JOHN CARLOS I

KING OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand it.

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following law.

PREAMBLE

I

This Law is intended to supplement the incorporation into the Spanish legal system of Directive 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 on distance marketing of financial services for consumers. A part of it was incorporated by Law 34/2003 of 4 November, amending and adapting the Community legislation of private insurance legislation.

This Directive should be applied in accordance with the Treaty on European Union and secondary legislation, in particular with Directive 2000 /31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June on certain aspects of the services of the Information Society, in particular electronic commerce in the internal market, known as the "Electronic Commerce Directive", which was incorporated into the Spanish legal order by Law 34/2002 of 11 July, the services of the information society and electronic commerce.

What the Directive and, therefore, the Law called the Information Society refers to the extraordinary expansion of telecommunications networks and, in particular, the Internet, as a vehicle for transmission and exchange of information. all types of information. It was then pointed out, and it is confirmed in reality, that the incorporation of these new technologies into economic and social life offers countless advantages, such as improving business efficiency, increasing the possibilities of choice of users and the emergence of new sources of employment.

But the emergence and development of the Internet and new technologies cause inevitable legal uncertainties that need to be offset by the necessary legislative reforms.

This concern led to the first general directive on electronic commerce and subsequently the specific Directive on financial services which is now incorporated into Spanish law.

On the other hand, the Community legislature, when considering that the financial services demanded a specific regulation, wanted to extend it beyond the electronic procurement, to all the services that will be provided at a distance, without the physical presence of the contracting parties, as is the case for telephone procurement, by fax or other systems of similar scope, since Directive 97 /7/EC of 20 May of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts, had expressly excluded of its scope to financial services.

II

Consequently, the specific regulation on distance marketing of financial services, within the general objective of providing adequate protection for consumers of financial services, contains peculiar elements.

The essence of contractual freedom is respected, as it is obliged, and therefore the validity of the 1980 Rome Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations in the distance marketing of the financial services.

Although this does not prevent the harmonisation of the rules of the Member States of the European Union in aspects that are considered essential for the construction of the internal market. In the case of this Law, the most important thing is the protection of consumers, since in other provisions the protection of financial services provided in the Member States with complete freedom, in the framework of the Community legislation.

III

The main objectives of the Directive and therefore of the Law focus on greater consumer protection, always taking into account the special characteristics of financial services.

In evidence of this, a rigorous regime is established in terms of the information to be received by consumers prior to the conclusion of the contract. It can be considered that the requirements are sufficient for the contract to be closed with complete knowledge by the contracting parties of their respective rights and obligations.

The singular figure that is regulated is the right of withdrawal, in whose virtue the client can rescind the contract signed within a specified period without arguing more than his will to do so. But given the nature of many financial services, this right will not be able to exercise it in the important cases that the Law collects. These cases are mainly based on the inevitable fluctuation of the conditions of many financial contracts, which makes it necessary for contractual obligations to be fulfilled from the start of the formalisation of the contract or because these contractual conditions require special legal certainty, such as mortgages.

It should also be noted that the Act provides additional guarantees to consumers to protect against the fraudulent use of payment cards where they are used for the payment of financial services and also in for unsolicited services and communications.

The law also ensures the necessary judicial defense for the consumer and promotes, in a determined manner, the use of the extra-judicial claim, when required by the consumer.

Finally, the Law establishes a balanced sanctioning regime, harmonizing the law that establishes Law 34/2002, of services of the information society with the specific regimes in force for the service providers financial.

CHAPTER I

Object, scope and imperative nature of the rights contained in the Law

Article 1. Object.

This Act establishes the specific regime to be applied to contracts with consumers of financial services provided, negotiated and concluded at a distance, without prejudice to the application of the general rules on services of the information society and electronic commerce contained in Law 34/2002 of 11 July of services of the Information Society and Electronic Commerce and, where appropriate, Chapter II of Title III and provision First of all, the first part of Law No 7/1996 of 15 January 1996 on the organisation of retail trade and other General application to consumers, as well as the special rules governing the provision of financial services in each case.

Article 2. Application subjective scope.

1. This Law shall apply to contracts for financial services provided at a distance by credit institutions, investment firms, insurance undertakings, the management companies of collective investment institutions, the (a) the management of pension funds, insurance intermediaries, the management companies of venture capital institutions and any other financial services, as well as branches in Spain of foreign entities of the same nature, which are listed in one of the administrative records of entities to The Bank of Spain, the National Securities Market Commission and the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds, or, where appropriate, the Autonomous Communities, in the case of certain insurance companies.

2. In the case of financial services provided by subjects other than those mentioned in the preceding paragraph, this Law shall apply to the suppliers of the same established in Spain and to those who are offered through an establishment permanent located in Spain.

For the purposes of this Law, a service provider shall be understood to be established in Spain or operating through a permanent establishment located in Spanish territory when the circumstances and presumptions provided for in this Article are given. Article 2 of Law 34/2002 of 11 July on the services of the information society and electronic commerce.

3. The provisions of this Act shall also apply where distance hiring is carried out with the participation of one or more intermediaries.

4. This Law, having regard to the provisions of Article 3 of Law 34/2002, shall also apply to service providers established in another Member State of the European Union or the European Economic Area where the addressee of the services radique in Spain and the following subjects are affected:

a) Emission of advertising by collective investment institutions.

(b) Direct insurance activity carried out under the right of establishment or under the freedom to provide services.

(c) Obligations arising from contracts concluded by persons with the status of consumers.

(d) The regime of choice by the contracting parties to the law applicable to their contract.

e) The lawfulness of commercial communications by email or other unsolicited equivalent electronic means of communication.

These service providers will also be subject to the rules of the Spanish legal system governing these matters.

In any case, the constitution, transmission, modification and extinction of real property rights in Spain will be subject to the formal requirements of validity and effectiveness established in the legal system.

The provisions of points (a) to (e) shall not apply to cases where, in accordance with the rules governing the matters listed above, the law of the country in which the law resides or is established does not apply. service recipient.

5. Without prejudice to the application of the provisions of Articles 7.2, relating to the principle of freedom to provide services, to suppliers established in countries which are not members of the European Union or the European Economic Area, and 8, concerning the restrictions on the provision of services, of Law 34/2002, the obligations laid down in this Law will apply to those suppliers when they direct their services specifically to the Spanish territory, provided that this does not contravene the established in international treaties or conventions that are applicable.

Article 3. Imperative character.

Consumers of the financial services provided at a distance will not be able to waive the rights granted to them in this Law.

The waiver of the rights recognized by this Law to the consumers is null, and the acts carried out in fraud of this Law are also null, as provided for in Article 6 of the Civil Code.

The consumer protection rules contained in this Law will apply when the law chosen by the parties to govern the contract is that of a non-Community State, provided that the contract has a close link with the territory of a Member State of the European Economic Area.

It shall be understood, in particular, that there is a close link when the supplier exercises its activities in one or more Member States of the European Economic Area or by any means of advertising or communication activities to one or more Member States and the contract is understood in the framework of those activities. Contracts relating to buildings shall also mean that there is a close link when they are situated in the territory of a Member State.

Article 4. Material scope.

1. Contracts concluded between a supplier and a consumer and the tenders relating to them are understood within the scope of the law provided that they create obligations for the consumer, the object of which is the provision of all types of financial services. to consumers, within the framework of a system for the sale or provision of distance services organised by the supplier, when using exclusively remote communication techniques, including the conclusion of the contract itself.

In the case of contracts relating to financial services which comprise an initial service agreement followed by successive operations or a series of different operations of the same type staggered over time, the provisions of this Law shall only apply to the initial agreement.

In the event that an initial service agreement does not exist but that successive or different operations of the same type staggered over time are carried out between the same parties, Articles 7 and 8 of this Law shall apply when the first operation is performed. However, where no operation of the same type is carried out for more than one year, the operation of the following operation shall be understood as the first of a new series of operations, the provisions of which are being applied Articles 7 and 8 of the Law.

2. For the purposes of this Law, financial services shall be the financial services of banking, credit or payment services, investment services, private insurance operations, pension schemes and insurance mediation activities. In particular,

following definitions shall apply:

(a) banking, credit or payment services: the activities related to Article 52 of Law 26/1988 of 29 July on Discipline and Intervention of Credit Entities.

b) investment services: those defined as such in the Law 24/1988, of 28 July, of the Securities Market.

(c) private insurance operations: those defined in Article 3 of the recast of the Law on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance, approved by Royal Decree-Law 6/2004 of 29 October.

(d) pension plans: those defined in Article 1 of the recast of the Law on the Regulation of Pension Plans and Funds, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2002 of 29 November.

(e) insurance mediation activity: the one defined in Article 2 of Law 26/2006 of 17 July of private insurance and reinsurance mediation.

3. It is understood that the contract is concluded at a distance when for negotiation and conclusion a distance communication technique is used exclusively, without the physical and simultaneous presence of the supplier and the consumer, consisting of the use of telematic, electronic, telephone, fax or similar means.

CHAPTER II

Distance Contract Regime

Article 5. The parts.

The parts of the distance contract are the supplier and the consumer.

Any natural or legal person, private or public, is considered as a supplier, who, in the context of its commercial or professional activities, provides a financial service at a distance. For the purposes of this Law, it is considered as suppliers to those who are self-employed as intermediaries at any stage of the marketing.

For the purposes of this Law, it is considered as consumers the natural persons who, in distance contracts, act with a purpose other than their business or professional activity.

Article 6. Technical instruments.

1. In the distance marketing of financial services, the tenders and the conclusion of contracts on a durable medium must be recorded. Durable medium means any instrument that allows the consumer to store the information personally addressed to him, so that he can easily retrieve it for a period of time suitable for the purposes for which the information is intended to allow unchanged reproduction of the stored information.

2. A supplier of a distance communication technique means any person, natural or legal, public or private, whose business or professional activity consists of placing directly at the disposal of financial service providers one or more more remote communication techniques.

Article 7. Pre-contract information requirements.

1. The financial service provider shall provide the consumer with sufficient time and before the consumer assumes any obligation arising from the offer or the distance contract, at least the following information.

1) As for the provider itself:

(a) the identity and principal activity of the supplier, the geographical address in which the supplier is established and any other geographical address that originates for the consumer's relations with the supplier;

(b) where a representative of the supplier established in the Member State of residence of the consumer is involved, the identity of that legal representative, the quality with which he acts, his geographical address, telephone, fax and, where appropriate, e-mail to which the consumer may address for his relations with the representative, as well as the complete identity of the supplier;

(c) in the event that the consumer's business relations are with any professional other than the supplier, such as the representatives or intermediaries of financial institutions, the identity of the professional, the condition with the arrangement to which it acts in respect of the consumer and the geographical address to which the consumer is dealing with the professional;

(d) where the supplier is registered in a public register, the register in which the supplier is registered and its registration number, or equivalent means of identification in that register;

e) if the provider or a given provider activity is subject to an authorization regime, the data from the corresponding monitoring authority.

2) As for the financial service:

(a) a description of the main characteristics of the financial service, in terms that determine the regulatory standards for development;

(b) the total price to be paid by the consumer to the financial service provider, including all fees, charges and charges, as well as all taxes paid through the supplier or, where a non-payment is not possible exact price, the calculation basis that allows the consumer to check the price;

(c) where appropriate, a warning indicating that the financial service is related to instruments involving special risks, such as those of limited or no liquidity, the possibility that the financial services may not be repaid in full. funds deposited or that the price of the service is significantly increased, either resulting from its specific characteristics or from the operations to be executed or the price of which depends on fluctuations in financial markets other than the supplier control, and the historical results of which are not indicators of future results;

d) the indication that other taxes or expenses may exist that are not paid through the provider or that do not bill them;

e) any limitation of the period during which the information provided is valid;

f) the payment and execution modes;

g) any additional consumer-specific costs inherent in the use of the remote communication technique, in the event that such cost is passed on;

(h) in the case of pension schemes, the consumer shall be informed that the amounts provided and the savings generated shall be used only to cover the situations provided for in the contract and may not be recovered for another an end other than the exceptional circumstances referred to in the contractual terms, all in accordance with the provisions of the applicable rules.

3) Regarding the distance contract:

(a) the existence or not of the right of withdrawal, in accordance with Article 10, and, if there is such a right, its duration and the conditions for exercising it, including information relating to the amount that the consumer may have to to pay in accordance with Article 11, as well as the consequences of the lack of exercise of that right and its loss when, before exercising this right, the contract is executed in full by both parties, at the express request of the consumer;

(b) the instructions for exercising the right of withdrawal, indicating, among other things, which postal or electronic address should be addressed in the notification of withdrawal;

(c) the minimum contractual duration, in the case of contracts for the provision of permanent or periodic financial services;

(d) information on any right, other than that referred to in point (a), that the parties may have to terminate the contract in advance or unilaterally under the terms of the contract, including penalties that the contract can contain in that case;

(e) the Member State (s) in whose legislation the supplier is based to establish relations with the consumer, prior to the conclusion of the contract;

(f) the contractual clauses, if any, relating to the law applicable to the distance contract and to the competent jurisdiction to hear the case;

(g) the language (s) in which the contractual terms and the prior information are presented, and the language (s) in which the contract may be concluded and the benefits derived from it, in accordance with the consumer.

4) Regarding the means of claim and compensation:

a) which out-of-court resolution systems of conflict, public or private, can be accessed by the consumer and how they can access them,

b) the existence of guarantee funds or other compensation mechanisms, whether mandatory or voluntary.

2. All the information required under paragraph 1 shall be supplied unequivocally indicating its commercial purpose and shall be communicated in a clear and comprehensible manner by any means which are adapted to the distance communication technique used, duly respecting, in particular, the principles of good faith in commercial transactions and the principles governing the protection of persons who lack the capacity to act and the rights in the area of universal accessibility of persons with disabilities.

3. In the case of voice telephony communication, the following rules shall be observed:

(a) at the beginning of any conversation with the consumer, the identity of the supplier and the commercial end of the call initiated by the supplier shall be clearly stated;

b) upon express acceptance of the consumer, only the following information shall be provided:

1. the identity of the person in contact with the consumer and their link to the provider;

2. a description of the main features of the financial service;

3. the total price to be paid by the consumer to the financial service provider, including all taxes paid through the supplier or, where an exact price cannot be indicated, the basis of the calculation allowing the consumer check the price;

4. Indication that other taxes or expenses may exist that are not paid through the provider or that do not bill them for the same;

5. the existence or non-existence of a right of withdrawal, in accordance with Article 10 and, if there is such a right, its duration and the conditions for exercising it, including information relating to the amount that the consumer may have to pay in accordance with Article 11;

(c) the supplier shall inform the consumer of the existence of additional information available on request and of the type of information in question.

4. Information on contractual obligations, which must be communicated to the consumer during the pre-contractual stage, must be in accordance with the contractual obligations resulting from the law to which the contract is subject, if celebrates.

Article 8. Additional reporting requirements.

Without prejudice to Article 7, the additional requirements for prior information set out in the special legislation applicable to the financial service subject to the distance contract shall apply.

Article 9. Communication of contractual conditions and prior information.

1. The supplier shall communicate to the consumer all the contractual terms and conditions, as well as the information referred to in Articles 7 and 8, on paper or other durable medium accessible to the consumer, in good time the conclusion of the distance contract or the acceptance of an offer and, in any event, before the consumer assumes the obligations through any distance or offer contract.

2. Without prejudice to compliance with the requirements for incorporation of the general conditions of employment, the supplier shall comply with the obligations laid down in paragraph 1 immediately after the contract is formalised when the contract is concluded. it has been concluded at the request of the consumer using a distance communication technique which does not permit the transmission of the contractual terms and information required in accordance with paragraph 1.

3. At any time in the contractual relationship, the consumer shall be entitled, if so requested, to obtain the contractual conditions on paper support. In addition, the consumer shall have the right to change the distance communication technique or techniques used, unless it is incompatible with the contract concluded or with the nature of the financial service provided.

4. Failure to comply with the requirements relating to prior information resulting from contracts, as well as those relating to the communication of such prior information, as laid down in Chapter II, in Articles 7, 8 and 9 of this Regulation Law may give rise to the nullity of contracts, in accordance with the provisions of Spanish legislation.

Article 10. Right of withdrawal.

1. The consumer shall have a period of 14 calendar days to withdraw from the contract at a distance, without any indication of the reasons and without any penalty.

The term will be thirty calendar days in the case of life insurance-related contracts.

The time limit for exercising the right of withdrawal shall start from the day of the conclusion of the contract, except in relation to life insurance, in which case the period shall begin when the consumer is informed that the contract has been concluded. However, if the consumer has not received the contractual conditions and the contractual information referred to in Article 7.1, the period for exercising the right of withdrawal shall begin to count on the day on which he receives the information.

2. The right of withdrawal shall not apply to contracts relating to:

(a) financial services whose price depends on fluctuations in the financial markets which the supplier cannot control, which may occur during the period in which the right of the supplier may be exercised withdrawal, including transactions on:

1. foreign currency exchange operations,

2. Monetary Market Instruments,

3. Negotiable securities,

4. º participations in collective investment institutions,

5. future financial contracts, including equivalent instruments involving a cash settlement,

6. future interest rate futures contracts,

7. number of swap contracts on interest rates, on foreign exchange or on shares or an index on shares, options for the purchase or sale of any of the instruments listed in the previous indents, including equivalent instruments involving a cash settlement. In particular, the options on foreign exchange and interest rates are included in this category

8. º contracts referenced to indexes, prices, or market interest rates,

9. related contracts, in which, at least, one of the legal businesses involves a transaction of those mentioned in the previous indents. For the purposes of this Law, the complex legal business resulting from the juxtaposition of two or more independent legal businesses, in which, as a result of that juxtaposition, the execution of one, will be considered to be linked contracts. depends on everyone else, either simultaneously or successively;

b) the following insurance contracts:

1. insurance contracts in which the taker assumes the risk of the investment, as well as the contracts in which the guaranteed return is based on investments assigned to them,

2. travel or baggage of less than one month,

3. º those whose effects end before the deadline referred to in paragraph 1,

4. º that comply with a taker's assurance obligation,

5. the insured forecast plans;

(c) contracts that have been executed in full by both parties at the express request of the consumer before the consumer exercises his right of withdrawal, such as transfer orders and recovery management operations;

(d) appropriations intended primarily for the acquisition or conservation of property rights on land or in existing buildings or for building, or for the purpose of renovating or improving buildings;

(e) loans secured either by a mortgage on a immovable property or by a right over a property;

(f) the statements of consumers made with the intervention of Notary, provided that they are of faith that the rights of the consumer referred to in Article 7 have been guaranteed;

g) pension plans.

3. The consumer who exercises the right of withdrawal shall inform the supplier in the terms provided for in the contract, before the end of the relevant period, by a procedure which permits the notification of any mode accepted in law. The notification shall be deemed to have been made within a period of time if it is made on a paper or other durable medium, available and accessible to the recipient, and is sent before the expiry of the deadline.

4. In the event that the distance contract on which the right of withdrawal has been exercised, another distance contract of financial services provided by the same supplier or by a third party has been linked to it, after agreement with the provider, such additional contract will also be resolved, without penalty.

5. The provisions of this Law in relation to the right of withdrawal shall not apply to contracts which have been resolved as a result of the exercise of the right of withdrawal recognized in another standard.

Article 11. Payment of the service provided before withdrawal.

1. The consumer who exercises the right of withdrawal will only be obliged to pay, as soon as possible, the financial service actually provided by the supplier in accordance with the contract, until the moment of withdrawal.

The amount that the consumer must pay will not exceed the proportional amount of the part already borrowed from the service compared to the total coverage of the contract, nor will it be in any case of such magnitude that it amounts to a penalty.

2. The supplier may not require any payment from the consumer in any of the following situations:

a) If you do not demonstrate that you have provided the information required in Article 7.1.3), a).

b) If you start the execution of the contract, without having been requested by the consumer, before the withdrawal period expires.

3. The supplier shall reimburse the consumer as soon as possible, and within a maximum period of 30 calendar days, any amount which he has received from the supplier in accordance with the distance contract, except for the amount mentioned in the paragraph 1. That period shall start on the day on which the supplier receives the notification of withdrawal.

4. The consumer shall return to the supplier any quantity which he has received from the supplier as soon as possible, and in any case, within the maximum period of 30 calendar days, from the notification of withdrawal.

Article 12. Payment by card.

When the amount of the pecuniary obligations arising from the distance contract has been fraudulently or improperly charged using the number of a payment card, the holder may demand the immediate cancellation of the charge. In this case, the corresponding debit and credit entries in the accounts of the supplier and the holder shall be made as soon as possible.

Article 13. Services not requested.

1. Financial services may not be provided to a consumer, even in the case of tacit renewal of a distance contract, without the prior application of that contract, where such provision implies an immediate or deferred payment requirement.

A tacit renewal of a distance contract shall not be deemed to exist in the case of the various benefits arising from a subsequent contract or where the renewal at the end of the contract is expressly provided for in the contract. a contract initially concluded in the absence of a complaint by one of the parties and provided that the initially agreed contractual conditions are not changed.

2. In the case of an unsolicited benefit, the consumer will be exempted from any obligation, without the lack of a reply being considered as consent. However, if the consumer makes effective use of the unsolicited financial service he must satisfy the amount of the part actually used or enjoyed, without such a duty being the provision of the consent to be bound by a new contract not requested nor the obligation to meet expenses or commissions, nor, in general, amounts not previously agreed with the service provider entity.

Article 14. Unsolicited communications.

1. Communications not requested by telephone, fax or electronic means shall be governed by the provisions of Law 32/2003 of 3 November, General of Telecommunications, and Law 34/2002 of July 11, of Services of the Information Society and Electronic Commerce, as well as, as appropriate, in their respective development regulations.

It will only be possible for the supplier of other remote communication techniques to allow individual communication, other than those mentioned in the previous paragraph, with the prior consent of the consumer.

2. The use of the techniques described in the previous paragraph shall not entail any expenditure for the consumer.

Article 15. Cessation actions.

1. The action of cessation against conduct contrary to this Law may be exercised which injures both collective and diffuse interests of consumers and users.

2. The cessation action is directed to obtain a judgment that condemns the defendant to cease in the conduct contrary to this Law and to prohibit its future reiteration. The action may also be exercised in order to prohibit the conduct of a conduct where the conduct has been completed at the time of the exercise of the action, if there is sufficient evidence to cause the action to be repeated in an immediate manner.

3. They will be entitled to exercise the cessation action:

(a) The National Institute of Consumption and the corresponding bodies or entities of the Autonomous Communities and of the Local Authorities responsible for consumer protection.

b) Consumer and user associations meeting the requirements laid down in Law 26/1984 of 19 July, General for the Defence of Consumers and Users or, where appropriate, in the autonomous legislation on consumer protection. consumer protection.

c) The Fiscal Ministry.

(d) entities in other Member States of the European Community constituted for the protection of collective interests and the diffuse interests of consumers who are enabled by their inclusion in the list published for that purpose in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The Judges and Courts shall accept such a list as evidence of the ability of the entity to be a party, without prejudice to examining whether the purpose of the entity and the interests involved legitimize the exercise of the action.

All entities referred to in this paragraph may be personified in the processes promoted by any other entity, if they deem it appropriate for the defense of the interests they represent.

4. The providers of distance communication techniques shall, where required by judicially, put an end to the provision of the distance communication service which is being misused.

Article 16. Extra-judicial claim.

1. The supplier and the consumer may submit their conflicts to the consumer arbitration, by means of accession of those to the Consumer Arbitration System, or to other systems of out-of-court settlement of disputes, which appear on the list published by the European Commission on alternative systems for resolving disputes with consumers and respecting the principles laid down by Community legislation, as well as the mechanisms provided for in the legislation on the protection of consumers financial services.

2. The consumer arbitration bodies or bodies provided for in the legislation on the protection of the clients of financial services, who are involved in the resolution of claims on financial services provided at a distance, will have to cooperate. in the resolution of cross-border conflicts occurring at the intra-Community level, through the "Cross-border Network of Extra-Judicial Reporting on Financial Services" (FIN_NET) or any other mechanism that is enabled to effect.

Article 17. Load the test.

It will be up to the supplier to bear the burden of proof of compliance with the obligations under this Law, in the field of consumer information, as well as the consumer's consent to the conclusion of the contract and, where applicable, for execution.

CHAPTER III

Sanctioning Regime

Article 18. Administrative penalties.

1. Providers of distance financial services shall be subject to the sanctioning regime established in this Chapter where this Law is applicable to them and, in the alternative, to that provided for in Law 34/2002, of 11 July, of Services of the Information Society and Electronic Commerce.

2. In the case of providers of financial services included in Article 2.1 of this Law, rules of ordination and discipline shall be considered, the provisions contained in this Law concerning the obligation to state the tenders and the conclusion of contracts on a durable medium as provided for in Article 6.1; to the requirements of information prior to the contract laid down in Article 7; to the obligations for the communication of contractual and contractual conditions; prior information provided for in Article 9 and those contained in Article 14 concerning services not requested. Their non-compliance will be sanctioned in accordance with the relevant sectoral regulations, with the following specialties:

(a) For credit institutions, and any other financial services, in accordance with Article 2.1 of this Law, which are entered in the administrative records of the Banco de España, and provided that the infringements are not of an occasional or isolated nature, such as a serious infringement, in accordance with the provisions of Law 26/1988 of 29 July on Discipline and Intervention of Credit Entities.

(b) For investment firms, collective investment institutions, venture capital institutions and their management companies, respectively, as a serious infringement in accordance with the provisions of the Law 24/1988, of July 28, of the Securities Market, Law 35/2003, of 4 November, of Institutions of Collective Investment, and Law 1/1999, of 5 January, regulator of the Risk Capital Entities and their management companies.

(c) For insurance institutions, as a serious or very serious infringement in accordance with Articles 40.4.b and 40.3.b of the recast of the Law on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 6/2004, of October 29.

(d) For insurance intermediaries, as a serious or very serious infringement in accordance with Articles 55.3.a) and 55.2.c) of Law 26/2006, of 17 July, of Private Insurance and Reinsurance Mediation.

e) For pension fund management entities, as a serious or very serious infringement in accordance with Articles 35.3.n) and 35.4.n) of the Recast Text of the Pension Plans and Funds Regulation, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2002 of 29 November.

3. In the case of providers of financial services other than those referred to in paragraph 2 above, failure to comply with the provisions of this Law shall be punishable as an infringement in the field of consumption, specific legislation on consumer and user protection.

4. Where, as a result of a sanctioning action, knowledge of facts which may be the constituent of offences established in other laws, the bodies or bodies competent for their supervision shall be given the same account. and sanction.

5. The consumer may terminate the contract at any time, without expense and without penalty.

Additional disposition first. Amendment of Law 26/1984, July 19, general for the defense of consumers and users.

A new paragraph, 19a, is inserted into the additional first provision ("Unfair Clauses") with the following wording:

" 19a. The imposition on the consumer of the burden of proof on the non-compliance, in whole or in part, of the supplier at a distance from financial services of the obligations imposed by the rules governing them. '

Additional provision second. Plan of measures to combat the activities of remote collection of confidential information in a fraudulent manner.

Within six months, the Government, together with the Autonomous Communities, and in collaboration with the economic operators concerned, will present a plan of measures to combat the activities of remote-capture fraudulent information in a fraudulent manner, incorporating consumer and user protection measures that prioritise security elements in transactions and minimise the risks and economic consequences for citizens derive from these criminal behaviors.

Repeal provision.

This Law is repealed with the entry into force of this Law:

(a) Article 6a of Law 50/1980 of 8 October of Insurance Contract.

(b) The second and third paragraphs of Article 83.a (1) (a) of Law 50/1980 of 8 October of the Insurance Contract.

(c) In Article 83.a (2) (a) of Law 50/1980 of 8 October of the Insurance Contract, the clause stating: ' In the case of a distance marketed insurance contract, the communication shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the instructions which the taker has received in accordance with the provisions of Article 60 (3) of Law 30/1995 of 8 November 1995 on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance.

d) The second provision of Law 50/1980, of October 8, of Insurance Contract.

(e) The first subparagraph of paragraph 3, paragraph 4 and Article 60 (5) of the Recast Text of the Law on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 6/2004 of 29 October.

Final disposition first. Constitutional competence.

This Law is issued under the terms of Article 149.1.6., 8th, 11th and 13th of the Constitution, without prejudice to the powers that, where appropriate, correspond to the Autonomous Communities.

Final disposition second. Incorporation of European Union law.

By this Law, the incorporation into the Spanish legal order of Directive 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 on the distance marketing of services is completed. financial services for consumers.

Final disposition third. Entry into force.

This Law will enter into force three months after its publication in the Official Gazette of the State.

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this law.

Madrid, 11 July 2007.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The President of the Government,

JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO