Organising a patron saint festival, a concert in the square or a cultural programme involves far more than booking a stage and sound: without public liability insurance and the permits in order, the event cannot go ahead. It is one of the questions that council departments and culture officers put to us most often, which is why at Zenor Audiovisual, after years working with town councils all over Spain, we have prepared this practical guide so that no piece of paperwork is left unfiled.
Is public liability insurance compulsory at public events?
Yes. The national public entertainment legislation —whose historic framework is the Reglamento General de Policía de Espectáculos Públicos y Actividades Recreativas published in the BOE— and, above all, each autonomous community's public entertainment laws require the organiser to hold a public liability policy before the authorisation can be obtained. Each community sets minimum sums insured according to capacity: a performance for 200 local residents is not the same as a verbena with thousands of people. Holding an event without this cover is treated as a very serious infringement and can carry fines of tens of thousands of euros, as well as the immediate suspension of the event.
What a public liability policy for events covers (and what it does not)
A public liability policy responds to the personal injury, material damage and financial loss that third parties may suffer during the set-up, the event itself and the take-down. It is worth checking three points before signing it off:
- That the sum insured reaches the minimum set by the regional legislation for the expected capacity.
- That the cover includes the set-up and take-down of structures, stages, sound and lighting towers, not just the hours of the show itself.
- That the supplier's employer's liability cover extends to its own technical staff, something many municipal tender documents now expressly require.
Usual permits and paperwork before a patron saint festival or concert
As well as the insurance, a municipal event usually requires a chain of authorisations that is best started weeks in advance. These are the most frequent formalities:
- Authorisation or responsible declaration for the event under the applicable regional law.
- Occupation of the public highway and, if there are road closures, coordination with the Policía Local.
- A safety or self-protection plan where the capacity requires it, with medical and emergency cover.
- A certificate for the temporary electrical installation signed by an authorised installer.
- Certificates for the structures (stage, PA towers, line array goalpost truss) and for the technical supplier's public liability insurance.
- Compliance with the acoustic regulations: the Ley 37/2003 del Ruido, the Spanish noise act, and the municipal by-laws set the permitted times and emission limits.
Who takes out the insurance: the council or the technical company?
It depends on who is named as the organiser. When the council organises directly, it usually relies on its municipal policy and requires each supplier to hold its own public liability cover. That is the key point: Zenor Audiovisual has its own public liability insurance and we give the council all the documentation the file needs —the policy certificate, the structural certificates and the electrical compliance certificates— before the set-up. We work side by side with the council secretary's office and the municipal technical staff so that the paperwork never holds up the festival, in the same way that we look after the technical side of sound for events outdoors.
“A complete file two weeks before the event saves more headaches than any last-minute improvisation: the paperwork is part of the show too.”
A quick checklist for council departments and municipal technical staff
- Confirm the estimated capacity and the minimum public liability sum required by the autonomous community.
- Ask each supplier for its insurance certificate and the technical documentation for its structures.
- Check the permitted music hours under the local noise by-law.
- Finalise the emergency plan and the medical cover if the capacity requires it.
- File everything before the first day of set-up.
If, on top of the permits, you are worried about the concert sounding good across the whole square, we explain how we solve that in our guide on how to provide sound for a square for concerts and verbenas. And if you have specific questions about documentation, our frequently asked questions answer the most common ones.