DeCA complete guide 2026

The change in one sentence

From 5 October 2026, the control document that accompanies every shipment in Spanish public road haulage is no longer accepted on paper: it must be the DeCA, an electronic document with a QR code that inspectors can download at the roadside. The mandate comes from the eighth transitional provision ofLaw 9/2025 on Sustainable Mobility, and the technical detail from theResolution of 5 June 2026. It is not a new document: it is the same control document defined byOrder FOM/2861/2012, in a format that can finally be verified in seconds.

Who is obliged (and who tends to get the surprise)

The obligation covers public (for-hire) road haulage with origin and destination in Spain, with the exceptions listed in art. 1 of the Order. And it is not only the carrier's problem — the document must identify, and binds, two parties:

• The contractual shipper: the party contracting the transport in its own name — a manufacturer, a distributor or a freight forwarder. Watch subcontracting: when a forwarder subcontracts the haul, that forwarder becomes the contractual shipper of the effective transport.
• The effective carrier: the company physically performing the haul with its vehicles and drivers.

Both must be able to access the document for at least one year. The usual surprise is the shipper who thinks "that is the carrier's paperwork": if the document is missing or wrong, liability reaches the shipper too.

The 8 data items of art. 6, without the legalese

The document must contain (art. 6 of Order FOM/2861/2012):

1. Name or company name, tax ID and address of the contractual shipper.
2. Name or company name and tax ID of the effective carrier.
3. Origin and destination of the shipment.
4. Nature and weight of the goods (or the applicable alternative measure).
5. The special circulation permit, only when the vehicle needs one.
6. The date of the transport.
7. The vehicle plate — for articulated units, both tractor and trailer. If the vehicle changes, the change must be recorded.
8. Any remarks or reservations the parties request.

It looks trivial until you audit a real filing cabinet: plates without the trailer, shippers without a tax ID, "approx." weights. On paper, those defects slept until an inspection. With the DeCA, good software catches them before issuing — ours validates every art. 6 field live, distinguishing blockers from warnings.

What the file must comply with: the technical requirements

The Resolution of 5 June 2026 requires, among other points:

• A digitally native PDF of 5 MB maximum, generated before the service starts. A scan or a photo of paper does not qualify.
• A QR embedded in the PDF pointing to the document's unique URL: HTTPS, direct PDF download, no login, no credentials, no intermediate buttons.
• The URL cannot expire before the service ends and may only be deactivated 7 calendar days after it does.
• PDF metadata with the date and time of creation and of every modification.
• Retention of at least one year by the contractual shipper and the effective carrier (a shared repository qualifies).
• A signature is not required; if the parties sign, it must be an advanced or qualified electronic signature (eIDAS).

An important detail for anyone considering a home-made DeCA: this is not "a PDF in a shared drive". It demands a stable public URL per document, versioning with metadata, and guaranteed availability towards the authority for the whole service. That is exactly the kind of plumbing a specialised SaaS amortises across thousands of documents — from€0.18 per document in our case.

Real life: en-route changes, multi-delivery and the driver

En-route changes

Plate change, vehicle swap, an incident? The rule allows two paths: annotate the new data and its reason in the same document, marking the previous value as no longer valid, or issue a new version with a new URL and QR while keeping the original. Either way, the critical operational requirement is that the driver carries the current version. Our platform records every change as an audited event (who, when, what, original values preserved) and automatically re-sends the updated link to the driver.

Several shipments, one document

Grouping is allowed only if all shipments share the same contractual shipper and effective carrier, with each shipment individually identified. Useful for distribution routes; dangerous if used to stuff everything into one PDF.

The driver

Must carry a copy on board — on the phone or printed — always with the QR. At a checkpoint, showing the QR alone is enough. Handwritten annotations on the copy are not valid: every change goes through the electronic document. And nothing to install: a link by WhatsApp, email or SMS does the job.

Mistakes that cost money

• Issuing after loading. The document must exist before the service starts. Issuing it "once the truck is rolling" is the easiest offence to detect, because the metadata gives it away.
• URLs behind a login, or viewers with buttons. If the officer cannot download the PDF directly, the document does not comply. Always ask your provider for a demo of the public URL.
• Confusing the DeCA with the eCMR. Different documents, different rules: the DeCA is domestic and administrative; the eCMR, international and contractual. We cover it in DeCA vs eCMR vs consignment note.
• "Custody" in an inbox. A year of guaranteed access for two parties is not an email folder. It is a repository with history.
• Waiting until September. The rush of sign-ups and doubts will peak right before the deadline. Testing in August with real shipments costs €0.18 per document; improvising in October can cost from €401 per check — thepenalties guide runs the numbers.

How to start today (15 minutes, honestly)

1. Create your account — 10 free documents, no card.
2. Load your master data: your company, your regular customers, your vehicles.
3. Issue a test DeCA with a real shipment and send it to a driver.
4. Scan the QR yourself: you will see exactly what the Guardia Civil sees.
5. Issuing dozens a day? Connect your TMS or ERP to the API and automate issuance — details on the developers page.

Prefer to check where you stand first? Use the publicvalidator or go through thereadiness checklist.