The new cognitive accessibility regulation will require public administrations, companies, and political organizations to facilitate the understanding of documents, procedures, services, public spaces, transport, and electoral processes. The rule, published this Thursday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), will come into effect on January 2, 2027.
The Royal Decree 707/2026, of September 2, establishes the basic conditions that must be applied throughout Spain to ensure that people with cognitive difficulties can understand information, communicate, and function with greater autonomy.
The regulation is not only aimed at people with intellectual disabilities. It also addresses comprehension difficulties related to certain health situations, age, illiteracy, poverty, or lack of knowledge of the language.
Among the planned tools are plain language, easy reading, pictograms, visual and tactile supports, sound formats, alternative communication systems, and technological solutions, including artificial intelligence.
Documents and administrative procedures in easy reading
One of the main novelties affects the relationships of citizens with public administrations. Forms, applications, and guides for completing procedures must be available in easy reading.
Administrations will also have to incorporate auditory or visual supports in the instructions for using websites and public applications, following a procedure, filling out forms, or identifying the agency to which a request should be directed.
The electronic procedures must be designed in such a way that they are cognitively accessible. The rule allows for the use of live chats or artificial intelligence tools that guide the citizen in writing, by voice, or with visual supports.
People who certify an intellectual disability and a degree of disability equal to or greater than 33% may request, at any time, that the remaining phases of an administrative procedure be carried out with the necessary adaptations.
In these cases, written and oral communications must be made in plain language and the person may be accompanied by someone of their choice from the first contact with the Administration.
The public employment calls must have an easy-to-read version. If requested, the syllabi provided by the Administration, the tests, the practices, and the exams will also have to be adapted.
Judicial resolutions in an understandable format
The regulation also introduces obligations for the Administration of Justice. All judicial resolutions and communications must be drafted and presented in an understandable format.
People with cognitive difficulties will be able to receive assistance from a procedural facilitator responsible for making the necessary adaptations so that they can understand the procedure and be understood. They will also be able to come accompanied by a person of their choice under the terms established by procedural legislation.
Judicial offices and the colleges of lawyers and procurators must have trained personnel to assist those who need to request free justice, file a complaint, or register documents for which the intervention of a lawyer is not mandatory.
Parties must publish their programs in simple language
The regulation also introduces important changes in electoral processes. Political parties will have to publish their programs, at a minimum, in simple language and promote the use of visual aids.
The programs must also be available in audio or tactile format and allow the use of technologies that facilitate their understanding. This requirement will be voluntary for political organizations that only present candidacies in municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants.
After the general, European, regional, or municipal elections, parties will have six months to present a report to the corresponding Electoral Board on the accessibility measures applied. These reports must also be published on their websites.
In polling stations, there must be a person responsible for explaining the necessary steps to vote to those who need it. People with cognitive difficulties will be able to come with someone of their choice, as long as it does not interfere with the freedom and secrecy of the vote.
Polling places must incorporate understandable signage, and administrations will prepare an accessible guide explaining the voting process. Communications about the date of the elections, the table, the location, and the schedule must use easy reading.
Changes in hiring and in the workplace
Companies must also publish their job offers, conditions, and requirements in an accessible manner and, in all cases, using simple language.
Candidates who meet the educational and experience requirements may request a free adaptation of the job interview. This request cannot be used as a reason for exclusion from the selection process.
For workers with intellectual disabilities and a recognized degree equal to or greater than 33%, companies must adapt training when requested. Documentation on occupational risk prevention and emergency response must be written in clear language and have a version in easy reading.
Adaptations of documents, meetings, schedules, workload, and technological tools may also be requested. The company must carry them out unless they constitute a disproportionate burden, a circumstance that must be communicated in writing and in an accessible manner.
The timekeeping and authentication systems must offer alternatives that do not depend on remembering a password, two-factor verification systems, and possibilities for remote assistance.
Comprehensible signage in buildings and public spaces
In public spaces and buildings, ease of identifying routes, locating places, understanding signage, and accessing common-use elements will be taken into account.
The symbolism must be simple and quickly interpretable. Whenever possible, standardized indications, recognizable pictograms, and tactile resources will be used at particularly relevant points.
The standard also proposes to control or anticipate sensory stimuli such as lighting, sound, and movement. In addition, access for personal assistants and support persons must be guaranteed.
These conditions will be mandatory in newly constructed urban public spaces and when renewing existing ones. In buildings, they will apply to new constructions, major renovations, and specific elements affected by other interventions.
Up to 15 years to adapt transport signage
At the same time, stations, stops, routes, vehicles, and notices about entrances, exits, and journeys must be easy to locate and understand.
The signage may be provided in writing, in audio, or through tactile resources. The information offices must have augmentative and alternative communication systems for those who need them.
The adaptation of transport signs and notices will be carried out progressively, with a maximum period of 15 years. Priority will be given to infrastructures with a higher volume of travelers.
The regulation does not automatically establish the free ticket for companions, but urges administrations to promote that operators grant advantages or more favorable conditions to support persons.
The Ministry of Transport must prepare, within a period of two years from the entry into force of the regulation, a report on the cognitive accessibility of railway and airport facilities.
Museums, libraries, and cultural centers
The brochures and information panels of museums, libraries, archives, theaters, auditoriums, and other cultural centers managed by the State or the autonomous communities must be available in easy reading. These spaces must also offer alternative formats such as audio or visual supports. The signage related to safety, the route of visits, and orientation must be clear and understandable.
A common catalog of pictograms
On the other hand, the Royal Board on Disability, through the Spanish Center for Cognitive Accessibility, will create a technical group responsible for proposing a common catalog of pictograms.
The work must be completed within a period of three years from the publication of the royal decree. The catalog will be public and free and will serve as a reference to extend uniform signage in the areas affected by the regulation.
When the regulation comes into force
The cognitive accessibility regulation will come into force on January 2, 2027. Its conditions are minimum, so the autonomous communities, Ceuta, Melilla, and the municipalities may approve additional or more demanding requirements within their competencies.
The regulation does not incorporate an additional budget allocation for the General Administration of the State. The Government indicates that the obligations will be financed through the reassignment of available credits.
The non-compliance with accessibility conditions may be sanctioned in accordance with the General Law on the rights of persons with disabilities or the corresponding autonomous legislation.