Junts per Catalunya has reached an agreement with the government of Pedro Sánchez to accept that Catalan be given de facto official language status for customer service in companies with more than 250 employees or €50 million in annual turnover. The pact includes substantial amendments to the Customer Service Bill, which will regulate the services of large companies. Sources from Carles Puigdemont’s party emphasize the companies’ “obligation” to provide service in Catalan “whenever the client requests it.”
This means that customer service employees of companies that provide public services “must receive mandatory training in Catalan” to guarantee consumers’ language rights. The measure covers all basic services of general interest in Spain. This includes electricity, gas, and water utilities, as well as telecommunications, airline, railway, bus transport, and postal service companies. The regulation will also apply to paid audiovisual platforms, banks, insurance companies, and other public service businesses. The adaptation will be applied to both verbal and written communications between the company and the client.
Sources from the leadership of the business association CEOE, consulted by the newspaper El Español, consider this requirement, agreed upon by the Executive branch of Pedro Sánchez and Carles Puigdemont’s party, to be “a new attack on business freedom” that will affect more than 6,000 Spanish companies with over 250 employees.
Representatives of the business community warn of the risk of a dangerous domino effect with other co-official languages. “Surely, the PNV and Bildu will ask for the same for Basque; and the BNG, for Galician,” sources close to the business association’s leadership caution.
