation in Lisbon serving Spanish customers is within its scope, and its requirements — 95 % of calls answered on average in under three minutes, a prohibition on exclusively automated service, escalation to a supervisor within three minutes — are markedly more demanding than the Portuguese ones.
National regimes identified
| Member State | Instrument | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | Ley 10/2025 of 26 December | General — service quality, waiting time, human attention, response deadlines. Fully enforceable since 28 December 2026, with an express extraterritorial clause |
| Portugal | Decree-Law 134/2009 of 2 June | General — legal regime for customer telephone relationship centres; sixty seconds to a human operator; in force since 2009 |
| France | Loi 2025-594, of 30 June 2025, and its implementing decree of 23 July 2026 | Telephone canvassing — prior express consent required in all sectors since 11 August 2026 |
| Italy | Article 24-bis of Decreto-Legge 83/2012, and the public objection register | Partial — offshoring notification, origin disclosure, right to an EU-based operator; monthly consultation of the register and before each campaign |
| Other Member States | No general customer service regime identified | Only the harmonised layers, national telemarketing rules and sector obligations |
It is not the existence of national regimes that generates compliance work — it is their absence, combined with a small number of very demanding exceptions. An operation serving all twenty-seven markets faces one extraterritorial Spanish regime, a French consent regime, an Italian disclosure duty, a Portuguese regime in force since 2009, and, for the rest, no clear rule at all.
No clear rule is not the same as no obligation. It means the operation carries uncertainty it cannot resolve by reading a statute — which is precisely why the exposure has to be mapped rather than assumed.
What this site addresses
Each has a concrete answer on the solutions page.
Unmapped Spanish exposure
The operation serves Spanish customers from another Member State and has never assessed Ley 10/2025, whose waiting-time and human-attention requirements are substantially more demanding than those of its own jurisdiction.
View solutionOne marketing policy over divergent regimes
Outbound rules were set once, on the basis of one national regime, and applied to all markets — which produces non-compliance wherever the local regime is stricter, and France moved to prior express consent in August 2026.
View solutionCross-border outsourcing without propagated obligations
The operation is contracted to a provider in another Member State and the contract does not carry the obligations of the markets served down to the party that actually performs.
View solutionServices
Bounded products, with defined scope, method and deliverables.
Multi-Jurisdiction Exposure Assessment
Determination of which national regimes apply to an operation serving more than one Member State
SpecificationEuropean Comparative Regimes Report
A Member State by Member State comparison of customer service and telemarketing obligations
SpecificationOutsourcing Governance for Customer Service
Contractual chain, propagation of obligations and verification of the provider
SpecificationWhere to go next
Framework
The subject matter, the applicable regime and what has changed in recent years.
ReadMarket
Who is covered, by category of undertaking, and with what priority.
ViewTraining
Training paths on the applicable regulatory framework.
View programmesFAQ
The questions that always come up, answered with a source.
ConsultDiscuss your case
A concrete question gets a concrete answer. Enquiries are routed directly and answered within three working days.