Municipal asbestos inventory in Spain

A municipal asbestos inventory identifies installations and sites so that removal can be planned and higher-risk situations prioritised.

In brief

Spanish Law 7/2022 requires a public inventory and timetable; neither replaces pre-work identification or preventive planning for an intervention.

Contents
  1. What Law 7/2022 requires
  2. Identification with different levels of certainty
  3. Make priorities explicit
  4. Example of a municipal facility
  5. From inventory to execution
  6. Related concepts
  7. References

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What Law 7/2022 requires

The fourteenth additional provision requires municipalities to prepare an inventory of installations and sites containing asbestos, together with a removal timetable. Both are public and submitted to the competent regional health, environmental and labour authorities. The law allowed one year from entry into force to prepare them; that original deadline does not restart when a municipality begins its inventory. The inventory should support planning rather than remain an unmonitored list of locations.

Identification with different levels of certainty

The Ministry of Health’s June 2024 guidance provides a non-binding method for exploration, inspection and assessment. Documentary information, suspected material and confirmed presence should be distinguished, with limitations recorded where areas could not be examined. Roof age or aerial imagery can guide investigation but should not be represented as a complete analysis of hidden or inaccessible materials. Recording uncertainty is more useful than presenting incomplete coverage as a definitive absence of asbestos.

Make priorities explicit

The law requires attention to hazardousness and exposure of vulnerable populations. Higher-risk public installations or sites must be managed before 2028; that provision does not assign the same date to every material on every property. Prioritisation considers condition, potential fibre release, accessibility and use of the location. A useful timetable identifies actions and criteria that can be reviewed when new findings or changes in use alter the assessment.

Example of a municipal facility

A sports building has a suspected asbestos roof and several uninspected areas. The inventory records location, available evidence and inspection limitations. Priority decisions require assessment of condition and potential disturbance rather than assuming that absence of planned work means absence of risk. If refurbishment is scheduled, task-specific identification must precede intervention and cover materials that may be affected, including those outside the initial visual survey.

From inventory to execution

The inventory is neither company registration in RERA nor an approved work plan. Since October 2026, affected work must consider Royal Decree 847/2026 and its transitions. Removal and waste management require the relevant occupational and environmental framework. Older occupational references in 2024 guidance must be read in light of that update. Public information should also be prepared in accordance with applicable data-protection requirements rather than disclosing unnecessary personal information with the location records.

References

  1. BOE: Ley 7/2022, disposición adicional decimocuarta. Official source
  2. Ministerio de Sanidad: directrices para el censo y retirada de amianto, junio de 2024. Official source
  3. BOE: Real Decreto 847/2026. Official source

Editorial information

Publication date: 2 November 2026.

Editorial responsibility: Sabentis Editorial Team.

Author: Pablo RodríguezLinkedIn

Executive Vice President of the ORP International Foundation and Chief Financial Officer of Sabentis.

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