Regulation

Veterinary medicine is regulated by the Ministerio de Agricultura Alimentación y Medio Ambiente. Under Real Decreto 126/2013 (22 February), the Spanish Government approves the Statutes of the Veterinary Profession. The veterinary profession in Spain is governed by the Consejo Generalde Colegios de Veterinarios de España (CGCVE). 

Veterinary Specialist Recognition 

There is not currently a register of veterinary specialists.

Advanced Veterinary Practitioners

There is not currently Advanced Veterinary Practitioner training. A process of definition of a “Middle Tier” accreditation in Equine Practice and Small Animal General Practitioner is ongoing. European Veterinary Specialists are involved in the subcommittees in designing accreditation programes in Equine and Small Animal General Practice.

Continuing education of veterinary general practitioners

There are no compulsory continuing education requirements.

Veterinary education 

For more than a century, up until the miid 1980s, there were four public institutions providing veterinary education - Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad de Córdoba, Universidad de León and Universidad de Zaragoza. A further eight veterinary facullties have been founded since 1982; five public institutions - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universidad de Extremadura in Cáceres, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela in Lugo, Universidad de Murcia - and three private institutions - Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio in Madrid, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU in València and Universidad Católica de Valencia-San Vicente Mártir in València). There is political pressure to open an additional five veterinary faculties in the cities of Lleida, València and Vitoria (public) and Alicante and Madrid (private). This has been rejected by the twelve existing faculties and by the Consejo General de Colegios Veterinarios de España (Veterinary Profession Governing Body)

Veterinarians in Spain cannot use the title of Doctor.

Membership Organisations

In 2014, the Asociación de Veterinarios Especialistas Diplomados de España (AVEDE; asocvetespes@gmail.com) was created to serve as a liaison between CGCVE, the profession and the EBVS.