Spain's long-awaited new transparency legislation is soon to be enacted. It marks a big step forward for openness about taxing and spending, but there are still some formidable obstacles in the way

It's finally here. It all began in September 2012 when the government submitted the now famous transparency law to congress, encouraging public access to information and good governance.

A year later, congress has approved the law, and it will soon be sent to the senate, where the current administration has more than enough political support. As a result, the transparency law is expected to be enacted before January 2014.

However, public authorities and certain private institutions will have a 12-month grace period to apply the chapters on transparency. This extra cushion will allow them to gather and prepare all the information to be made public and to start up the so-called transparency portal that central government will create.

The main objectives of the new law are to expand and enhance the transparency of public activity, regulate and guarantee the right of access to information related to such activities, establish good governance obligations to be met by public officials, and outline the consequences of failing to comply.

Another remarkable development within the scope of this law is the way it brings in line the transparency obligations of the royal family with those of other public institutions such as the church, the Bank of Spain, the ombudsman, the court of auditors, senate and congress.

The body responsible for ensuring compliance with the standard will be the Board of Transparency and Good Governance which will consist of a president, a senator, a representative of the court of auditors, the ombudsman, the Spanish agency for data protection, the ministry of public administration and the independent fiscal responsibility authority.

The advantages of the approved law are clear; greater transparency (although we are sceptical about how significantly transparency will increase) will lead to more citizens being better informed about the whereabouts of their taxes. Greater transparency also helps to demystify the tax process and answer the question, 'who is spending my money and what is it being spent on?'

But there are also criticisms and fears about the new transparency law. One of the most controversial aspects is the so-called 'negative administrative silence'. This means that the administration is not obliged to respond to a request for information, and the applicant must take the lack of response to be a rejection after the stipulated period of one month has expired.

Other concerns include:

- the way access to information is restricted in a number of circumstances: for example national defense and security, crime prevention, professional secrecy, economic and monetary policy, environmental protection, and the guarantee of confidentiality or secrecy required in the decision-making processes.

- government's refusal to create a record of influential groups or lobbies.

- excessively high thresholds. The law states that only those private entities that receive aid or subsidies amounting to more than 100,000€ - or receive at least 40% of their annual revenue in public subsidies or financial aid - will be liable

- lack of publicity for the final reports derived from audit and inspection procedures conducted by the internal control bodies

We will keep a close eye on to how the law is applied and whether or not penalties will actually be used against the possible infringements that may be committed.

Marta Riera López is auditor of the auditing authority of the Principality of Asturias in Spain