For the Spanish news on Wednesday, we have prison confirmed for games console sale fraudster, tax declaration campaign starts today, also today we have an in-depth guide to what the end of third-party cookies means for Spanish small businesses, with information about how many websites are still not compliant with Spanish law and subsequently face massive fines. Plus, the Eurozone CPI will dominate the financial headlines.

Spanish News Headlines

The Granada Court has confirmed the sentence of eight months in prison for a man accused of defrauding another in the purchase and sale of a video game console through the Wallapop platform, facts for which he will also have to compensate the injured party. As stated in the ruling, the accused offered a Playstation 5 video game console for sale on this platform in May of 2022, pretending that he had it in his possession. The victim became interested in the purchase and contacted him through the phone number he put on the website and they agreed that he would make a transfer of 589.95 euro to his account. The defendant seized the money but never sent him the console “nor has he justified” at any time that he had it in his possession to sell it. The 2023 Income and Wealth Campaign starts today, Wednesday 3 April, with the presentation of returns online, but from this week taxpayers can access their tax data from the Tax Agency ‘s website and mobile application. According to the published calendar, the Campaign starts on April 3, and will extend until July 1, 2024, one day longer than usual, since June 30 falls this year on Sunday. From May 7 to July 1, 2024, the Tax Agency will be able to prepare the taxpayer’s declaration by telephone, the appointment request will be available from April 29 to June 28. Google is going to permanently eliminate so-called third-party cookies starting in September of this year. They have been a ubiquitous tool on the web for decades and are used to track user behaviour across multiple pages, facilitating, for example, the personalisation of advertising. Thus, its progressive disappearance will have repercussions on the ecosystem of SMEs and self-employed businesses. Especially when it comes to your digital marketing strategies and customer data collection. The so-called “cookie apocalypse”, which has been predicted since 2019, is now scheduled to take place this autumn, at least, from what appears from Google’s latest announcement in this regard, it is going to implement the elimination of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser in the third quarter of 2024. In fact, the process is going to be progressive, and already has begun with initial tests during the first quarter, which will affect a good number of users, and which will increase until reaching 100% in the summer. To read these articles in full, visit SpainToday.news

Business, Markets and Statistics

Wednesday the 3rd in the statistics and markets world will stand out for the publication of the CPI in March for the Eurozone after registering a year-on-year variation of 2.6% in February. In addition, we will know the Eurozone unemployment rate in February, which stood at 6.4% in January and will show the degree of dynamism of the labour market on the European continent. In the UK, focus will be on the NEU survey on Ofsted, and no doubt the financial sector will be looking at the Euro area inflation for comparison in the post-Brexit world.

Things to Do

In the El Raso area of Guardamar del Segura on 11 to 14 April you can celebrate with the Neighbourhood Party, including a Tapas Trail, and a dog show. Fans of the music of Queen might want to take a trip down to Cartagena on 20 April, where the concert, Symphonic Rhapsody of Queen, A Kind of Magic, will be taking place. Sticking with big-name music, James Blunt is back in Alicante on 19 July, as is Tom Jones on 25. Other popular groups coming to Spain in the near future include AC/DC, Depeche Mode, and Simple Minds. For more local events, pick up The Leader newspaper every Monday, and This is Torrevieja for Torrevieja events.

Traffic and Travel

Road wise, there´s nothing significant planned but remember that if you are venturing into the mountain areas, which in some cases might be less than an hour from the sunny coast, snow chains should be a consideration to avoid getting stranded. For information and updates about driving in Spain, visit N332.es

Official Websites for Travel Information