Is there a cottage food law in Spain or Latin America?

Not in the US sense. Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia apply their general food business rules to home bakers, with no sales cap that exempts you. Some regions and municipalities have simpler rules for small or artisan producers, so ask your local food safety office.

Can I sell cakes from my home kitchen in Spain?

It depends on your autonomous community. Retail bakeries register with the regional register rather than the national RGSEAA, but whether a private home kitchen can be registered is decided regionally. Check with your community's food safety service.

What do RNE and RNPA mean in Argentina?

RNE is the national registration of the food establishment and RNPA the registration of each food product. Your provincial food authority processes them, and products sold without valid numbers can be banned by ANMAT.

Do I need an INVIMA registration to sell cookies in Colombia?

Food made for sale needs an INVIMA sanitary notification, permit or registration depending on the product's risk classification under Resolution 2674 of 2013. Check the classification for your products with INVIMA.

Is this legal advice?

No. It is a summary of public rules checked on the date shown. Rules change and vary by region, so confirm with the authorities named for your country before you start selling.

Law guide

Permits to sell homemade baked goods in Spain and Latin America

Permits to sell homemade baked goods work differently from US cottage food laws: Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia have no home-baker exemption with a sales cap, so selling cakes, cookies or bread means registering a food business with the health authority (RGSEAA or a regional register in Spain, an aviso de funcionamiento with COFEPRIS in Mexico, RNE and RNPA in Argentina, INVIMA rules in Colombia), meeting hygiene rules, labeling packaged products and registering for tax. This guide sets out the key facts for each country, what to do first, and where to check the details for your city or region.

Key facts: selling homemade baked goods in Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia
Topic	Spain	Mexico	Argentina	Colombia
Sales cap	No home-baker exemption or cap	No home-baker exemption or cap	No home-baker exemption or cap	No home-baker exemption or cap
Allowed foods	No cottage food list; general food hygiene rules apply	No cottage food list; NOM-251 applies	No cottage food list; Codigo Alimentario Argentino applies	No cottage food list; Resolution 2674 of 2013 applies
Home kitchen	Varies by autonomous community; check with its food safety service	Allowed if it meets NOM-251; check with your municipality	Varies by province and municipality; check with your provincial food authority	Check with your municipal health office
Online and shipping sales	Same rules as other sales; check with your autonomous community	No specific federal ban found; check with COFEPRIS	Product must carry RNE and RNPA; check with your provincial food authority	Check with INVIMA
Permit or registration and fee	Regional register (retail) or RGSEAA (supplying businesses), usually by prior communication; fees vary by region	Aviso de funcionamiento, free for individuals; municipal licence fees vary	RNE for the premises and RNPA per product; fees set by each province	INVIMA notification, permit or registration by product risk; check fees with INVIMA
Labeling	Regulation 1169/2011; allergen information also for unpackaged food	NOM-051 with front-of-pack warning seals	Codigo Alimentario labeling and Law 27,642 warning seals	National labeling rules with front-of-pack warning seals
Training	Hygiene training for food handlers required	NOM-251 requires food handler training	Food handler card required	Food handling training required by Resolution 2674
Sales tax	VAT on pastry and bread at reduced rates; check with the tax agency	VAT 0% (16% if eaten on site); IEPS 8% may apply to high-calorie baked goods; check with the SAT	Check with ARCA	Check with the DIAN

Last verified October 11, 2026

This page is general information, not legal advice. Rules change: check them with your state or local authority before you sell.

Permits to sell homemade baked goods: the short answer by country

In all four countries the rules are written for food businesses in general, not for home kitchens. The question is not whether your product is on an allowed list, as it is in many US states, but whether the place where you bake meets the hygiene rules and is registered or authorized by the right authority.

In practice the local level decides a lot: the autonomous community in Spain, the state and municipality in Mexico, the province and municipality in Argentina, and the municipal or departmental health office in Colombia. Two bakers in the same country can face different paperwork depending on where they live, so treat the table below as the map and the local office as the final word.

Spain: register the food business with your autonomous community (retail sale to the final consumer) or the national RGSEAA (supplying other businesses), and register as autonomo.
Mexico: file the free aviso de funcionamiento with COFEPRIS, meet NOM-251 hygiene rules, get a municipal licence, and register with the SAT.
Argentina: the premises need an establishment registration (RNE) and each packaged product a product registration (RNPA), handled by your provincial food authority under the Codigo Alimentario Argentino.
Colombia: Resolution 2674 of 2013 sets hygiene rules and requires a sanitary notification, permit or registration from INVIMA depending on the product's risk; the local health office inspects the premises.

Spain: RGSEAA, regional registers and autonomo

Spain's food business register is the Registro General Sanitario de Empresas Alimentarias y Alimentos (RGSEAA), run by AESAN under Royal Decree 191/2011. Bakeries and pastry shops that sell only to the final consumer are excluded from the national register and register instead with their autonomous community. If you supply cafes, shops or restaurants, you generally need the national RGSEAA entry. Most activities need only a prior communication (comunicacion previa); some need prior authorization.

Making food for sale in a private home kitchen is where regions differ most. EU hygiene rules (Regulation 852/2004) apply to any food business, and some communities have their own rules for small-scale or artisan production. Check with your autonomous community's food safety service before you invest in equipment or packaging.

Unpackaged cakes still need allergen information for the customer under Regulation 1169/2011 and Royal Decree 126/2015, so keep an allergen sheet for every product. Food handlers must be trained in hygiene; there is no longer a single official food handler card, but your business must be able to show the training. For tax, you register as autonomo with the tax agency and Social Security.

Mexico: aviso de funcionamiento, NOM-251 and NOM-051

Mexico has no cottage food law and no home-baker sales cap. A bakery that sells to the public files an aviso de funcionamiento with COFEPRIS, which is done online and is free for individuals, and follows NOM-251, the hygiene standard for food handling, which includes training for people who handle food.

Packaged products follow NOM-051, which sets the label content and the front-of-pack warning seals. Your municipality may require its own operating licence, with fees that vary. For tax, individuals with income under 3.5 million pesos a year can use the RESICO regime with the SAT; cakes and baked goods are generally taxed at 0% VAT unless sold for eating on site, but the 8% IEPS on non-basic foods with 275 kcal or more per 100 grams often applies to cakes, cookies and pan dulce. Our full guide to permits in Mexico covers each step.

Argentina: RNE, RNPA and your provincial food authority

Argentina's food law (Law 18,284 and Decree 2126/71) and the Codigo Alimentario Argentino require every food product sold to come from an authorized establishment with an RNE number and, for packaged products, to carry its own RNPA number. ANMAT regularly bans products sold with missing or invalid numbers, including ones labeled homemade or artisan, so the word casero on a label is not an exemption.

The registrations are processed by the food authority of your province, and municipalities often license small kitchens and local sales. The Codigo Alimentario requires a food handler card for people who handle food, and packaged products must follow the front-of-pack warning label law (Law 27,642). For tax, many small bakers use the monotributo with ARCA. Rules for home kitchens and fees vary by province and municipality, so check with your provincial food authority.

Colombia: INVIMA and Resolution 2674 of 2013

Colombia's Resolution 2674 of 2013 sets the hygiene requirements for everyone who makes, packs, stores or sells food, and requires food made for sale to have a sanitary notification, a sanitary permit or a sanitary registration from INVIMA, depending on the risk of the product. Which of the three applies to your cakes or cookies depends on INVIMA's risk classification, so check it with INVIMA before you print labels.

The resolution also requires training in food handling for staff, and the municipal or district health office inspects premises and issues the sanitary concept. Packaged foods follow Colombia's labeling rules, including the front-of-pack warning seals. For tax, check whether the Regimen Simple suits you with the DIAN, and ask about the tax on ultra-processed foods if you sell packaged sweets.

What to do first, in any of the four countries

The paperwork is easier when you know exactly what you make and what it contains. Start with a written recipe and ingredient list for every product: the health authority, the label and the allergen sheet all need it.

Call or visit the local food safety office and ask whether you can produce in your home kitchen or need separate premises.
List every product, its ingredients and its allergens.
Decide where you will sell: direct to customers, through shops and cafes, or online with delivery, because each can change the registration.
Register the business for tax and choose the simplified regime if you qualify.
Add permit fees, licences and insurance to your overhead so your prices cover them.

Price the permits into every cake

Registration, licences, training and insurance are real costs, and they should be in your prices. A simple way is to add them to your yearly overhead and spread them over what you sell.

Example: if permits, a municipal licence and insurance cost 600 a year in your currency and you sell about 400 cakes a year, each cake needs to carry 1.50 of that cost on top of ingredients, packaging and your time. Farinu does this for you: enter fixed costs as overhead and it adds a share to each recipe's cost, suggests a price from your target markup, and alerts you when an ingredient price rise pushes a product below its target. It also keeps the ingredient list of every recipe, sub-recipes included, which is the starting point for your allergen sheet.

Sources

Questions

Is there a cottage food law in Spain or Latin America?: Not in the US sense. Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia apply their general food business rules to home bakers, with no sales cap that exempts you. Some regions and municipalities have simpler rules for small or artisan producers, so ask your local food safety office.
Can I sell cakes from my home kitchen in Spain?: It depends on your autonomous community. Retail bakeries register with the regional register rather than the national RGSEAA, but whether a private home kitchen can be registered is decided regionally. Check with your community's food safety service.
What do RNE and RNPA mean in Argentina?: RNE is the national registration of the food establishment and RNPA the registration of each food product. Your provincial food authority processes them, and products sold without valid numbers can be banned by ANMAT.
Do I need an INVIMA registration to sell cookies in Colombia?: Food made for sale needs an INVIMA sanitary notification, permit or registration depending on the product's risk classification under Resolution 2674 of 2013. Check the classification for your products with INVIMA.
Is this legal advice?: No. It is a summary of public rules checked on the date shown. Rules change and vary by region, so confirm with the authorities named for your country before you start selling.

Know what every cake costs, permits included

Cost your recipes with ingredients, packaging, labour and overhead, and see the price that meets your target markup. Farinu is free for up to 10 recipes and 50 orders a month; Team adds unlimited orders and sales.

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