In short. A certificate of insurance proves that, on the day it was issued, a policy existed with the details it sets out. Nothing more. It does not prove that the premium has been paid, that cover has not been suspended since, that the insured activity protects the work you have contracted, or whether the limit is per claim or an annual aggregate already eroded. The Spanish Insurance Contract Act does not regulate this document: it regulates the policy. What genuinely protects you is not the paper on file but the contractual clause requiring cover to be maintained and its loss to be notified.
Article 15 of the Spanish Insurance Contract Act (Law 50/1980) sets two periods that no certificate records. Where a renewal premium goes unpaid, cover is suspended one month after the due date. And if the insurer does not claim payment within six months of that due date, the contract is extinguished. Both periods run silently, with no communication whatsoever to the third party that filed the certificate in its supplier folder.
Hence an uncomfortable consequence: a certificate issued in January may describe with complete accuracy a policy that by March covers nothing. The paper does not expire. The cover does.
What a certificate of insurance is, and what it is not
The Insurance Contract Act does not regulate certificates. What it regulates is the policy: article 5 requires the contract to be made in writing and the policy —or at least a temporary cover note— to be delivered to the policyholder; article 8 sets the minimum content of that policy.
A certificate is something else: a document issued by the insurer or the intermediary to evidence to a third party that a contract exists. It is worth stating this precisely, because the opposite error also costs money: it is not a worthless piece of paper. It is a valid documentary statement that binds whoever signs it. The point is that it evidences a position on a date, not a permanent position.
Four distinct documents that are confused in practice:
- Certificate: a summary issued for a third party. It describes; it does not contain the terms.
- Particular conditions: the part of the policy setting out the policyholder, the subject matter of the insurance, limits, sub-limits, deductibles and duration. This is the document that genuinely delimits the cover.
- Premium receipt: evidences a specific payment on a specific date.
- Endorsement: amends the contract. A certificate issued before an endorsement may have been contradicted without anyone telling you.
What article 15 of the Insurance Contract Act does to your certificate
Article 15 establishes two distinct regimes, and conflating them is the most frequent technical error in this area.
First premium. If it has not been paid through the policyholder's fault, the insurer is entitled to terminate the contract or to enforce payment. And if a claim occurs before the premium has been paid, the insurer is released from its obligation, unless otherwise agreed. There are no suspension periods here: there is a contract that may never produce indemnity effects.
Renewal premiums. The regime is different. Cover is suspended one month after the due date. If the insurer does not claim payment within six months of the due date, the contract is extinguished. And if cover was suspended and the policyholder pays, it takes effect again twenty-four hours after the day of payment.
Translated into the supplier folder: during the first month after non-payment, the certificate remains true and cover remains live. From the one-month mark there is a policy formally in force —with its number, its policyholder and its dates intact— and no cover. The certificate you hold does not record that moment, because when it was issued it was accurate.
Do you know whether your contractors' policies still cover today what they said they covered in January? Request a review of your supply chain.
The eight fields a useful certificate must contain
A certificate is useful to the extent that it allows things to be checked. These are the fields that make those checks possible:
- Exact policyholder and tax number. They must match the company that signed the contract and performs the work. Along a subcontracting chain it is common to receive the parent company's certificate while a subsidiary performs the work, or the certificate of a self-employed contractor other than the one who turns up on site.
- Insured activity. This is the field that decides most claims and the one least often read. If the subject matter of the insurance describes "wholesale trade" and the work contracted is an assembly at height, the certificate is correct and the cover non-existent. It must protect the specific work.
- Territorial scope. Relevant for travel, installations outside Spain and supply-and-install contracts.
- Period of cover with date and time of inception and expiry. Article 8.8 of the Insurance Contract Act requires the policy to state the duration with the day and hour on which its effects begin and end; a certificate showing only the year is poorer than the policy it summarises.
- Limit per claim and annual aggregate limit, shown separately. A certificate stating only "limit €600,000" is ambiguous by design: it does not allow you to tell whether that figure applies to each claim or is an annual ceiling that two earlier claims may already have eroded. We explain this in detail in limits, sub-limits and deductibles.
- Relevant sub-limits, notably the employers' liability sub-limit, and any per-victim expression of it. It is the sub-limit, not the main limit, that defines the real exposure when a supplier's employee is injured.
- Applicable deductibles. Their absence from the certificate does not mean they do not exist.
- Issuing insurer and intermediary, with verifiable contact details. Without them there is nobody to ask when the certificate goes out of date.
What the certificate says and what it does not prove
| What the certificate asserts | What it does not prove |
|---|---|
| That a policy with a given number exists | That it is still in force today: it records only the position at the issue date |
| An annual period of insurance | That the premium is paid or that cover is not suspended (article 15 of the Insurance Contract Act) |
| The policyholder's name | That the policyholder is the company physically performing the work |
| A generic insured activity | That the wording protects the specific work you have commissioned |
| A limit figure | Whether it is per claim or an annual aggregate, or how much remains available in the year |
| That the employers' liability section is included | With what sub-limit, with what per-victim limit and on what conditions |
| Nothing about deductibles | That none exist: the certificate is not the policy wording |
| Its own issue date | That it has not since been cancelled, suspended or amended by endorsement |
Why the premium receipt is not enough either
It is the natural reaction when someone discovers the article 15 problem: ask for the receipt as well. It improves the evidence, but it resolves nothing.
The receipt proves a one-off payment. It does not prove that the next receipt will be paid, that it has not been returned unpaid since, or that the policy has not been cancelled for some other reason. It remains a snapshot: better focused, equally static.
The operational conclusion is that documentary validation has a ceiling, and that ceiling is passed by contract, not by filing. What genuinely protects you is a clause requiring the supplier:
- To maintain in force a liability policy with the agreed limits and sub-limits throughout performance and for the post-completion claims period agreed.
- To evidence it with an updated certificate at each renewal, without being asked.
- To notify in writing, with the agreed period of notice, any cancellation, non-renewal, suspension of cover or material amendment.
- To allow access to the particular conditions where the risk of the engagement justifies it.
- And to tie breach to suspension of the works or termination of the contract.
On what documentation to require overall, and at what point, we address the question in insurance documentation in the coordination of business activities; and on the specific case of the individual supplier, in what liability cover to require from a self-employed contractor.
We can review the insurance clause in your framework agreements before the next renewal. Talk to us.
Claims-made: being in force does not tell you whether you will be covered
There is a second layer no certificate resolves. The fact that the policy was in force on the day of the works does not mean it will respond to a claim arriving two years later.
The second paragraph of article 73 of the Insurance Contract Act admits two forms of temporal delimitation of cover, which the First Chamber of the Spanish Supreme Court has clarified are different limitative clauses with non-cumulative requirements (STS, First Chamber, Full Court, 252/2018 of 26 April). One confines cover to claims made within a period of not less than one year from termination of the contract; the other, to claims arriving during the period of insurance, extending cover to events occurring at least one year beforehand. These are statutory floors, not periods: the law requires a minimum of one year, it does not grant it.
The provision itself classifies them as limitative and therefore subject to article 3 of the Act: they must be specially highlighted and specifically accepted in writing. With one weighty exception: in large risks contracts, the second paragraph of article 44 disapplies the mandatory character of the Act, and the Supreme Court has accepted that in that field claims-made clauses may be incorporated without the formalities of article 3 and be enforceable against third parties (STS, First Chamber, 545/2020 of 20 October). None of this appears on a certificate. We develop it in claims-made versus occurrence basis.
One further point of precision. Article 76 of the Act grants the injured party a direct action against the insurer and declares it immune to the defences the insurer may have against the insured. How that immunity operates where cover under a voluntary insurance is suspended for non-payment is a contested question and case-dependent. It is not a calculation on which to build supplier management.
This is not a regulatory breach: it is a contractual risk
A point of rigour that puts everything above in order, and which is rarely explained.
Failing to validate a contractor's certificate of insurance does not in itself constitute any administrative offence. Royal Decree 171/2004, implementing article 24 of Law 31/1995 on the Prevention of Occupational Risks, requires the principal undertaking in its article 10.2 to demand in writing, and before work starts, the risk assessment and prevention plan for the works or service contracted, together with evidence of the training and information given to the workers who will take part. It does not require an insurance policy or certificate to be demanded. Nor does a "CAE certificate" exist as a legal concept, despite its widespread commercial use.
What is penalised is breach of the duties of coordination between undertakings working alongside one another and of the information duties of the undertaking that owns or runs the workplace: articles 12.13 and 12.14 of the consolidated text of the LISOS classify these as serious offences —very serious in activities designated as hazardous under article 13.7 and 13.8— with fines that, under the wording of article 40.2 given by Law 10/2021 for offences committed from 1 October 2021, range from €2,451 to €49,180 for serious offences.
The consequence of a useless certificate is of a different nature: it is not penalised, it is paid. When the damage occurs and the supplier has no effective cover, the claim looks for the solvent balance sheet in plain sight, which is usually that of the company that did the contracting.
The role of an independent broker
Reading a certificate means knowing what is missing from it. A broker works daily with wordings from across the market and knows the subject-matter descriptions that leave half an engagement outside, the employers' liability sub-limits that never appear in the summary and the annual aggregates presented as though they were limits per claim. That reading cannot be improvised with a document intake template.
As an independent brokerage registered with the Spanish DGSFP under reference J0140, we act on the client's mandate, not the insurer's: we review the insurance clause in your contracts, we define what evidence to require from each type of supplier and, when a claim arises, we defend the company's position. To place this piece within the full programme, see our liability cover page.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly does a certificate of insurance prove? That, at the issue date, a contract existed with the details the document sets out. It is a valid documentary statement, but it describes a position on a date, not a permanent position. It does not prove payment of the premium, the absence of suspension, or the true extent of limits, sub-limits, deductibles and exclusions.
Can I rely on a certificate issued six months ago? Not as the sole evidence. Article 15 of the Insurance Contract Act suspends cover one month after an unpaid due date and extinguishes the contract if the insurer does not claim within the following six months. Neither moment generates any notice to the third party that filed the certificate.
What fields should a useful certificate contain? Policyholder and tax number, an insured activity protecting the specific work, territorial scope, period with date and time, limit per claim and annual aggregate shown separately, sub-limits —especially employers' liability— deductibles, and the issuing insurer and intermediary.
Is the premium receipt enough? No. It proves a one-off payment, not future validity or the absence of a later default. It improves the evidence, but it remains a snapshot.
What clause should I include in the contract? One requiring the policy to be maintained with the agreed limits throughout performance, to be evidenced at each renewal, and any cancellation or non-renewal to be notified in writing with the agreed notice, tying breach to suspension or termination of the contract.
Sources and legislation
- Law 50/1980 of 8 October, the Spanish Insurance Contract Act: article 5 (formation and delivery of the policy or temporary cover note), article 8 (content of the policy), article 3 (limitative clauses), article 15 (payment of the premium), article 44, second paragraph (large risks), article 73, second paragraph (temporal delimitation of cover) and article 76 (direct action).
- Law 31/1995 on the Prevention of Occupational Risks, article 24 (coordination of business activities).
- Royal Decree 171/2004, article 10.2 (documentation to be required from the contractor before work starts).
- Royal Legislative Decree 5/2000, consolidated text of the LISOS: articles 12.13, 12.14, 13.7, 13.8 and 40.2, the last in the wording given by Law 10/2021 of 9 July.
- STS (First Chamber, Full Court) 252/2018 of 26 April and STS (First Chamber) 545/2020 of 20 October.
This information is for guidance only and does not constitute binding advice. Cover, limits and exclusions are governed in all cases by the particular conditions of each policy. New Brokers Correduría de Seguros, S.L., registered with the Spanish DGSFP under reference J0140.
