The Spanish Supreme Court validates the Competition Authority’s interpretation of excessive prices (Explosivos de Canarias)

On May 29, 2013, the Spanish Supreme Court issued judgment number 2660/2013 on the appeal that Canarias Explosivos, S.A. (“Canarias Explosivos”) submitted against the judgment of the Spanish National Court (Audiencia Nacional) on December 10, 2009. The Supreme Court considered that there were no grounds to justify an annulment of the contested judgment and, as a result, confirmed both the judgment of the Spanish National Court and the decision of the Spanish Competition Commission (“CNC”) [1], which lawfully gauged the structural and comparative criteria to confirm the existence of excessive prices. Background Canarias Explosivos operates explosive depots and distributes explosives in the Canary Islands on an exclusive basis. On December 2, 2005, an industry association, Asociación