Social Economy Law in Spain: legal framework of social enterprises

The general legal framework for Social Economy in Spain is the Law 5/2011, which concerns social economy, is of paramount importance. This law provides a favourable institutional framework for the sector of social economy, as... [ view full abstract ]

The general legal framework for Social Economy in Spain is the Law 5/2011, which concerns social economy, is of paramount importance. This law provides a favourable institutional framework for the sector of social economy, as it defines the concept of social economy by establishing a common legal framework for all entities comprising in the sector. It also reflects this sector’s recognition as a social partner in the process of public policy making and states that the government should implement policies to promote the sector and subsequently evaluate them. Regarding the legal regime of social enterprises, Law 5/2011 of Social Economy establishes the general legal framework, given that social enterprises are entities that meet the principles set out in Article 4. In this paper we analize the legal status of social enterprises in Spain regarding the Law 5/2011 and the specific legislation: 1) Work Integration Social Enterprise (Empresas de Inserción, EI): Law 44/2007 and their different regional laws; 2) Special Employment Centres (Centros Especiales de Empleo, CEE): Royal Legislative Decree 1/2013, Consolidated text of the General Law of Persons with Disabilities’ Rights and its social inclusion; 3) Social Co-operatives (Cooperativas sociales), both social integration co-operatives (several Spanish regional co-operative laws) and Social initiative co-operatives (art. 106 of the 1999 State Co-operatives Law and various articles in regional co-operatives laws); 4) Associations with economic activity (Law 1/2002 and relevant regional legislation), foundations with economic activity (Law 50/2002), and all types of cooperatives (Law 27/1999)