I’m a retailer, I have a business in a municipal market or I’m in the restaurant and catering industry
Check out all the resources available: advice and information, online courses and training programmes for professionals and enterprises, and other economic-revival measures.
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Subsidies, grants and funding
Barcelona City Council is allocating a large amount of resources to drive city recovery and promotion policies, in the form of grants, subsidies and funding. The City Council is reaffirming its commitment to promoting the economy, fostering employment and shaping the city’s future, by having more programmes, services and budgetary allocations.
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Incentives for recruiting unemployed individuals with a particular focus on groups facing greater difficulties in accessing the labour market. The grant amount varies depending on the type of contract and the candidate's profile. A total of €2 million will be allocated to this measure.
Period: March–April 2025
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The 2024 general call for subsidy applications has a budget of €1,710,000 in grants for projects that promote local commerce and economic promotion in neighbourhoods. Regional or sectorial commercial associations and non-profit commercial entities in the city can apply for the subsidy. A consumer line is included in this call, aimed at consumer organisations in Catalonia.
Period: January 2025
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Call for grants for revitalization of the local economy. They are financed projects that promote employment in neighbourhoods, entrepreneurship and the social economy and solidarity, among others. Highlights the method of revitalizing empty premises on the ground floor.
Period: June 2025
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Call for subsidy applications totalling €1.400.000, intended to give support to the Christmas lights initiative launched by the city’s retailers associations, and to help promote local commerce during the Christmas period. The grants are aimed at the city’s local non-profit retailers associations carrying out their project in Barcelona.
Period: June 2025
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The Barcelona Municipal Institute of Markets (IMMB) is driving ahead with remodelling and renovation work on the markets with an expected investment of 100 million euros during this municipal government’s term of office. The remodelling projects in progress are as follows: Mercat de l’Abaceria, Mercat de Montserrat, Mercat d’Horta and Mercat de l’Estrella. The aim is to put the focus on plans for improving and maintaining Barcelona’s network of markets, with an annual budget of 4 million euros.
Period: In 2025
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The aim of the call, funded with €510,000, is to provide financial support to cover the ordinary operational costs of their facilities as well as the extraordinary expenses arising from commercial stimulation measures.
Period: In 2025
Advice
Barcelona City Council is at your side, helping you to look for information, selecting the resources best adapted to your needs and supporting when it comes to processing grants or drawing up personalised plans for your business with the help of experts. Our advice services will help you to start, consolidate or continue developing projects.
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If you’re someone whose time with the enterprise you run has now ended, or an entrepreneur aiming to bring continuity to an already existing enterprise, Barcelona Activa offers an advisory service to connect you and facilitate business continuity.
Period: In 2025
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Business one-stop-shop for enabling economic activity in the district. Located in the MediaTIC building, the office offers information for carrying out a business activity in the 22@ district. Preliminary use-plan reports, activity-starting and ending statements, licence transfers and applications for occupying public roads and squares can be processed there.
Period: In 2025
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The observatory is regarded as an ordered knowledge platform, with data for monitoring the progress of ground-floor premises and activities as well as identifying opportunities. It also contains the main and supplementary indicators of interest to the various groups (internal, commercial sector and entrepreneurs) and which inspire the development of initiatives for improving the sustainability of active premises and occupation of vacant premises. The functions of this observatory are to quantify and openly share the available knowledge on ground-floor activities and premises, monitor the progress and changes that occur and inspire new strategies.
Period: In 2025
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Barcelona City Council addresses retail establishments and services to advise them on redefining their business strategy as well as putting their business back on its feet, adopting new marketing models, or creating and developing formulas for incentivising demand. It provides free support adapted to each person’s work pace.
Period: from November 2025
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The Municipal Consumer Information Office (OMIC) provides an information and advice service for commercial establishments, self-employed professionals and micro-companies. The OMIC advises enterprises as consumers of basic or ongoing services: utilities, telephone services, insurance and financial products.
Period: In 2025
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The Municipal Consumer Information Office (OMIC) provides shopping hubs, district trade councils and enterprises with information sessions to explain consumer rights, municipal assistance channels relating to consumption, how inquiries and claims can be made, and mediation and arbitration processes for resolving consumer issues and any related queries that may arise.
Period: In 2025
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This is a municipal facility specialising in responsible consumption and committed to people and the environment. With that goal in mind, it takes part in city events that promote responsible consumption and sustainable food, offers talks, activities and exhibitions, and puts a Responsible Consumption Information Point at the disposal of the general public.
Period: In 2025 (except August)
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The City Council offers tools and accompaniment for retailers who have signed up to the Green Trade programme. The goal is to raise customer awareness and promote sustainable food produce.
Includes:
- Short F2F or online training course lasting 1 hr 30 min
- Personalised advice for 60 retailers
- Virtual accompaniment by periodically sending out useful information
Period: Up to April 2025
Training
To be competitive, you need to be up to date. So Barcelona City Council has launched a wide range of specialised training lines, designed to prepare you for the future with more drive than ever. The range of free possibilities means there is something for everyone!
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The Cibernàrium offers training to improve digital tech skills and help meet the challenges that come with digitalisation. Its programme enables enterprises to cover their digital talent needs.
Period: In 2025
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Barcelona Activa offers training grouped by subject category and adapted to the needs of each person.
Period: In 2025
Further information. Online training
Further information. Online training - companies -
The City Council offers tools and accompaniment for retailers who have signed up to the Green Trade programme. The goal is to raise customer awareness and promote sustainable food produce.
Includes:
- Short F2F or online training course lasting 1 hr 30 min
- Personalised advice for 60 retailers
- Virtual accompaniment by periodically sending out useful information
Period: Up to April 2025
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The Municipal Consumer Information Office (OMIC) provides shopping hubs, district trade councils and enterprises with information sessions to explain consumer rights, municipal assistance channels relating to consumption, how inquiries and claims can be made, and mediation and arbitration processes for resolving consumer issues and any related queries that may arise.
Period: In 2025
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Programme led by Barcelona Activa, together with Mercabarna and in collaboration with the Barcelona Institute of Markets (IMMB), offering young people the chance of receiving training and working as sales assistants specialising in food products in city markets and lo- cal shops. The programme is aimed at young people aged between 18 and 29, whether or not they hold qualifications from secondary school, baccalaureate studies or vocational training. This year’s specialities are butchery, seafood pro- ducts and vegetarian foods. Additionally, the IMMB is auctioning empty market stalls to help new licence holders access them. The institute’s website also lists the food guilds that offer job boards.
Period: February 2025
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Barcelona Activa offers over 50 free on- line courses to boost shops, bars and restaurants. The training teaches them how to improve management by incorporating digital transformation processes and helps them to use digital tools to make themselves known, boost sales and increase customer loyalty.
Period: In 2025
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Find all the resources available in the city such as grants, training, advice, technological tools, and more for boosting digital skills and strengthening digitalisation in all areas more accessible to the public.
Period: Permanent
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This is a municipal facility specialising in responsible consumption and committed to people and the environment. With that goal in mind, it takes part in city events that promote responsible consumption and sustainable food, offers talks, activities and exhibitions, and puts a Responsible Consumption Information Point at the disposal of the general public.
Period: In 2025 (except August)
Promoting the city
Barcelona is a city that looks to the future and possesses all the attributes for playing a key role in the changes that are coming. The City Council is therefore driving ahead with economic-promotion tools, both local and international, fostering public-private cooperation initiatives and launching campaigns that strengthen the city’s full economic potential.
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This is a space for participation, public-private cooperation and joint action between city institutions and organisations working to transform the prevailing food system and make it healthier and more sustainable. Its goal is to give continuity to the pro- cess used for drafting the EASSB2030, promoting cooperation, action and coordination of projects to move towards a healthy, sustainable food model.
Period: In 2025
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Agròpolis is a public community space for dialogue, work and action, between civil society, the economic fabric, universities and the municipal public authority, which have the common goal of collaborating to transform Barcelona’s food system through the values of food sovereignty and agroecology.
Period: In 2025
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Every year the City Council launches a campaign every year to position Barcelona as a city for quality local shops, markets, bars and restaurants, thanks to the professionalism of the people working there and the service they offer the public. The campaign is also intended to make these establishments aware that the professionalism of their teams is a key factor in Barcelona becoming a benchmark in this field.
Period: In 2025
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The City Council offers tools and accompaniment for retailers who have signed up to the Green Trade programme. The goal is to raise customer awareness and promote sustainable food produce.
Includes:
- Short F2F or online training course lasting 1 hr 30 min
- Personalised advice for 60 retailers
- Virtual accompaniment by periodically sending out useful information
Period: Up to April 2025
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Action in the market network to promote the differential values of the city’s markets in the distribution network for fresh, quality, local, organic, short-circuit products. At the same time, the role of markets as advocates for healthy and sustainable food is highlighted within the Green Commerce, Zero Plastic, cookery classrooms, and the educational programme of the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Markets (IMMB).
Period: In 2025
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€260,000 is allocated to promote the following initiatives:
Green Commerce
This has been deployed across the ex tensive network of municipal markets in the city (508 establishments affiliated as of November 2023), to promote local, organic, farm-to-table, and artisanal products, working collaboratively with Social and Solidarity Economy of Barcelona City Council, the FEMM (Federation of Municipal Markets), and the food guilds to execute the project. In 2024, the project will receive a new boost with new actions and targeted campaigns for each type of product.
Zero Plastic
Information and advisory actions aimed at reducing single-use plastic packaging.
Cookery classrooms in the markets
There are four permanent kitchens in the markets of Sants, Boqueria, Ninot, and Sant Antoni, and two mobile kitchens that support the project. During the 2022- 2023 school year, 4,600 children from 33 schools in the city attended the cookery classrooms. For the coming year, the expected attendance is of 8,500 children from 53 schools.
And the educational projects, with a bud - get allocation of €51,000, offered support to 7,201 students from 204 schools in the previous school year (2022-23).Period: In 2025
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This is implemented through a series of projects aimed at meeting the new needs of current and potential customers, using information technology.
Key projects:
- Network of screens and content management tool. Deployment of 100 information screens, plus 2 video mosaics.
- Capacity control. People-counting sensors and capacity indicators have been installed at the entrances to the entire market network.
- Markets at a click (Marketplace). Implementation of a common online sales channel across the entire network, which helps to make the purchasing process more flexible for customers and allows data collection to improve service and boost commerce. Currently in operation in 15 markets.
- Refrigerated lockers. Quick collection points for purchases, allowing fresh and refrigerated products to be stored. In operation in 22 markets.
Further information:
Regulatory changes and tax rebates
The Barcelona City Council is firmly committed to ensuring that our city is an easy place for economic activity. This is why it has launched regulatory and administrative changes that simplify things for city residents and economic sectors and speed up and simplify procedures and payment periods.
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The City Council offers different rebates on the tax for business activities.
Rebates for cooperatives
Cooperatives and cooperative unions, federations and confederations can request an IAE rebate provided they present documentary proof that they are registered in the Cooperatives register and meet the requirements set out in the Tax byelaw and Act 20/1990, of 19 December, on the tax system for cooperatives.The rebate is for 95% of the amount of the tax levied.
Tax rebates for increased staff numbers
Natural or legal persons who pay municipal tax and have increased their staff by 10% or more are eligible for a rebate. The increase must have involved indefinite contracts and taken place during the tax period immediately prior to that in which the subsidy is requested.It must be borne in mind that this increase in staff numbers must have occurred in their work centres in the Barcelona municipality.
Rate reduction for use of renewable energy
Rebates for natural and legal persons installing systems for harnessing heat or electricity from the sun’s energy, for three consecutive years as from the date of application for the installation’s legalisation or registration.
Period: specified for each rebate
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The City Council offers several rebates on the tax on mechanically powered vehicles.
- Rebate on the tax on mechanically powered vehicles for owners of vehicles classed as zero emission or electric vehicles: Rebate on the tax on mechanically powered vehicles of any kind (except trailers) classed as zero emission vehicles according to the vehicle registry of the Directorate General of Traffic.
- Rebate on the tax on mechanically powered vehicles for owners of ECO-classed vehicles that use petrol, with emissions of up to 120 g/km of CO2: Rebate on the tax on mechanically powered vehicles for owners of ECO-classified vehicles of any kind (except trailers) that use petrol, with emissions of up to 120 g/km of CO2, according to the vehicle registry of the Directorate General of Traffic.
- Rebate on the tax on mechanically powered vehicles for owners of vintage vehicles: Rebate on the entire amount of the tax on mechanically powered vehicles for vehicles considered vintage, under the regulations for vintage vehicles.
Period: specified for each rebate
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Barcelona City Council offers several rebates on the construction, installation and works tax. Rebates on the construction, installation and works tax (ICIO) may be requested for work whose purpose is to construct buildings or put up installations declared to be of special municipal interest or usefulness, because of social, cultural, historical and artistic or work-promoting circumstances or because they incorporate systems for harnessing heat or electricity from solar energy.
Period: The period needs to be consulted in the corresponding tax byelaw
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A 95% rebate on the rate is applied in the following cases:
- Transfer through inheritance of the primary residence: the rebate is conditional on not transferring the residence within the three years following the date of death of the transferring person. It can be requested by spouses, descendants or adoptees, as well as ascendants or adopters and individuals who, by law, receive a treatment similar to a relationship of kinship to continue using the residence due to having lived with the deceased person during the two years prior to their death.
- Transfer through inheritance of premises where the deceased person conducted a habitual, personal and direct professional activity: the rebate is subject to not transferring the premises and to continuing to conduct an economic activity there for five years following the death.
Deadline for paying the capital gains and applying for the rebate: six months from the date of the deceased person’s death (extendable for an additional six months)
