Spain will identify sales calls with 400 code
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Starting today, companies in Spain must use phone numbers beginning with the 400 code for sales calls, allowing citizens to easily distinguish them from customer service lines.
This measure fulfills requirements under the Customer Service Law and complements a plan launched in 2025 to combat phone and SMS scams. That earlier plan successfully blocked over 400 million fraudulent calls and nearly 32 million fraudulent messages.
Digital Transformation Minister Óscar López stated the goal is “a Spain without spam and without scams, that protects data and financial, health, privacy and other decisions.” Phone companies can also block calls exhibiting patterns suggesting they are unwanted sales solicitations, such as a high volume of calls. The 400 code is designed to be one-way, preventing recipients from calling the number back.
People receiving sales calls from numbers without the 400 code can file complaints with the Telecommunications User Service Office or report the call to the National Markets and Competition Commission. The law only requires blocking of sales calls, not customer service calls, which will continue using short numbers, toll-free ranges, or geographic numbers.
Additionally, since September 15, Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission has maintained a registry of alphanumeric codes, also known as aliases, used by companies and public administrations to send text, multimedia, and rich communication service messages. Phone operators have blocked over six million messages since then for using unregistered aliases or using registered aliases without authorization.
