The short answer: what it is and who does it
The certificat d'eficiència energètica (energy efficiency certificate, CEE) rates a home's energy use on a scale from A to G. In Catalonia it must be entered in the official certificate registry run by ICAEN, the Institut Català d'Energia. Only after registration do you get the etiqueta d'eficiència energètica, the coloured label that has to appear in listings.
You cannot calculate it yourself: a qualified technician does that after visiting the property, using officially recognised software. Ordering it, checking the data and following the registration is well within your reach. Registration is online only, through Tràmits gencat; the technician usually files it on your behalf, and the owner pays the fee. The certificate is valid for up to 10 years.
When it is required and when it isn't
The certificate is mandatory for new buildings and for existing homes that are sold or let to a new tenant; for existing buildings the rule has applied since 1 June 2013. The label must appear in every offer, promotion and advert for sale or rent, property portals included.
Some examples. Selling your Eixample flat: you need it. Letting it to a new tenant after the renovation: you need it, and it should be ready before the listing goes live. Living there yourself and renovating for your own use: the law does not require it. Still, if you replaced the windows, insulated the walls or installed a heat pump, a voluntary renewal can be worth it, since ICAEN allows renewal when improvements raise the rating. A house in Castelldefels going on the market: you need it.
There are exemptions: stand-alone buildings under 50 m², homes used less than four months a year, temporary structures meant to last under two years, places of worship and a few other cases. Protected buildings follow their own rules. The exact list is in ICAEN's short guide, and if you qualify there is a dedicated «Sol·licitud d'exempció» procedure.
What to prepare and who does it
The technician. You need a professional whose qualification allows them to design buildings or thermal installations under the Building Act 38/1999: an architect, technical architect, engineer or technical engineer. Registering with ICAEN is optional for technicians, so look at the degree and professional college membership instead.
You. Give the technician the cadastral reference (referència cadastral), the address, floor area and year of construction, plans if you have them, and details of the windows, heating, air conditioning and hot water: boiler or heat pump type and the year it was installed. Make every room accessible, including wherever the boiler or outdoor unit sits.
The technician visits, enters the data into one of the recognised programs (CE3X, HULC, CERMA and others), produces the report and signs the certificate. Registration comes next.
Step by step: entering it in the registry
The procedure is called «Certificació d'eficiència energètica d'edificis i inscripció dels certificats al registre», option «Sol·licitar el registre d'un certificat». It is online only, via Tràmits gencat, and the filer needs a digital ID (a digital certificate or idCAT Mòbil). If your technician files it, they act as your representative and all you do is authorise them.
The form takes the property and owner details, plus the files exported from the calculation software. The fee is paid online at the same time. According to the procedure page on the Generalitat website in 2026, it is 12.60 € for an existing home (a flat or a single-family house); for apartment blocks it follows a formula based on the number of homes, capped at 284.05 €. A-rated buildings are exempt and B-rated ones get a 50 % discount.
ICAEN checks the data and issues the label, which you download from the same portal. The certificate then shows up in ICAEN's public certificate search, where anyone can find it by address, procedure ID or cadastral reference. Ask your technician to send you both the certificate and the label as PDFs.
After registration
For existing buildings, the procedure page says the answer usually comes in about a week. There are no paper documents to deliver anywhere.
Put the label in every sale or rental listing and pass it to your agency. Keep the certificate with the cèdula and the rest of the property file: buyers and tenants usually ask for a copy.
Spotted a mistake, such as a wrong address or cadastral reference? That is what the «Esmenar el registre d'un certificat» procedure is for. Administrative corrections (owner details, address) can be filed by the owner; technical ones (the calculation, building characteristics) are done by the technician. If the wrong fee amount was paid at registration, you ask for a refund with the «Sol·licitud de reintegrament de pagament indegut» form.
After 10 years the certificate expires. If you sell or let the property after that, you need a new one.
Common mistakes
Publishing a listing without the label. The rules require it in every sale or rental advert, so the listing is non-compliant from day one.
Ordering the cheapest certificate «without a visit». The method assumes the technician collects data on site; a certificate with made-up windows and boiler is easy to challenge.
Getting a PDF from the technician and assuming you are done. Without registration in the ICAEN registry there is no label, so the certificate is not complete.
Not updating it after the renovation. If you replaced the windows and boiler, an old rating undersells the flat, and an A or B rating also means a lower fee.
Getting the cadastral reference wrong. The certificate then cannot be found in the search tool and you have to file a correction.
Rules and fees change, so check the current procedure page before filing. If you would rather not deal with it yourself, BCN YARD handles the paperwork together with the renovation.