Serving in Catalan, Basque and Galician: What Spain’s Law 10/2025 Requires

Since 28 December 2025 Spain has, for the first time, a dedicated customer service law: Law 10/2025 of 26 December on customer service. Among its duties is one most vendors had not solved: support in co-official languages — and not only when a human answers, but also when an automated system does.

What the law actually says

• The customer's right to use their language. Complaints and claims may be filed in Spanish and in any co-official language when the service targets customers located in autonomous communities that have one.
• Mandatory training, automated channels included. Staff providing personalised support «and those who design and manage the automated means used for that purpose» must have prior specific training in co-official languages and universal accessibility.

That second point is the shift: the law does not distinguish human from machine. A Spanish-only IVR with a «press 2 for Catalan» menu is precisely what the rule is moving away from — and the law also sets an average wait below three minutes plus access to personalised support. Consolidated text: BOE-A-2025-26698.

The European context

The EU does not mandate regional languages, but the AI Act requires transparency (callers must know they are speaking to an AI) and traceability, and the European Accessibility Act pushes support channels to be usable by everyone. Combined with Law 10/2025, the practical standard becomes: support in the customer's language, with AI declared and auditable.

The three languages, by real impact

Catalan carries the largest volume, in two non-interchangeable variants (central and Valencian) — one Barcelona law firm now handles 41% of calls directly in Catalan. Basque is where the difference in treatment is felt most: it shares no root with Spanish, so translated scripts fail; a regional Basque bank saw 22% fewer «not served in my language» complaints. Galician has the widest coverage gap among international platforms; IACall runs standard Galician with seseo and gheada understanding.

How to comply without three separate phone systems

1. One number, automatic detection. The agent never asks; it detects the language in the first sentence and adapts instantly, even mid-call.
2. Native voices per variant (central, Valencian, Galician, Batua).
3. Sector vocabulary in each language.
4. Correct CRM transcription of accents, punt volat, ñ, Basque digraphs and place names.
5. Handoff to a human with context already captured, in the original language.
6. Traceability: transcript, detected language and resolution are logged — your evidence of compliance.

This article summarises Law 10/2025 for information purposes and is not legal advice.