FANMED disagrees with the Coastal Law reform proposed by MITECO

“The Government is using a European Commission case as an opportunity to tighten coastal regulation.”

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has proposed an amendment to the Coastal Law following the decision of the European Commission to open infringement proceedings against Spain for failing to guarantee a transparent procedure for awarding concessions in coastal areas.

For this reason, MITECO has put forward a draft bill and opened a public consultation and hearing period running until April 15th, 2026.

Regardless of the considerations regarding the form and substance of the correction requested by the European Commission, FANMED wishes to express its disagreement with the fact that this Coastal Law reform introduces restrictions that go beyond what is required by the EU.

FANMED also points out that the proposal addresses highly sensitive issues such as the anchoring of vessels, navigation along the coastline and environmental limitations not directly linked to the provision of services. “All of these are measures which, because of their importance, deserve to be dealt with separately and not combined with Directive 2006/123/EC, which basically refers to economic activities involving the provision of services,” the organization states.

In addition, FANMED considers it positive to move forward and study and assess any regulation aimed at reconciling the use of the coastline with navigational safety, environmental measures, and public use of coastal areas. However, it believes that “this should be done in the terms that such an important matter deserves, with its own specific regulatory development, properly justified and subject to a specific analysis, involving the sector, and not in an accessory way within a reform with a different objective.”