US embassy cable - 04MADRID2794

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 002794 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/IFD/OIA 
STATE PASS USTR 
TREASURY FOR OIA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EINV, KTDB, SP, USTR, OPIC 
SUBJECT: SPAIN: 2004 APPENDIX TO 2003 INVESTMENT CLIMATE 
STATEMENT 
 
REF: STATE 141379 
 
1. Spain - July 2004 Appendix to 2003 Investment Climate 
Statement 
 
2.  This appendix serves as an update to the 2003 Investment 
Climate Statement for Spain.  It has been provided to assist 
investors in the interim period resulting from the U.S. 
Government's decision to begin publishing the Country 
Commercial Guide (of which the Investment Climate Statement 
is a chapter) on a calendar year basis, in January instead of 
August. 
 
3.  The United States Government has reviewed the 2003 
Investment Climate Statement for Spain, and has noted the 
following changes that have occurred since its publication. 
In most circumstances, if a portion of the 2003 Investment 
Climate Statement has not been modified in this appendix, it 
is because the U.S. Government is satisfied that it continues 
to accurately reflect the state of affairs in Spain. 
 
4.  Openness to Foreign Investment: No significant changes 
since 2003. 
 
Conversion and Transfer Policies: No significant changes 
since 2003. 
 
Expropriation and Compensation: No significant changes since 
2003. 
 
Dispute Settlement: No significant changes since 2003. 
 
Performance Requirements and Incentives: Instead of the 
Ministry of Science and Technology issuing incentives, the 
Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade now issues them. 
 
Right to Private Ownership and Establishment: No significant 
changes since 2003. 
 
Transparency of the Regulatory System: No significant changes 
since 2003. 
 
Efficient Capital Markets and Portfolio Investment: CNMV, 
Spain's SEC equivalent is leading the effort to develop a 
strong system of corporate governance and transparency.  CNMV 
is hoping to transfer the behavior and traditional habits of 
Spain's small universe of dominant companies.  Under the new 
standards, all  companies listed on the Spanish stock 
exchange must publish an annual corporate governance report 
that details their compliance with CNMV's best practices or 
explain why they have chosen not to do so.  The government's 
"Golden Share" takeover veto rights are being phased out due 
to their incompatibility with EU law. 
 
In 2003, new Spanish gross investment abroad was USD 29.5 
billion, showing a significant drop from the 2002 annual 
level of USD 50.5 billion. 
 
Political Violence: On March 11 Islamic extremist terrorists 
attacked Madrid's central train station.  The government has 
worked to round up the perpetrators and to monitor the 
situation with respect to Islamic extremist terrorism. 
 
ETA has killed 46 persons since January 2000. 
 
Pro-ETA vandalism has decreased in the last year and a half, 
going from 448 actions in 2002 to 150 in 2003.  As of May 
2004, there were a total of 85 cases of street violence. 
 
Another smaller leftist terrorist group called GRAPO has 
occasionally acted against government interests.  The latest 
action on the part of this group was a bank robbery in June 
2003, from where they took EUR 200,000.  The three people 
involved were arrested in December 2003.  Other arrests and 
prosecution orders on already arrested GRAPO members have 
taken place in the last months. 
 
Corruption: No significant changes since 2003. 
 
Bilateral Investment Agreements: Spain established new 
bilateral investment agreements with Bosnia and Herzegovina 
(2003), Federal Republish of Yugoslavia (2004), Guatemala 
(2004), Republic of Albania (2004), Republic of Equatorial 
Guinea (2004), and Republic of Uzbekistan (2004). 
 
OPIC and Other Investment Insurance Programs: No significant 
changes since 2003. 
Labor: Employment for first quarters of 2004 show that there 
were about 19.6 million Spaniards in the work force. 
Meanwhile, unemployment continued its decrease from the 1994 
high of 24.2 percent down to 11.38 percent in the first 
quarters of 2004.  Unemployment for women continues to be 
substantially higher than the male average, at 15.71 percent 
compared to 8.38 percent. 
 
Labor market reforms in 1994, 1997, and 2002 have eased but 
not fundamentally changed the difficult labor situation, with 
the result that one-third of all employed Spaniards are 
classified as temporary hires.  The government has 
implemented three rounds of reforms to liberalize hiring 
practices and the Congress continues to discuss further labor 
reforms. 
 
Collective bargaining is widespread in both the private and 
public sectors, except for military personnel.  Sixty percent 
of the working population is covered by collective bargaining 
agreements although only a minority (generally estimated to 
be about 15 to 20 percent) are actually union members. 
 
The constitution guarantees the right to strike and it has 
been interpreted to include general strikes called to protest 
government policy.  According to the National Business 
Association, as of June 30, 2003, there had been 275 strikes, 
with approximately 381,000 participants and 1 million lost 
workdays.  The law prohibits retaliation against strikers. 
There were no general strikes during 2003. 
 
Foreign Trade Zones/Free Ports: No significant changes since 
2003. 
 
Foreign Direct Investment Statistics: Statistics will be 
updated in the next full version of the Investment Climate 
Statement, which will be published in January 2005. France 
and Sweden invested more in Spain in 2003 than previous years 
and are now considered major foreign investors. 
ARGYROS