The aim of this paper is to analyze the use of the term “compliance”, considered one of the most popular topics in the legal-economic field in 2017 and 2018 in the Spanish press to determine whether there is a preference for its use in English, for its translation into Spanish or for both options. A corpus methodology has been used to study the frequency of use of the term in two generalist newspapers (El País and La Vanguardia) and two specialized ones (Expansión and El Economista), during the period between January 2017 and October 2018. The results show a preference for the use of the term in English, although this trend is accentuated in the specialized press in comparison with the general press. From a terminological perspective this analysis helps develop training and the profession of the translator since it is a contribution for the acquisition of the lexical competence necessary for professional translation.