On October 2010, the government’s decision to declare the Serra de Collserola a Natural Park was made public. Although the area had previously been protected by different legal instruments, Collserola has travelled a long path until its final declaration as a Natural Park.

The declaration of a Natural Park implies the drafting of a new protection instrument, the Special Plan of the Natural Park of the Serra de Collserola (PEPNat), which is currently in the final approval phase.

Until then, the main instrument protecting Collserola was the Special Plan for the Organisation and Protection of the Natural Environmental of Collserola Park (PEPCo), aprovated on 1987. PEPCo is an urban protection instrument that regulates the uses permitted within the Park limits according to the landscape and natural value of the area where such activities take place. The main objective behind the plan is to ensure that leisure activities are compatible with environmental protection and conservation in the Park. PEPCo, which is managed by the Collserola Park Consortium, also gives shape to the Natural Park, which covers an area of 8,460 hectares, of which 7,516 are forestland.

Since 1992, much of the area in Collserola Park has also been included in the Plan for Spaces of Natural Interest (PEIN). As a preventive measure under this plan, the area delimited by the plan is declared non-building land in accordance with legislation governing urban development.

Moreover, since 2006, the Serra de Collserola has formed part of the Natura 2000 Network, which was set up under the aegis of an EU Directive on the conservation of natural habitats and wild flora and fauna. This Directive seeks to establish a coherent European ecological system of special conservation areas, and Collserola Park forms part of this network as a coastal mountain space. Finally, Barcelona Metropolitan Territorial Plan (2010) includes the Serra de Collserola in the special protection category due to its natural and agricultural importance within the system of open spaces in the metropolitan area.