A study by the Instituto Juan de Mariana and the CEU-Cefas research centre estimates that the economic impact associated with excessive regulation in Spain exceeds €90 billion a year.

The report, titled “Desenredar España”, attributes the estimated burden to administrative requirements, regulatory compliance costs, litigation and legal uncertainty. According to the study, the combined figure is equivalent to almost 6% of Spain's GDP, or approximately €1,470 per inhabitant.

The figure is an estimate produced by the organisations behind the report and should not be interpreted as an officially measured government cost or as a consensus estimate among economists.

How the €90 billion estimate is calculated

The study divides the estimated burden into two principal components.

It puts the cost associated with regulatory fragmentation between Spain's autonomous communities at approximately €37.5 billion a year, equivalent to around 2.5% of national GDP.

A further €52.43 billion, or approximately 3.5% of GDP, is attributed to barriers and the lack of greater regulatory harmonisation within the European single market.

Together, the two estimates produce a figure of more than €89.9 billion, which the report rounds to more than €90 billion annually.

These figures represent the study's modelling of economic costs rather than money directly paid by businesses or households to the government.

The study examines legislation passed since 2018

“Desenredar España” also examines Spanish legislation adopted between June 2018 and January 2026.

The researchers identified 243 laws and other legislation with the rank of law, including ordinary laws, organic laws, royal decree-laws and royal legislative decrees.

The study concludes that 204 of the 243 measures, or 84%, should either be repealed or subjected to substantial reform.

That is a recommendation and assessment made by the authors of the study, not a finding by a Spanish court or government authority that those laws are invalid or unnecessary.

Four areas for possible reform

The report divides the 243 measures into several groups according to the type of regulatory change it believes should be considered.

One category covers legislation that the authors argue could be repealed completely because it is based primarily on domestic policy rather than European obligations.

Another concerns measures linked to Spain's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and therefore connected to commitments associated with EU Next Generation funding.

A third group focuses on what the report calls “gold-plating”, referring to cases where Spain may have gone beyond the minimum requirements when implementing European directives.

The largest category consists of legislation that the authors believe addresses genuine policy problems but uses excessively rigid or interventionist approaches.

A wider claim about Spain's regulatory stock

The report also places its analysis in the context of the long-term growth of Spain's regulatory framework.

According to the study, 411,804 regulations were approved between 1978 and 2021, followed by another 11,775 in 2022.

The authors use these figures to argue that Spain has accumulated a particularly complex body of regulation over several decades.

However, the number of legal provisions alone does not establish that all of them create unnecessary economic costs. Different types of legislation have different purposes, scopes and economic effects.

The OECD also identifies regulatory burden as an issue

The concerns about regulatory complexity are not limited to this particular Spanish study.

The OECD's 2026 report “Smart Regulations, Strong Business” says regulatory stocks have expanded over time and that rules can become excessive, overlapping or inconsistent, potentially weakening productivity growth and economic dynamism.

The OECD also notes that reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens has become a priority for governments internationally.

At the same time, the OECD's work does not endorse the €90 billion estimate contained in the Spanish study.

The organisation stresses that regulatory simplification needs to be targeted and evidence-based, because regulation also provides important economic and social benefits.

Fragmentation between autonomous communities

One of the study's main concerns is the different regulatory requirements that businesses can face depending on where they operate in Spain.

The report argues that regional differences can make it more difficult for companies to operate across autonomous communities and can increase administrative costs.

The study estimates this regulatory fragmentation accounts for €37.5 billion of its overall figure.

The issue is particularly relevant for businesses operating nationally because compliance may involve different procedures, requirements and administrative systems across regions.

The European single market is another focus

The second major component of the report's calculation concerns barriers affecting Spain's participation in the European single market.

The authors estimate that the absence of greater regulatory harmonisation creates an annual economic cost of €52.43 billion.

The figure is intended to capture the economic impact of obstacles to companies operating across European markets, rather than representing a direct payment or tax.

The European Union itself has long pursued initiatives aimed at reducing unnecessary administrative and regulatory burdens, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The report makes a strong policy argument

The authors argue that reducing regulatory complexity could improve productivity, investment and competitiveness.

Their recommendations include reviewing existing legislation systematically, identifying regulations that could be eliminated or simplified and using technology to assess the impact of proposed rules.

The report describes this as a structured deregulation programme rather than simply removing regulation without replacement.

However, the conclusions about the economic effects of individual Spanish laws remain the authors' analysis.

Some of the report's claims about specific legislation, such as its effects on housing supply, employment practices or taxation, involve questions of causation that cannot automatically be established simply by observing that a policy change and an economic change occurred during the same period.

What the €90 billion figure does and does not mean

The headline figure therefore needs some context.

It does not mean Spain spends €90 billion each year administering its laws.

It does not mean businesses and households collectively receive a €90 billion bill from the government.

Instead, the study estimates the broader economic burden that it associates with regulatory fragmentation, compliance requirements, litigation and legal uncertainty.

The estimate is significant, but it comes from a specific methodology developed by the Instituto Juan de Mariana and CEU-Cefas and should be reported as such.

A debate over how much regulation is appropriate

The study arrives as governments across Europe are examining ways to simplify regulation without removing protections considered necessary for workers, consumers, the environment and other areas of public policy.

The OECD's latest work similarly argues for smarter and more proportionate regulation rather than simply less regulation.

For Spain, the report adds a detailed proposal to that wider debate, arguing that a substantial review of the country's regulatory framework could reduce administrative complexity and improve economic efficiency.

Whether the €90 billion estimate accurately captures the full economic effect of regulation, and how much of that burden could realistically be removed through deregulation, remains a matter for further economic and policy analysis.