Since 5 October 2026, the control document that accompanies every road freight transport in Spain can no longer be on paper. It is now the DeCA (documento electrónico de control administrativo, the electronic administrative control document), and it must exist before the truck sets off.
This guide summarises what the regulation says: which transports it covers, who must issue it, what data it must include, the technical requirements for the PDF and QR code, what to do if something changes during the service and what the penalties are. At the end we explain how we handle it in DecaRoad, the application we have built at OnlyDevs for crane and heavy-haulage companies.
What the DeCA is
The control document is not new. It has existed since Orden FOM/2861/2012, which requires every public freight transport to be documented with who contracts it, who carries it, what is carried and from where to where. Until now it could be done on paper.
Spain's Sustainable Mobility Act (Ley 9/2025, of 3 December) established in its eighth transitional provision that this document would have to be digital ten months after the law came into force, a deadline that ended on 5 October 2026.
The technical features are set by the Resolution of 5 June 2026 of the Directorate-General for Road and Rail Transport, published in the Spanish Official Gazette (BOE) on 12 June 2026 (BOE-A-2026-12784). It replaces the previous resolution of 22 May 2023. Since then, a paper control document counts, for inspection purposes, as not carrying one at all.
Which transports it covers
It covers public road freight transport whose origin and destination are in Spain, including cabotage. Company size and fleet size make no difference: twenty services a day means twenty DeCAs a day.
It does not apply to international transport, which is still documented with the CMR consignment note (paper or electronic).
The exemptions in Orden FOM/2861/2012 still apply: transports that need no operating licence, house removals, moving crashed or broken-down vehicles on special vehicles, and parcels with a few packages that one person can handle. If a service is only a crane lift, with no goods moved by road, there is no transport to document. For any borderline case, have your adviser confirm it.
Who issues it and who is liable
The obligation is shared between two parties. The contracting shipper (cargador contractual) is whoever contracts directly with the carrier: it may be the end customer, but also another transport company, an agency, a freight forwarder or a logistics operator. The actual carrier (transportista efectivo) holds the licence under which the transport is carried out.
Either party may generate the DeCA, but each is liable for its own data. The shipper answers for its identification, the origin and destination, and the nature and weight of the goods. The carrier answers for its identification, the registration number, the date and the special movement permit when the vehicle needs one, and for carrying the document on board.
If there is no DeCA, both are liable. That is why it pays to agree with each customer who issues it and how it reaches the driver, rather than assuming the other side will do it.
What data the DeCA must include
The minimum content is set by article 6 of Orden FOM/2861/2012:
1. Name or company name, tax ID (NIF) and address of the contracting shipper.
2. Name or company name and tax ID of the actual carrier.
3. Place of origin and destination.
4. Nature and weight of the goods, or the appropriate measure if the exact weight is hard to determine.
5. Special movement permit, if the vehicle requires one (common in heavy haulage and cranes).
6. Date of the transport.
7. Vehicle registration and, for articulated combinations, the trailer or semi-trailer registration too.
8. Remarks or reservations, if the parties wish to record them.
The format is free: each company can use its own design, as long as all the data is there and the contracting shipper and actual carrier are identified separately. Other transport documents, such as a consignment note or the dangerous goods document, can serve as the DeCA if they contain all this data.
Technical requirements: PDF, QR and direct download
The June 2026 resolution is very specific about the format:
A native digital PDF of no more than 5 MB. A scan or photo of paper is not valid. The creation and modification date and time are stored in the PDF's own metadata.
A QR code inside the document pointing to a unique web address for that DeCA. The address must use HTTPS (TLS 1.2 or higher) and download the PDF directly, without a username or password and without buttons or intermediate steps. That way the traffic officer or inspector scans it with their phone and gets the document instantly.
The document can be hosted on any domain and does not have to be notified to the authorities. The download must work at least until the service ends, and it can be switched off seven calendar days after that.
No electronic signature is needed for the DeCA to be valid. Only if it is also used as a contractual document with signatures must those be at least advanced electronic signatures.
Before departure and during the service
The DeCA must always be generated before the service actually starts, and the driver must have a copy before setting off: on their phone or printed, but always with the QR visible. At a roadside check it is enough to show the document with its QR or, failing that, just the code.
If something changes during the service, such as the driver, the vehicle or an essential detail, there are two options: edit the original PDF, adding the new data and the reason and marking the old data as no longer valid (it keeps the same address and QR), or generate a new DeCA with its own QR and keep the original. Either way, the driver must receive the updated version. Handwritten notes on a printed copy do not count.
Several shipments can be grouped in one DeCA if the contracting shipper and actual carrier are the same, showing the origin, destination and goods for each one.
How long it must be kept
The contracting shipper and the actual carrier must keep the DeCA for at least one year. Each can store it in its own system; if one party generated it, it is enough for the other to be able to download it during that year.
Penalties for not carrying the DeCA
Not carrying the control document, leaving out essential data, hiding it or not keeping it is a serious offence under Spain's Land Transport Act (LOTT), with fines of 401 to 600 euros. Falsifying it, or its data, is a very serious offence, with fines of 4,001 to 6,000 euros.
Because liability is shared, the fine can fall on the shipper, the carrier or both, depending on which data is wrong. And remember that paper no longer counts: a paper control document is treated as if it did not exist.
There is no official app
The Ministry does not provide any app or central platform for issuing the DeCA. Each company handles it with its own tool: its management software, a dedicated app or a provider's platform.
In the first weeks, sector associations such as CETM and Fenadismer have warned about shippers pushing the whole task onto carriers, offers that do not meet the resolution's requirements and problems scanning QR codes at some checks. Before choosing a solution, make sure it produces a native PDF, that the QR downloads the document without credentials and that it keeps a version history.
How to comply without piling up paperwork
Producing the DeCA by hand for every service is possible, but in a company with dozens of services a day it becomes a bottleneck: someone has to remember to issue it before every departure, send it to the driver, reissue it if anything changes and archive it for a year.
The safest approach is for the DeCA to come out of the workflow itself: generated when the service is assigned, using the customer, goods and vehicle data you already have, delivered to the driver's phone, with the app refusing to start a service without its document.
DecaRoad: automatic DeCA for cranes and heavy haulage
DecaRoad is the AI application we have built at OnlyDevs for crane, heavy-haulage, low-loader and plant-hire-with-operator companies. It is in daily use at a Galician crane and heavy-haulage company with around 8,000 services a year and some thirty drivers, and it was designed with their traffic manager, their administration department and their drivers.
The DeCA is generated when a driver and machine are assigned, as a native PDF with its QR, and it reaches the driver's phone. If the driver, the vehicle or an essential detail changes, a new version is issued and the previous one is kept. Before issuing, the app flags any missing mandatory data, and it decides from the type of service when the document is needed and when it is not.
Beyond the DeCA, it runs the whole operation: the traffic manager creates services by voice and an AI agent builds the job; the driver accepts, starts and finishes it from their phone, even without signal; the recipient signs with a finger on the screen, and the office receives the delivery note with its letterhead and the amount calculated from its rates, ready to invoice.
Data is hosted on servers in Europe and roll-out takes weeks. To see it working with real data, you can book a 30-minute demo at decaroad.es.
DeCA FAQ
Since when is the electronic DeCA mandatory? Since 5 October 2026 for public road freight transport within Spain.
Is a photo or scan of a paper document valid? No. It must be a digitally generated PDF with a QR code that downloads the document.
Does it need an electronic signature? No. The regulation does not require one for the DeCA to be valid.
Can the driver carry a printed copy? Yes, as long as the printed copy includes the QR code that gives access to the electronic document.
Who must issue it? The contracting shipper or the actual carrier; the obligation is shared and both must keep it for a year.
This article is for information only and does not replace advice from your adviser or haulage association, who can confirm the specific cases in your company.