Rafael Baena is a partner in the competition practice of Ashurst, based in Madrid. Rafael practices all competition law aspects with special attention to merger control, abuse of dominance, cartels, competition in regulated sectors (electricity, air transport, etc.), litigation work and competition law in Latin America. Rafael has headed the department since 2010, was recognized as one of the most important Spanish lawyers under the age of forty, in the 40 under Forty Awards –2013 edition- organised by the publication Iberian Lawyer. Rafael is very active in the Spanish Association of Competition Law professionals (Asociación Española de Defensa de la Competencia) actively participating as a speaker in many Competition Law events. Some of his key clients are Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Hewlett-Packard Inc., Hyundai, NH Hoteles and Grupo IFA.
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On 4 July, the Council of Ministers approved Royal Decree 571/2023 of 4 July on foreign investments (the "RD"), which implements Law 19/2003 of 4 July on the legal regime for capital movements and economic transactions abroad (the "Law") and repeals Royal Decree 664/1999 of 23 April on foreign (...)
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On 26 May 2022, the CNMC fined the Royal Canine Society of Spain ("RSCE") almost EUR 143,000 for abusing its dominant position in several markets related to purebred dogs by hindering the activity of rival associations and discriminating against canine judges. The CNMC launched its (...)
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On 7 September 2021, the Spanish Competition Authority ("CNMC") cleared, subject to commitments and conditions, the acquisition by Santa Lucía of exclusive control of almost all assets of Mapfre Group subsidiary Funespaña. The transaction affects the funeral services and funeral planning (...)
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The Spanish Competition Authority ("CNMC") has fined Advanced Accelerator Applications Ibérica, S.L.U. ("AAA") and Curium Pharma Spain, S.A. ("CURIUM") as well as two directors of those companies for an infringement of the Spanish Competition Act ("SCA"), constituting a bid-rigging cartel for (...)
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The Spanish competition authority ("CNMC") has fined six companies and five directors participating in three cartels, breaching EU and Spanish antitrust rules by fixing prices and other commercial conditions, sharing customers and exchanging commercially sensitive information for almost 20 (...)
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On 18 December 2020, a Spanish second-instance court (Audiencia Provincial de Asturias, "APA") issued a ruling partially endorsing an appeal brought by IVECO S.a.P. ("IVECO") against a judgment awarding damages to one of its customers in the context of a follow-on action deriving from the EU (...)
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In March 2020, the Spanish Government introduced a screening mechanism for certain foreign direct investments in Spain (the "Spanish FDI Regime"), which requires prior administrative authorisation from the Council of Ministers of investments made by non-EU/EFTA investors in Spanish companies (...)
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In 2015, the Spanish Competition Authority ("CNMC") sanctioned a cartel of Land Rover dealers, and found that a consultancy firm, ANT Servicalidad, was also liable for the conduct as it acted as a facilitator of the cartel. In a recent judgment, the Spanish High Court rejected the appeal (...)
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Spanish authority publishes compliance guidance The Spanish competition authority ("CNMC") has published a "Guide on Regulatory Compliance Programmes in Relation to Competition Law" (the "Compliance Guide") which provides guidance on the circumstances in which internal compliance programmes (...)
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On 19 February 2020, the European Commission ("Commission") published a Communication on shaping Europe’s digital future ("Digital Future Communication") together with a Communication on a European data strategy ("Data Strategy"), which contain a number of statements relating to EU competition (...)
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The Spanish Competition Authority ("CNMC") has fined Schneider Electric Spain ("Schneider"), Adasa Sistemas ("Adasa") and DTN Services and Systems Spain ("DTN") a total of EUR 610,000 for organising a bid rigging cartel in the market for the supply and maintenance of weather radars tendered by (...)
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The CNMC has accepted commitments offered by Adidas Spain ("Adidas") and closed the investigation that had been initiated in November 2018, following a complaint lodged by BCINCOPE (an Adidas franchisee), for an alleged infringement of articles 1 SCA and 101 TFEU in the Spanish retail market (...)
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On 13 November 2019, the Spanish Competition Authority ("CNMC") announced that it had fined Mediaset and Atresmedia €77.1 million in total for antitrust practices in the marketing of television advertising. Both companies have been required to cease their behaviour and adapt their commercial (...)
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The Spanish Competition Authority ("CNMC") has fined 19 assembly and maintenance companies operating in the energy and petrochemical sectors €54.2 million, and fined 8 directors €0.28 million, for big-rigging practices following a leniency application submitted by one of the companies. WHAT (...)
