The new law prohibits the answering machine as the only customer service.

Companies will no longer be able to use an answering machine as the only means of serving their customers. The Cortes Generales have approved Law 10/2025, of 26 December, regulating customer service, published in the «Boletín Oficial del Estado» No. 312, of 27 December 2025, which guarantees consumers the right to speak with a human operator at any point of the interaction.

The norm originates from a bill of the Government, introduced in the Congress of Deputies on 29 February 2024 and processed under the urgent procedure, with 234 amendments to the articles. It was approved by the Plenary of the Congress on 13 November 2025, by the Senate on 3 December, and finally approved by the Congress on 11 December, sanctioned by King Felipe VI and countersigned by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, on 26 December 2025. The law, structured into four chapters and twenty-three articles, is aligned with the New Consumer Agenda of the European Commission, adopted on 13 November 2020. Its scope extends to basic services of general interest and large companies:

• Supply and distribution of water, gas and electricity.
• Passenger transport by air, rail, sea and bus or coach.
• Postal services.
• Electronic communications and telephone services.
• Financial services, which are governed by their sectoral regulations on a preferential basis.

The end of telephone mazes

Article 8 of the law expressly prohibits “the use of answering machines or other analogous means as the exclusive means of customer service.” When answering machines, conversational bots or other analogous systems are used, they must offer customers, from the main menu of the telephone channel and at any time during the interaction, the possibility of requesting personalised assistance.

That assistance must be provided by a human operator who answers in real time and identifies themselves at the start of the conversation. The norm sets measurable standards:

• On average, 95% of requests for personalised assistance must be handled in less than three minutes from when the customer requests it.
• On average, 95% of calls must be answered in less than three minutes.
• Dissatisfied customers may request transfer to a supervisor or a quality department, within the same communication or, if not possible within three minutes, by a subsequent call within the same business day.
• It is prohibited to disconnect a communication due to prolonged waiting time.

Companies must accept inquiries, complaints, claims and incidents through the same channel by which the contractual relationship was initiated and, at least, by post, telephone and electronic means. For basic services of general interest provided on a continuous basis, customer service will be available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, for incidents relating to the continuity of the service.

The law sets maximum response times: fifteen business days as a general rule, two hours for incidents concerning the continuity of the service and five days for billing or improper charges. The use of the customer service telephone may not involve a cost higher than that of a call to a standard geographic landline or mobile number, and it is prohibited to redirect a toll-free number to numbers that imply a cost for customers.

Penalties and adaptation schedule

Non-compliance with the law shall be penalised as a consumer infringement in accordance with the regime of the consolidated text of the General Law for the Protection of Consumers and Users (Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007) and with regional regulations. Supervision of the financial sector remains with the Bank of Spain, the National Securities Market Commission and the Directorate General of Insurance and Pension Funds, and the law also amends Law 44/2002, on Measures for Reform of the Financial System, and Law 11/2022, General Telecommunications Law.

The law came into force on 28 December 2025, the day after its publication, and gives companies a period of twelve months to adapt their customer service services.

With this law, consumers are no longer trapped in dead-end automated menus: the right to be attended by a natural person, the identification of the operator, maximum waiting times and the prohibition on hanging up due to waiting change the rules of telephone customer service. Protection is especially relevant for vulnerable consumers, those over 65 or with disabilities, who will receive priority attention and accessible formats.

Source: «Boletín Oficial del Estado», No. 312, of 27 December 2025 (official reference: Law 10/2025, of 26 December, regulating customer service services).