8Legislation on foreign investment and exchange controls

8.5 Import and export of certain means of payment and movements in Spain

Incoming or outgoing cross-border movements of means of payment for an amount of €10,000 or more or its equivalent in foreign currency is subject to prior administrative disclosure. If the disclosure is not made, Spanish customs officials may confiscate these means of payment.

Likewise, movements in Spain of means of payment for amounts of €100,000 or more, or its equivalent in foreign currency must also be disclosed previously.

For the purposes of the above, “movement” shall be deemed to mean any change of place or position verified outside the domicile of the holder of the means of payment.

“Means of payment” shall mean paper money and coins (domestic or foreign); negotiable instruments or bearer means of payment (those instruments which, on presentation, give their holders the right to claim a financial amount without the need to prove their identity or their entitlement to that amount. Included here are traveler’s checks, checks, promissory notes or money orders, whether made out to bearer, signed but omitting the name of the payee, endorsed without restriction, made out to the order of a fictitious payee or otherwise by virtue of which title passes on delivery, and incomplete instruments); prepaid cards; commodities used as highly liquid stores of value, such as gold. Solely for the purposes of entering or leaving Spain, “payment means” shall also be deemed to be bearer negotiable instruments, including monetary instruments such as travelers checks, negotiable instruments, including checks, promissory notes and payment orders, whether in bearer form, endorsed without restriction, made out to a fictitious payee or any other form in which ownership thereof is transferred on delivery, and incomplete instruments, including checks, promissory notes and payment orders that are signed but omit the name of the payee.