The DeCA roadside inspection, step by step

When the lorry is stopped, the driver shows the DeCA (Documento electrónico de Control Administrativo) with its QR code, on the phone or printed, or, failing that, just the QR: this is laid down in the technical resolution of 5 June 2026 (Resolución de 5 de junio de 2026). What happens next is mapped out in the webinar given by Spain’s Ministry of Transport (Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible): the URL in the QR reaches a Ministry gateway, which downloads the PDF from the repository where it is stored and hands it to the officer. Here is the full journey, what is checked later at the company and how the driver can come prepared.

From the stop to the PDF: the five steps

Slide 17 of the webinar, titled “Roadside inspection” (our translation), maps out the check in five steps:

1. The vehicle, with the DeCA on board, reaches the checkpoint, where the officer has a tablet.
2. The tablet sends the document’s URL (the one in the QR) to a Ministry gateway, labelled “Pasarela DGTCF” (DGTCF gateway) in the diagram.
3. The gateway calls that URL, over HTTPS, on the repository where the DeCA is stored.
4. The repository returns the PDF to the gateway.
5. The gateway delivers the PDF to the officer.

According to the diagram, the PDF the officer receives comes from the repository, not from the driver’s phone, whose copy provides the QR with the URL. The Resolution does not mention the gateway, but its section three (apartado tercero) does require that, during the service, officers be able to “download the electronic file stored in the repository” (point 3).

What the driver has to show

Section seven of the Resolution requires a copy of the DeCA to be given to the driver before the effective start of the service, in one of these two forms:

• an electronic copy that can be shown on a mobile device, or
• a printed copy on paper.

In both cases the copy must carry the QR code, and the driver may also have the QR as a separate file. When staff of the Land Transport Inspection Services (Servicios de Inspección del Transporte Terrestre) or road transport enforcement officers (agentes de las fuerzas de vigilancia del transporte en carretera) ask for the document, the driver presents “the DeCA with the QR code or, failing that, just the QR code”.

The paper copy is just as valid as the one on the phone: what has to be digital is the generation of the document, not what travels in the cab. That said, on a printed copy “handwritten notes shall not be taken into account”.

Why the link has to simply download the PDF

Because section three of the Resolution requires it: during the service, calling the URL must produce “the direct download of the electronic file in PDF format” (point 3), and no URL is valid that leads to a page “that requires credentials or authentication, or that incorporates download buttons or other elements involving manual interaction” (point 4). This fits the webinar diagram, in which the party calling the URL is the gateway.

The URL may contain tokens or expiry keys, as long as it does not expire before the service ends (point 2). Once seven calendar days from the end of the service have passed, download “may” be deactivated (point 5): it is an option, not an obligation. The technical details (HTTPS, TLS, unique URL) are in the DeCA’s QR code (in Spanish).

Before, during and after: the three phases

Slide 14 of the webinar arranges the life of the DeCA in three phases:

• Before the service: collect at least all the data required by Order FOM/2861/2012 (Orden FOM/2861/2012), turn it into a PDF and store it.
• During the service: the PDF is available for download via the URL. This is the phase of the possible roadside inspection.
• After the service: retention for at least one year. There may be an inspection at the company, by “on-site visit or formal request”, and it does not require download via the URL.

These are two different time limits. The link may be switched off seven calendar days after the service ends, but article 9 of Order FOM/2861/2012 requires those who document the consignment (envío) to keep an original or a copy “at the disposal of the Land Transport Inspectorate [Inspección de Transporte Terrestre], for at least one year”, in any medium, as long as the information is complete and legible.

If the document is not on board

Article 7.1 of the Order holds the contractual shipper (cargador contractual) and the effective carrier (transportista efectivo) liable for failing to formalise the document, and attributes “the same liability” to them when it is not carried on board the vehicle, “unless the contractual shipper proves that the document was issued, in which case the latter shall be exempted from liability”. The Order only provides for that exemption for the contractual shipper, not for the effective carrier. Who each one is when there are intermediaries is explained in who makes the DeCA when transport is subcontracted.

The webinar sums it up like this (slide 9): if the document does not exist, “both penalised”. And according to question 3 of the Ministry’s FAQ, the rules do not provide for any phase, beyond 5 October 2026, in which the digitalisation obligation is not penalised.

Tips for the driver

• Do not set off without the DeCA. The copy has to be in your hands before the service starts (section seven).
• Check that the copy carries the QR. Section seven requires it both on the phone and on paper.
• Keep the QR to hand separately as well. The Resolution allows it, and at the checkpoint, if you cannot show the whole document, you present just the QR instead.
• If you rely on your phone, save the PDF on it before setting off, or also carry the printed copy: both forms are valid.
• Check the number plates. For an articulated vehicle, both the tractor unit and the trailer or semi-trailer must appear (article 6 g of the Order), and that data is the effective carrier’s responsibility.
• Do not correct in pen. If something changes during the service, ask the office for the modified PDF or a new one: it is the only valid way, as we explain in how to modify a DeCA en route.

If you work for yourself and make the DeCA yourself from your phone, the rest of the day-to-day is covered in DeCA for the self-employed (in Spanish).

How DeCAya handles it

In DeCAya, the QR link delivers the PDF directly, with no login screen and no buttons. It stays active until seven calendar days after the end of the service and, even if it is deactivated afterwards, the PDF remains stored for at least one year. If you cancel a DeCA, the link stops delivering the document and states that it has been cancelled. In the demo you can see, without signing up, what the officer gets when scanning the QR.