In Barcelona, do it in Catalan—or pay the fine

WHEN a government inspector walked into his estate agency in Barcelona, Angel Centeno knew he had it coming. The severe-looking lady had no interest in buying a house. Instead, she waved a piece of paper and informed Mr Centeno he had been fined €1,000 ($1,130). The 66-year-old businessman had broken Catalonia’s most notorious consumer law: his company sign appeared only in Spanish.

Mr Centeno is not the only one to receive this unpleasant surprise from Catalonia’s regional government, the Generalitat. The consumer code’s requirement that businesses publish all public information “at least in Catalan” has been around for more than a decade. Those who insist on writing signs, menus or catalogues only in Spanish can be fined anywhere from hundreds to thousands of euros, depending on company size or the quantity of untranslated language. Rafael Moreno, a furniture retailer who owes €1,260 worth of fines, fears the government will seize the sum from his bank account. But replacing the three-metre Spanish logo at one of his shops with one in Catalan could cost him €18,000.