From 5 October 2026, every Spanish employer must inform each worker, in writing, which systems make decisions about their work. This comes from Real Decreto 723/2026, de 9 de septiembre, published in the Spanish Official Gazette on 15 September. Its Article 3(2)(k) reads — there is no official English text of this Spanish rule, so the wording below is the Spanish original:
k) La existencia de sistemas algorítmicos o automatizados de toma de decisiones. Lo anterior incluirá las pautas, criterios y reglas de funcionamiento de los citados sistemas cuando se empleen para la toma de decisiones relativas a la determinación, la fijación, variación o modificación de condiciones de trabajo, tales como la duración y distribución de la jornada, la asignación de tareas, la determinación de los salarios, de la progresión profesional, del lugar de trabajo o de la extinción del contrato.
There are two layers, and only the second is qualified. Informing about the existence of the systems carries no condition. Informing about their guidelines, criteria and operating rules is required where they decide on working conditions, and the list of conditions is illustrative: it says "such as".
It does not have to be artificial intelligence. The decree speaks of "algorithmic or automated" systems, without referring to the definition in Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 and without distinguishing by risk level. A deterministic rule-based shift engine, a fixed productivity formula or a task router all fall within it. That is an important difference from the AI Act, whose duties to inform workers (Articles 26(7) and 26(11)) reach only high-risk systems. Article 26 applies from 2 December 2027 for the high-risk systems in Annex III and from 2 August 2028 for those in Annex I.
5 October 2026 is not an AI Act date, and it never appears alongside them in the platform: it is always labelled as the date of RD 723/2026.
What is now in your legal catalogue. Five new references, each with its official text checked against the Spanish Official Gazette: the duty to inform (Article 3(2)(k)), the deadline for informing about each change — at the latest on the day it takes effect — the medium and the proof of delivery, the regime for workers already employed — on request, within thirty working days — and the information right of the workers' representatives under Article 64(4)(d) of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores, in force since 2021 and the collective layer of the same thing.
The four from the royal decree were added as conditionally mandatory and, since 5 October 2026, are shown as mandatory. We do not state penalty amounts: the decree does not define infringements, and we are not going to infer amounts from another statute without having checked it.
And one change you will not see but that matters: the catalogue now distinguishes jurisdictions. Each legal reference now declares whether it is EU law or national law, and your organisation receives the European layer plus that of its country, provided it is a layer we maintain. Today we maintain two: the Union's and Spain's. If your organisation were in another country, the platform would tell you so on the screen itself rather than showing you Spanish obligations as though they were yours. Until now, the articles of Ley Orgánica 3/2018 were served to every account alike.
You can see this under Legal framework in modules 1, 2 and 3, and on each module's start page.
