← Glossary

Legal representation of the workforce

The works council or the staff delegates. Article 64.4(d) of Spain's Workers' Statute gives them the right to be informed of the parameters, rules and instructions on which the algorithms or artificial intelligence systems are based that affect decision-making capable of bearing on working conditions and on access to and continuation of employment, including profiling. Spanish law, unofficial English rendering.

It is the collective layer of algorithmic transparency at work in Spain; the individual one is added by Royal Decree 723/2026.

Which obligations it carries

The right of the legal representatives to be informed about algorithms is a legal obligation for the Spanish employer, applicable from 12 May 2021. It operates only where legal representation exists: with no works council and no delegates there is no addressee for this right, which does not affect the duty to inform each worker individually.

What it is not

It is not a consultation or a negotiation: Article 64 distinguishes information — the transmission of data so that the body knows about a matter and can examine it — from consultation. Nor is it a right over the source code: it reaches the parameters, rules and instructions on which the algorithm is based.

The nuance almost nobody captures

Its material scope is wider than that of point (k) of Royal Decree 723/2026: it covers decisions capable of bearing on working conditions and also on access to and continuation of employment, with profiling expressly mentioned. The two layers run in parallel and neither replaces the other.

Related terms

To find out more

Reviewed on 23 September 2026. Dates according to Article 113 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (OJ of 24 July 2026, in force since 27 July 2026).