Documentation and audit trail
Yes, Art. 25.1 Ley 10/2010 provides that documentation retained under the AML duties is to be deleted once the ten-year period expires. Where individual records are also subject to a separate retention duty for other reasons — as a contract or accounting record, for example — their purpose, legal basis and access rules have to be assessed separately.
Deletion is therefore not discretionary but the reverse side of the retention duty: what is kept under the AML duties is, once the period runs out, deleted under those same duties.
The nuance lies with dual-purpose documents. A purchase contract is both an AML record and a contractual record. Its own periods and its own access framework apply to the second character — both must be determined separately and not derived from the AML period.
From 10 July 2027 the timing shifts: Art. 77 AMLR lowers the general period to five years. How Spain will structure the transition is still open.
Legal basis: Ley 10/2010, Art. 25.1; AMLR (EU 2024/1624), Art. 77
Practical tip: The deletion duty is followed considerably less often than the retention duty — keeping files feels safer than destroying them. Once the period has run, though, it is retention that needs justifying, not deletion.
AI-assisted tools were used in preparing these FAQs; the content was subsequently reviewed and approved by the Doxario editorial team. They reflect the general state of the law as at the review date shown and do not constitute individual legal or tax advice. To assess your own case — particularly where complex structures are involved (offshore companies, trusts, foundations, communities of heirs) or where the new EU rules leave room for doubt — we recommend consulting a lawyer specialising in Spanish anti-money-laundering law and, on tax questions, a tax adviser. Doxario is a deal management and compliance platform for estate agents in Spain, operated by Blue Pepper S.L.; we therefore have an economic interest in the solutions described in these FAQs. Doxario accepts no liability for decisions taken solely on the basis of these FAQs.
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