DeCA gratis: Spain's electronic transport control document becomes mandatory on 5 October, and the free tool PASTOR built so no carrier is left behind

We are a family transport business too. So instead of looking the other way, we built something: DeCA gratis, a free tool (free for real, with no subscription, no card and no small print) that lets any carrier produce a DeCA in a few minutes before setting off. It lives at deca.transportespastor.es. This article covers what changes on 5 October, who it applies to, what data the rules require, and how the tool works.

What changes on 5 October 2026

The administrative control document is not new. It is the document that has to accompany every consignment moved for hire and reward: who contracts, who carries, what goods, from where to where, with which vehicle. It has been regulated since 2013 by Orden FOM/2861/2012. What changes is the medium.

Ley 9/2025 de Movilidad Sostenible (published in the BOE, Spain's official state gazette, on 4 December 2025) states in its eighth transitional provision that the document must necessarily be digital ten months after the law enters into force. Those ten months are up on 5 October 2026. The same provision does the same to the route sheet used in passenger transport (Orden FOM/1230/2013).

The technical requirements are not set by the law itself. They come from article 222 of the ROTT (RD 1211/1990) and, developing it, from the Resolución de 5 de junio de 2026 issued by the Dirección General de Transporte por Carretera y Ferrocarril (BOE of 12 June 2026), which replaces the earlier Resolution of 22 May 2023. That is where the real obligations sit: native PDF, QR code, download URL, retention periods.

In short: the same document as always, with the same data as always, but generated from a software application before the service starts, stored in a repository, and downloadable by the officer who stops the truck. Anyone still filling in the paper pad after that date will be running without the control document in the format the rules require, with the risk of a penalty under the LOTT that this carries.

On 5 October, paper stops counting. We built a free tool so that this leaves nobody out: not the owner-operator with one truck, not the family firm with three generations on the road.

Who it applies to, and who it does not

First, some boundaries, because there is a lot of confusion about this and the scope is narrower than what is being repeated around the sector:

• It does apply to domestic hire-and-reward road freight: transport with its origin and destination inside Spanish territory (art. 65 LOTT). Cabotage operations included.
• It does not apply to international transport running partly across Spanish territory. There, the control documents are the ones set out in the conventions Spain has signed, which means the CMR. And note this: the eCMR does not become mandatory on 5 October. What becomes mandatory is the DeCA, and only on domestic work.
• It does not apply to own-account transport, transporte privado complementario, the transport a company performs for its own business. What that operator does have to carry on board is documentation evidencing what art. 102.2 LOTT requires: that the goods belong to the company or form part of its activity, and that vehicle and driver are integrated into its organisation.
• Exempt under art. 2 of Orden FOM/2861/2012: transport that requires no operating licence, removals, moving crashed or broken-down vehicles on special vehicles, and parcel services and similar.
• If the consignment is already documented in a carta de porte (consignment note) or other valid documentation containing all the data listed in art. 6, that consignment note serves as the control document. There is no need to issue two documents.

And one point that tends to get missed: the obligation does not fall on the carrier alone. Under art. 4 of Orden FOM/2861/2012, the parties required to draw up the document are the actual carrier, transportista efectivo, the holder of the authorisation under which the transport is performed, and the contractual shipper, cargador contractual, whoever contracts directly with it: the actual shipper, another carrier, a cooperative, an agency, a freight forwarder, a logistics operator. Both are answerable for the document existing and travelling on board (art. 7). If you subcontract, on that service you are the contractual shipper.

Who this hits hardest, and why we understand it

Let us be honest about who carries the weight of this change. Not the large fleets: their management software already produces the document on its own. It falls on the owner-operator who drives, invoices, chases payment and does the paperwork himself. On the family firm where the admin is handled by the founder, or his wife, or the son between unloads. On the sixty-year-old carrier who does the job better than anyone and is now asked, from one day to the next, to "go digital".

The options the market offers those people are not good ones: pay a monthly subscription for software he will use ten minutes a day, commission a development that costs more than a set of tyres, or fight with spreadsheets and email until he has something that may not meet the requirements of the June 2026 Resolution. None of that is reasonable for someone running one truck, or three. And the predictable outcome, that many stay on paper and take the risk, is not reasonable either.

We know that world because we come from it: more than sixty years of family tradition in transport, which started with one tractor unit and one trailer. The digital tooling that works for us, we had to build ourselves. The part of it that can serve anyone else in the trade, we decided to give away.

What data the rules require

This is the part worth getting straight before you look at any tool. The minimum content of the control document is set out in article 6 of Orden FOM/2861/2012 (current wording):

Three practical warnings, because these are the failures we will see at the roadside:

1. The registration plate is mandatory, and in an articulated combination that means both. A DeCA without plates is an incomplete DeCA.
2. The ACC is mandatory if you run under a complementary movement authorisation. This hits anyone doing special transport head-on: the ACC number goes in the document.
3. The driver is not among the data required by art. 6, but the driver does have to receive a copy of the DeCA before pulling away (seventh section of the Resolución de 5 de junio de 2026). Including driver details is good practice; leaving them out does not invalidate the document.

And the split of responsibility (art. 7): the contractual shipper answers for the accuracy of items a), b), c) and d); the actual carrier, for items e), f) and g).

What the rules require of the electronic document

This is where a lot of improvised "digital documents" are going to fall short. The Resolución de 5 de junio de 2026 is specific:

• PDF format, no larger than 5 MB, with creation and modification date and time held as metadata inside the PDF itself.
• Natively digital generation: structured data turned into legible text. Scanning a paper document or using a digitised image is not valid.
• A QR code embedded in the PDF itself, carrying the document's unique web address.
• A unique, specific URL per document: HTTPS with TLS 1.2 or higher, producing a direct download of the PDF. A URL leading to a page with credentials, authentication or a download button is not valid. It may include tokens or have an expiry, provided it does not expire before the service ends; the download may be deactivated from seven calendar days after the service finishes.
• Generated before the service effectively begins, with a date and time record.
• Your own repository: the domain can be any domain and, new in 2026, it no longer has to be notified in advance to the administration.
• Minimum retention of one year by both contractual shipper and actual carrier. They may use different repositories; if one of them generated the document, it is enough that the other can download it during that year.
• A copy for the driver before pulling away, on the phone or printed, always with the QR. At a roadside check the driver presents the DeCA with its QR or, failing that, the QR alone.
• Changes en route: either the existing PDF is modified by adding the new data and the reason for the change, marking the old data as invalid (same URL, same QR), or a new PDF is generated with a new URL and QR, keeping the original. Handwritten notes on a printed copy do not count.
• Signature not required. If the document is also used contractually and is signed, the signature must be at least an advanced electronic signature (AdES) under the eIDAS Regulation.
• Grouping: several consignments can be combined in one DeCA where the contractual shipper and the actual carrier are the same for all of them, provided the origin, destination, nature and weight of each consignment are clearly identified.

DeCA, carta de porte and CMR are not the same thing

Three documents that get confused constantly:

• The DeCA is administrative. It exists so that the inspectorate and enforcement officers know who contracts, who carries and what is moving. It is the one that becomes mandatorily digital on 5 October.
• The carta de porte, the consignment note under Ley 15/2009, is contractual and evidentiary, between the parties. Its article 10 bis, introduced by RDL 14/2022, requires it to be issued in contracts concluded with the actual carrier where the transport price exceeds €150 and the transport is one for which the control document is required. In other words: if you subcontract, you probably need both, although a single document can serve both purposes if it contains all the data in art. 6.
• The CMR is the document for international road transport. The eCMR remains voluntary.

What DeCA gratis is, and what it does

DeCA gratis is a web tool from PASTOR for generating the DeCA. It works like this:

1. Go to deca.transportespastor.es from a computer or a phone. No sign-up, no passwords, no card.
2. Fill in the service details step by step in a guided form: contractual shipper (with tax number and address), actual carrier, origin and destination, nature and weight of the goods, date, tractor unit and semi-trailer plates, and the ACC number if the service runs under a special authorisation. The mandatory fields cover every item in article 6 of Orden FOM/2861/2012, and the tool warns you if one is missing, so the document comes out complete first time. A couple of fields are asked for even though the rules do not require them, and the tool says which: the time, to sequence the service, and the driver's details, so we can send the driver a copy.
3. Before sending, you check the three email addresses, because one mistyped address exposes a third party's data, and confirm.
4. The DeCA goes out on its own: a native PDF is generated with an embedded QR code and a direct-download URL, in line with the Resolución de 5 de junio de 2026, and it is emailed to the three parties who need it, the contractual shipper, the actual carrier and the driver, each to their own address. The carrier also receives an edit link.

A few minutes per service, and the document is issued before departure, distributed and stored. That is all of it. There is no "premium" tier, no cap on documents, no locked features. The tool is built for the small carrier and it also speaks his operational language: if the service is a port container, it has its container, seal and PIN fields, which travel in the remarks section; if it is general cargo, you leave them blank and move on.

### If something has to be corrected en route

This is what will cause the most trouble in October, so we solved it along the path set out in section five of the Resolution: we modify the same PDF rather than generating a new one. In practice:

• You go in through the edit link and the reason for the change is mandatory: no reason, no save.
• The old data is not deleted. It stays in the document marked NO VÁLIDO, next to the new value, with its version number, date, time and reason, in a "Modificaciones en ruta" block at the foot of the PDF.
• The URL does not change and the previous QR stays valid. The driver has to do nothing: the QR already on his phone or printed out points to the updated document.
• All three parties receive another email with the change flagged.

The typical case is a change of vehicle after transport has started, which art. 6.g) requires to be recorded: you change the plates, you give the reason, and the document carries the trail.

### What the tool does not do

Worth saying just as plainly: it does not issue CMRs for international transport; it does not sign with an advanced electronic signature (the rules do not require one for the DeCA, but if you need the document signed with contractual force, this is not for you); it does not group several consignments in one DeCA, which the Resolution allows but this first version does not do; it does not detect on its own whether your service is international, it only warns you; and it does not replace your adviser. It issues the DeCA for domestic transport, which is what most operators need on 5 October.

Why it is free, and where the catch is

There is no catch, and we would rather say so before you ask. DeCA gratis is a tool of reputation and of trade. PASTOR is a special transport company at the Port of Barcelona, not a software company, and we are not going to make a living selling you a program. We built it because we needed it, and we opened it up because 5 October arrives for everyone, and because a sector where the small operator falls behind is a worse sector for all of us, ourselves included.

The only thing we get is what you see: that you now know who PASTOR is. If one day you have cargo on your hands that will not fit on a normal truck, a machine, an out-of-gauge container, a special transport with its ACC, you will know our name. Until then, the tool is yours, today and after 5 October.

How to start today

Do not wait for October. The DeCA is already valid now, and getting used to it early is the difference between a change and a scare. Go to deca.transportespastor.es, generate the DeCA for your next service, check that the emails land where they should, and try scanning the QR with your phone. If the PDF downloads directly, without asking you for anything, that is what the officer who stops you will see. After two or three services, you will fill the form in from memory.

In the coming days we will publish a step-by-step guide, field by field, with screenshots, for anyone who prefers it in writing or wants to leave a printed copy with whoever runs the office. (Link here once published.)