Rafael Allendesalazar

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) has closed by means of commitment decisions (‘terminación convencional’) two infringement proceedings initiated in 2020 in the markets for the wholesale distribution of pharmaceutical products and non-life insurance in Spain. Unilateral termination of (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) has closed by means of commitment decisions (‘terminación convencional’) two infringement proceedings initiated in 2020 in the markets for the wholesale distribution of pharmaceutical products and non-life insurance in Spain. Online resale price (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) has imposed a fine of €10.25 million on the Leadiant group (Essetifin SpA, Leadiant Biosciences Ltd and Leadiant GmbH, jointly referred as Leadiant) for abusing its dominant position as the marketer of the sole medicine available in Spain for the (...)

The Spanish competition authority (CNMC) has imposed a €38.93 million fine on pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) for abusing its dominant position in the market for contraceptive vaginal rings from June 2017 to April 2018 by means of unfounded legal actions intended to harass a (...)

The Audiencia Provincial de León has dismissed the appeals lodged by two truck manufacturers, Volvo and DAF Trucks, against a commercial court judgment which awarded damages amounting to €10,906 after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) clarified the temporal application of the (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has annulled a decision of the Spanish competition authority (CNMC) fining the car wash equipment maker Istobal for refusing to cooperate with independent repairers of its machines –called SATs (technical assistance services)–, thus breaching Articles 1 and 2 of the (...)

The Spanish competition authority (CNMC) has imposed fines amounting to €203.6 million on the six main national construction companies (Acciona Construcción, Dragados, FCC Construcción, Ferrovial Construcción, Obrascón Huarte Lain and Sacyr Construcción) for manipulating public tenders to (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has upheld the appeals filed by eleven concrete companies and a manager against a decision of the Spanish competition authority (CNMC) which sanctioned them for operating a cartel in the supply of concrete market in the Asturias region, thereby incurring a single and (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has annulled a decision of the Spanish competition authority (CNMC) fining two security companies and their managers for having agreed to share the Spanish cash-in-transit and cash-handling market, fix prices and exchange commercially sensitive information. Following (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) has imposed on the renewable energy firm Enel Green Power S.L.(Enel Green) a EUR 4.9 million fine for abusing its dominant position in the market of access to the electrical transmission network, in particular, in two access nodes. The conduct (...)

The Provincial Court of Madrid (Audiencia Provincial de Madrid) has overturned a first instance judgment which ordered insurance companies Asefa, S.A. Compañía Española de Seguros y Reaseguros (Asefa) and Scor Global P&C, S.E (Scor) to pay EUR 2.6 million to the property developer Realia (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) has imposed on the kennel association Real Sociedad Canina de España (RSCE) a EUR 142,996 fine for deterring the activity of rival associations and discriminating canine judges. According to the CNMC, the conduct constitutes an abuse of dominant (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has partially accepted the appeals brought by several Balearic transport operators, thus quashing a decision of the Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) which imposed a fine on these companies for implementing a cartel in the market of school transport services. The (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) has imposed a EUR 24 million fine on three steel companies for constituting two cartels consisting of two exchanges of information between competitors, on the one hand between AG Siderúrgica Balboa, S.A. (BALBOA) and Sidenor Aceros Especiales, (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) has imposed on Sociedad Estatal Correos y Telégrafos, S.A., S.M.E.(CORREOS), the state-owned postal service provider in Spain, a EUR 32.6 million fine for the implementation of an anticompetitive discount scheme for large business customers. The conduct (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has accepted the appeals brought by four rail equipment companies and several individuals, thus quashing a decision of the Spanish Competition Authority (CNMC) which imposed a fine on these companies and individuals for rigging bids in tenders related to the construction (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”] has imposed fines amounting to EUR 1.25m on seven real estate brokers for imposing minimum fees in the real estate brokerage market. The CNMC found that these companies had entered into price-fixing and information-sharing agreements thus breaching (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has annulled the fines imposed by a 2016 decision of the Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”] which sanctioned six manufacturers and suppliers of Spanish nougat (‘turrón’) (Delaviuda, Almendra y Miel, Sanchís Mira, Turrones Picó, Enrique Garrigós Monerris and Turrones (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”] has closed the infringement proceedings initiated against EURO 6000 for potential ATM network restrictions with commitments (CNMC, decision of 2 November 2021, case S/0034/19 EURO 6000). The termination of infringement proceedings by means of a (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”] has imposed fines on 12 public works companies amounting to EUR 61.2 million for constituting a cartel that altered the results of tenders for the maintenance and operation services of the Spanish motorway network, between 2014 and 2018. The CNMC has, (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has dismissed the appeal filed by the state-owned railway operator Renfe against a decision of the Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”] as it considered that the two sanctions imposed on the appellant, for infringing Articles 1 and 2 of the Spanish Competition Act (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has upheld six out of seven appeals against a 2018 decision of the Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”], which sanctioned nine bar associations and imposed a total fine of EUR 1.455 million for the elaboration and distribution of legal fee scales, on the basis of an (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has confirmed the decisions adopted by the Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”] declaring that various Spanish bar associations had infringed Article 1 of the Spanish Competition Act [“LDC”] through the publication of recommended collective prices (Audiencia Nacional, (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has accepted the appeal brought by the Spanish Basketball Clubs Association ( Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto or “ACB”) and has quashed a decision of the Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”], to impose a fine on the ACB for implementing agreements which imposed (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has upheld the appeal brought by several tobacco firms belonging to the Altadis group against the Investigation Order issued by the Competition Directorate [“CD”] of the Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”], thus annulling the dawn raid carried out at the premises of (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”] has fined the funeral services company Funespaña, a subsidiary of Mapfre, one of the main insurance group in Spain, for acquiring a local competitor in the Canary Islands (Funeraria Alianza Canaria) without prior notification (CNMC, Decision of 18 May (...)

The Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”] has fined 22 consulting services firms and several of their executives for implementing two cartels through two separate collaborative networks, between 2008 and 2018. The CNMC has also initiated proceedings to exclude most of these firms from taking (...)

On April 2021, the Spanish Royal Decree-Law 7/2021 [“RDL”] entered into force, transposing Directive 2019/1 [“the ECN+ Directive”] and thus modifying the Spanish Competition Act (Act 15/2007, on the Defence of Competition, LDC), Act 3/2013, on the creation of the National Commission for (...)

The Audiencia Nacional has rejected the appeals brought by 7 telecommunications and television operators against a decision of the Spanish Competition Authority [“CNMC”] of 2015 which approved the acquisition by Telefonica of the exclusive control of Distribuidora de Televisión Digital (...)

In June 2019, following complaints filed by two dental chains—Dentoestetic Centro de Salud y Estética Dental (DENTIX) and Dental Global Management (iDENTAL)—the CNMC opened an investigation in order to determine whether, as a result of the growth of low-cost dental care clinics as alternatives (...)

Radiopharmaceuticals are commonly used in nuclear medicine for detecting and monitoring diseases such as cancer. Currently, Advanced Accelerator Applications Ibérica (AAA) and Curium Pharma Spain, are the sole companies with sufficient capacity and means to provide hospitals throughout Spain (...)

In September 2016, the Spanish competition authority (CNMC) sanctioned 23 companies operating in the cement and concrete manufacturing and sales sector for four different infringements of Article 1 of the Spanish Competition Act constituting a cartel. In the concrete market, the CNMC (...)

By Judgment of 9 October 2018, issued in appeal n° 4509/2017, the Supreme Court has confirmed the Judgment of 27 May 2017 of the Audiencia Nacional (appeal nº 263/16) which decided on the appeal by British Telecommunications, PLC and BT España Compañía De Servicios Globales De (...)

In a Judgement of 17 September 2018 (appeal n° 2922/2016), the Spanish Supreme Court has overturned the Judgement of 21 July 2016 of the Audiencia Nacional (appeal n° 482/2013) which had dismissed the appeal lodged by Repsol, S.A. against the decision of the former Spanish competition (...)

In March 2013 the Spanish Competition Authority (the “CNMC”) fined several paper envelope manufacturers for a single continuous infringement of Articles 101 TFEU and 1 of the Spanish Competition Act from 1977 to 2010 consisting of (i) price fixing and market sharing agreements regarding (...)

By Judgement of 24 July 2018, issued in appeal n° 2665/2016, the Supreme Court has confirmed the Judgement of 11 July 2016 of the Audiencia Nacional (appeal n° 343/14) deciding on the appeal by Nestlé España S.A. against the decision of the Council of the Spanish Competition Authority (the (...)

By decision of 7 May 2018 adopted in Case S/0584/16, Media Agencies, the Spanish competition authority (hereinafter ’CNMC’) imposed a fine on the agencies Carat España SAU, Inteligencia y Media, Media Sapiens Spain SL and Persuade Comunicación SA of fines totalling approximately EUR 7 million (...)

By decision of 4 July 2013, the Spanish Competition Authority (hereinafter ’CNMC’) imposed on the association Club de variedades vegetales protegidas (hereinafter ’CVVP’) a penalty of EUR 4 974 027 for an infringement of Article 1 of the Law on the Defence of Competition (hereinafter ’LDC’) (...)

By decision of 13 February 2018 adopted in Case S/DC/0579/16, Financial Derivatives Instruments, the Spanish Competition Authority (hereinafter ’CNMC’) fined the banks Caixabank, Banco Santander, Banco Sabadell and BBVA a total of EUR 91 million for a very serious infringement of Article 1 of (...)

By decision of 7 February 2018 adopted in Case S/DC/0604/17, Mediapro Fútbol, the Spanish Competition Authority (hereinafter ’CNMC’) imposed on Mediaproducción, S.L. (hereinafter ’Mediapro’), the main holder and manager of football rights in Spain, certain commitments in order to terminate (...)

By a judgment of 5 February 2018, the Spanish Supreme Court confirmed the judgment of the Audiencia Nacional of 1 July 2015 (Case No 118/2014) which annulled the decision of the Competition Authority (hereinafter "CNMC") of 21 January 2014 (Case S/0373/11, Correos 2) which had sanctioned (...)

By judgment of 28 December 2017 in Case No 93/2015 (one of a long list of judgments delivered on the same day, as well as other judgments delivered in January and February 2018), the Audiencia Nacional annulled the decision of the Spanish Competition Authority (hereinafter ’CNMC’) of 8 January (...)