The 85 Chambers of Commerce across Spain offer a wide range of services. These include support for entrepreneurs, the promotion of new technologies, and, of course, foreign trade. In this last area, an online foreign trade database has been launched, and the Chambers offer the Export Promotion Plan and Bilateral Committees. All of these initiatives aim to foster internationalization.
Chambers of Commerce are public law corporations whose function is to act as intermediary institutions for the promotion and defense of the general interests of commerce, industry and navigation within the country's economic fabric.
According to the latest data, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce network comprises 85 chambers which, to fulfill their representative role, coordinate their activities across various areas. This allows any business owner to address a lack of information or training by contacting the chamber located in their province. But how exactly do these activities take place?
With a particular focus on entrepreneurs, the Chambers of Commerce have launched the Single Business Window, which is currently available in seventeen Autonomous Communities (Valladolid, Palma de Mallorca, Las Palmas, Tenerife, Madrid, Getafe, Burgos, Murcia, Oviedo, Zamora, Navarra, Seville, Valencia, Segovia, Toledo, Ávila, and Zaragoza). This service facilitates the start-up of businesses by streamlining the necessary procedures and centralizing visits to a single point of contact. Similarly, the Virtual Single Business Window leverages new technologies to provide access to advice and information.
Furthermore, the Chamber Institute for Business Creation and Development (Incyde), with its unique methodology in Spain, offers a network of 100 advisors who maintain direct and ongoing contact with aspiring entrepreneurs. Its goal is to help establish 6.000 new businesses over a four-year period, with a budget of €108 million.
Spain has joined the group of countries that organize the Business Creation Fair annually since May 2001. The first edition brought together 171 companies and public entities dedicated to supporting and developing business activity in Spain. The fair received a total of 15.350 visitors.
The formation of businesses entails the creation of jobs, another activity promoted by the Chambers of Commerce. In this regard, they offer the Chamber's Professional Guidance Service, provide courses and internships in companies, and have, among other things, a specific program to support the integration of women into the workforce.
More than 12.000 SMEs have established an online presence, and over 500 already have their own websites, thanks to the E-commerce Initiation Program (Prince XXI), a collaborative agreement with the Ministry of Science and Technology. This sector, new technologies, is a key focus of the Chambers' action plans, which also include programs such as Camerfirma, the company that manages the digital certification system guaranteeing the identity of any individual or business selling online; and C@bi, which provides information on foreign trade via the internet.
Foreign Trade
Chambers of Commerce are particularly active in foreign trade, notably in organizing trade missions, both inbound and outbound, to promote and facilitate trade between Spain and other countries. They are, in short, the second institution, after the government, that dedicates the most resources to promoting foreign trade.
The foreign trade database is available to businesses and other interested parties. Its aim is to improve the internationalization of SMEs by offering useful, real-time, and up-to-date information on 21 economic zones, 253 countries, and 9.000 products. This service can be accessed at www.camaras.org.
The Chambers of Commerce maintain 33 Bilateral Business Cooperation Committees with countries where Spanish businesses need assistance to begin exporting. These committees are established at the request of companies and facilitate access to these markets for Spanish businesses. To this end, they hold regular meetings with authorities from these countries, organize trade missions to foster connections between businesspeople from both nations, and disseminate information among companies regarding the economic situation, new business opportunities, and so on. Cooperation Committees exist in countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, chaired by business leaders such as Lucas Oriol of Talgo, Ignacio Ferrero of Nutrexpa, Xabier de Irala of Iberia, Miguel Corsini of Renfe, and Emilio Álvarez Mezquiriz of the Eulen Group, among others.
There is also an agreement to coordinate the Chambers of Commerce Abroad, an agreement in which the State Secretariat for Trade participates.
The Chambers of Commerce offer other services as well, although we cannot forget their involvement in the Chamber's Export Promotion Plan and the PIPE 2001-2006 program, which aims to transform 1.200 SMEs into regular exporters. So far, in its mere three years of existence, it has enabled 2.000 small and medium-sized enterprises to sell their products abroad.
Any questions about this news?
Talk to Coexia, the AI of the foreign trade
International business service providers
Barcelona Free Trade Zone
Public entity for economic revitalization, operates as an engine of industrial development in the Barcelona area.read more...
VUI - One-Stop Shop
The One-Stop Shop for Internationalization (VUI) is a space for information and advice.read more...
Asturex
Asturex, Foreign Promotion Company of the Principality of Asturias, SA is a capital company.read more...
PROEXCA
PROEXCA is a public company attached to the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge and Employment.read more...
Chamber of Madrid
The International Business Department of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce supports companies.read more...
Chamber of Spain
The Spanish Chamber of Commerce is a public law corporation and advisory body.read more...