Since December 2, Royal Decree 933/2021 is fully applicable, which obliges accommodation and vehicle rental companies, tour operators and digital platforms in the South of Gran Canaria that act as intermediaries in these activities to document and transmit data of their clients to the authorities. Just a few days before the effective application of RD 933/2021, there are still numerous doubts about the compatibility of the obligations provided therein with data protection regulations. As of today, the sector will have to live with this situation until the Ministry of the Interior itself or the Spanish Data Protection Agency make a statement on the matter and modify or limit the system, either in the objective scope or in the number and type of data to be collected, stored and transferred.
And this is so because, after a 5-month adaptation period and two extensions, the date currently planned for its full implementation is December 2, 2024. But let's go back slightly and set the context of the controversy that currently occupies most of the headlines of the specialized press. It has been more than 2 years since RD 933/2021 came into force, which significantly expanded the scope of application of the previous obligations on logbooks and entry reports of travelers in hospitality establishments and other similar establishments to include, in addition to companies directly dedicated to lodging and vehicle rental activities, tour operators and digital platforms that act as intermediaries in said activities, the amount of data that the obliged entities had to collect from travelers and transmit to the authorities. And it is precisely these two aspects that have created so much controversy around its application.
However, the regulation has not yet been fully applied since, with regard to one of the main obligations provided for in RD 933/2021, the communication of data to the Spanish authorities, the Ministry of the Interior, with the aim of facilitating familiarisation with the new environment of users and ensuring the operation of the electronic platform through which the data will be communicated (SES.HOSPEDAJES) in optimal conditions, decided to establish an "adaptation period" which, barring a last-minute surprise (which would not be completely ruled out given the latest developments in this regard), will end on 2 December 2024.
A last-minute change would not be ruled out since, very recently, on October 23, 2024, the plenary session of the Congress of Deputies approved the Non-Law Proposal of the Popular Group, which, among other aspects, urges the Government to extend the suspension of the application of RD 933/2021 until a thorough and proportionate review and adjustment of this regulation is addressed in conjunction with the most affected tourism subsectors; review the obligations to collect personal data required by RD 933/2021 to ensure its compatibility with European data protection regulations; and support the claims that have been unanimously raised by the entire Spanish tourism sector regarding the harmful effects of the scope and content of RD 933/2021 on the operation of tourism activities.
