Casto Gonzalez-Paramo heads the Competition practice of Hogan Lovells in Madrid. He has a masters’ degree in European Union law at the Carlos III University of Madrid. Casto has worked as external advisor for the Internal Market General Directorate of the European Commission. He advises on all aspects of EU and Spanish competition law (cartels, abuses of dominance, mergers and State aid). Casto has also extensive experience in regulated industries (energy, telecoms, postal services, pharmaceutical industry). He regularly assists clients in developing compliance programmes and provides in-house training on different competition matters. He teaches competition law at the Carlos III University and has published regularly on EU and Spanish law issues.
150
The Spanish government last week approved a new reform of the legal regime that establishes a screening regime for certain foreign direct investments ("FDI") in Spain, (the "Reform"), through the enactment of Royal Decree-Law 34/2020, of 17 November, on urgent measures to support business (...)
36
The Spanish government last week approved a new reform of the legal regime that establishes a screening regime for certain foreign direct investments ("FDI") in Spain, (the "Reform"), through the enactment of Royal Decree-Law 34/2020, of 17 November, on urgent measures to support business (...)
567
The first State aid measures authorized by the European Commission (Commission) following the COVID-19 outbreak were aimed at helping companies to cover their immediate liquidity needs, mainly through bank loans guaranteed by EU Member States. The significant losses incurred by companies as (...)
501
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the European economy with brute force. Many businesses are facing drastic declines in revenues and are in urgent need of liquidity. Some have imposed temporary lay-offs or even face insolvency. The European Commission and most EU member states as well as the UK, (...)
322
In the world of COVID-19, companies must not quarantine competition law compliance. Competition law will not be at the top of companies’ agendas today. COVID-19 presents companies with many challenges. Companies will be looking for whatever solutions they can find to deal with this crisis. (...)
115
Important Changes to the Antitrust Institutional Structure in Spain* On 5 June 2013, the Spanish Congress approved the creation of a new Spanish competition authority : the National Commission on Markets and Competition (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, “NCMC“). The NCMC (...)
406
On 23 February 2012, the Council of the Spanish Competition Commission (the “Council”, the “SCC”) imposed combined fines of up to €54 million on Balearia Eurolíneas Marítimas, S.A. ("Balearia"), Compañía Transmediterránea, S.A.("Transmediterránea"), Isleña Marítima de Contenedores, S.A. (...)
344
On 28 December 2011, the Council of the Spanish Competition Commission (the « Council« , the « SCC« ) decided to accept the commitments that had been previously submitted by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias,« FEMP« ), the (...)
586
On 20 September 2011, the Council of the Spanish Competition Commission (hereinafter « the Council« , « the SCC« ) imposed a combined fine of €2,313,000 on electricity distributors Unión Fenosa Distribución, S.A. (« Unión Fenosa« ) and Hidrocantábrico Distribución Eléctrica, S.A.U. (« (...)
1040
On 31 March 2010, the Council of the Spanish Competition Commission (hereinafter “the Council”, “the NCC”) imposed a fine of € 100,000 on the Natonal Canned Food Association (“Asociación Nacional de Fabricantes de Conservas y Mariscos”) (“ANFACO”, “the Association”) for implementing a (...)
674
On 28 October 2010, after a long and complex process, the Council of the National Competition Commission ("the NCC") authorised the acquisition by the TV operator Gestevisión Telecinco, S.A. ("Telecinco") of sole control of rival TV channel Cuatro in a decision that has had an important impact (...)
857
On 31 July 2010, the Council of the Spanish Competition Commission (Consejo de la Comisión Nacional de la Competencia, hereinafter "the Council", "the NCC") imposed a fine of €14 M on eight road freight forwarding companies for coordinating their pricing and commercial strategies. The file (...)
870
On 16 June 2010, the Council of the Spanish Competition Authority (Consejo de la Comisión Nacional de la Competencia, hereinafter the "Council", "the NCC") published its Report on "Competition and the Agrifood Sector" ("the Report"). The Report is the consequence of a formal request made on (...)
2628
On 21 January 2009, the Council of the Spanish Competition Authority (Consejo de la Comisión Nacional de la Competencia, hereinafter the “Council”) sanctioned the four largest Spanish manufacturers of bath and shower gel. i.e. Puig Beauty & Fashion Group, S.L. ("Puig"), Sara Lee Household (...)
1147
On 19 January 2010, the Spanish Competition Commission (hereinafter, the “NCC”) published a report on the collective management of intellectual property (IP) rights in Spain (the “Report”). The aim of the Report is to analyze the structure of the market of the management of IP rights , with (...)
1196
On 3 September 2009, the Spanish Competition Commission published a Report on competition within the automotive fuel sector in Spain (the "Report"). The Report analyses in detail the competitive structure of the retail market in Spain (level of competition, entry barriers, regulation, etc). (...)
2775
On 2 July 2009, the Council of the Spanish Competition Authority (Consejo de la Comisión Nacional de la Competencia, hereinafter the “Council of the CNC”) concluded that the increase of the mobile phone rates implemented in parallel by Telefónica Móviles España, S.A.U. ("Telefonica"), Vodafone (...)
2209
On 2 April 2009, the Council of the Spanish Competition Authority (Consejo de la Comisión Nacional de la Competencia, hereinafter the “Council of the CNC”) imposed fines of a total amount of EUR 35 million upon Endesa Distribución , Iberdrola Distribución , Union Fenosa Distribución and (...)
1949
Factual Background : Appeal by the region of Castilla and Leon against the fiscal regional Law of Biscay 6/2007 (hereinafter, "Law 6/2007"), which modified three articles of the Companies’ tax regional Law of Biscay in order to grant tax benefits to companies located in the region of Biscay (...)
1642
The Spanish National Competition Commission (Comisión Nacional de la Competencia,hereinafter,"the CNC") published on 26 November 2008 a number of reports analysing the market definition and the competitive structure of the networks and electronic communication services markets in Spain ("the (...)
1750
Factual Background : Appeal by a company located in Vizcaya (the "Company") against a judgement by the Economic-Administrative Court of Vizcaya dated 18 September 2006 confirming the refusal of the Company’s tax settlement by the Regional Tax Office of Vizcaya ("RTOB") due to an illegal tax (...)
1113
Factual Background : Appeal by the Regional Administration of Vizcaya and the Chamber of Trade, Industry and Sailing of Bilbao (the "Appellants") against two writs of the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country temporarily suspending the regional Decree of Vizcaya 10/2006 on (...)
1962
Introduction The Spanish Competition Commission (Comisión Nacional de la Competencia, hereinafter, the "CNC") has recently published a report on the competition problems detected within professional services and associations (the "Report"). The Report follows the announcement by the Spanish (...)
1962
Brief description of the facts and legal issues : Appeal before the Administrative Legal Organ of Alava (the "ALOA") by a company against a decision of the Local Administration of Alava ("LAA") refusing the deferment and break up of the recovery of a State aid and requiring the immediate (...)
1786
Factual Background : Appeal by the Central Government against a judgement given by the Regional Audience of Seville (the "Judgement") refusing its right to recover a State aid which had previously been declared illegal and incompatible with the Common Market by the European Commission. The (...)
1635
Factual Background : Appeal by the Association Taula D’Entitats del Tercer Sector Social de Catalunya (the "Association") against Regional Decree 81/2005 of Catalonia ("Decree 81/2005") on State aids for the creation of employment in new economic sectors. Decree 81/2005 excluded non-profit (...)
2592
The Spanish Competition authority (Comisión Nacional de la Competencia, "the Commission") has imposed a fine of € 1.5 million on Gas Natural for abusing its dominant position in the electricity technical restrictions market, thereby breaching Article 6 of the former Spanish Law n° 16/1989 on (...)
1467
Brief description of the facts and legal issues : Appeal before the Supreme Court by the Government of the Canary Islands and an individual (the “Appellants”) against a judgement of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (the “Court”) declaring the scheme of aids for the (...)
1638
Factual Background : Appeal by the Government of Navarra against the judgement of the Superior Court of Justice of Navarra of 7 February 2005 (the "Appealed Judgment") annulling a provision of the regional Decree of Navarra 91/2003 on aids to investment and employment in projects of use of (...)
3456
On 12 December, 2007, the Investigatory Directorate of the National Competition Commission ("IDNCC") formally re-opened a sanctioning proceeding against several banks and saving banks for allegedly conditioning the concession of mortgages to the subscription of certain guarantees (life (...)
2806
Following the publication in the Spanish economic press in 2005 of information relating to the potential existence of a territorial market allocation agreement between certain regional savings banks in the North-East of Spain, the Spanish Servicio de Defensa de la Competencia ("the Service") (...)
4097
The Spanish Congress passed on 14 June 2007 a long awaited new Competition Law that will enter into force on 1 September 2007 ("the New Competition Act"). The new Law modernizes the Spanish Competition system by introducing significant changes, at both institutional and substantive levels. (...)
1800
Factual Background : Appeal by a worker who voluntarily accepted to be paid compensation for dismissal by joining employment regulation proceedings ("ERP"). The funding for the ERP came from state aid. The worker subsequently claimed compensation for unfair dismissal. The appeal was rejected (...)
1912
Factual Background : An appeal before the Supreme Court by the Union of Associated Commercial Televisions ("UACT") against Royal Decree 1652/2004 on obligatory investments for the financing in advance of European and Spanish cinematographic and TV films ("Royal Decree 1652/2004") on the (...)
1332
Brief description of the facts and legal issues : A company brought an appeal before the National Audience against a decision of the Ministry of Economy refusing the granting of a State aid for regional incentives. The Ministry of Economy’s refusal was based on the fact that the appellant’s (...)
4297
Cervezas Anaga S.A (hereinafter, "Anaga"), a brewer from the Canary Islands, lodged a complaint before the Spanish Servicio de Defensa de la Competencia ("the Servicio") on 2005 against Compañía Cervecera de Canarias ("Cercasa") for an alleged infringement of Article 1 of the Spanish Law n° (...)
1680
Factual Background : The National Institute of Employment ("NIE") granted a State aid to a company (the “Beneficiary”), which committed itself to the implementation of a training plan (the "Training Plan"). The State Aid was paid in advance and following that payment, the NIE found out that (...)
4469
The Spanish National Energy Commission (Comisión Nacional de la Energía, “the CNE”), submitted on 11 July and 11 November 2003 two reports to the Spanish Service for Defence of Competition (“the Service”) regarding about the conclusions of two investigations carried out to determine the (...)
1682
Factual Background : The National Employment Institute refused to grant unemployment benefits to a worker who had been made redundant within the framework of his company’s restructuring plan. The claimant received compensation for dismissal, which raised his income over the threshold of the (...)
1752
Factual Background : Appeal by the Town Hall of La Gomera against a judgment of the Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife annulling two resolutions which ordered the recovery of a State aid granted and paid in advance to a company rendering public coastal shipping services in La Gomera. The Town (...)
1720
Factual Background : Appeal by a company which had previously benefited from a State aid (the "Beneficiary") against a decision by the Regional Administration of Asturias (the “RAA”) of 16 February 2004 granting only 55% (and not 100%, as initially agreed) on the amount invested in the (...)
6283
In January 2004, the Spanish press released details regarding a series of agreements between the Spanish travel agencies, represented by the Cúpula Asociativa de Agencias de Viaje Españolas (hereinafter,"CAAVE"), and the three major Spanish airlines, - Iberia, Spanair and Air Europa (...)
1706
Factual Background : An appeal by a company against the Ministry of Economy’s decision to refuse the grant of State aid on the grounds that it had already received aid with which it was incompatible. The Ministry of Economy declared that the European Guidelines on aid in the agricultural (...)
2873
The Asociación de Empresarios de Azar de Madrid (hereinafter, “the AEAM”), an association of owners of gambling centres -in particular bingo - in the Madrid area, lodged on 18 June 2003 a complaint before the Spanish Servicio de Defensa de la Competencia (“the Servicio”) against the Red de (...)
1891
Factual Background : Appeal by the Central Administration against the regional Decree of Galicia 217/1994 on aids for the shipbuilding sector ("Decree 217/1994"), on the grounds that it represented a State aid scheme that had not been notified to the European Commission before being passed. (...)
5206
Canal Satélite Digital, SL (hereinafter, “CSD”), the only pay-TV digital platform currently operating in Spain, and DTS Distribuidora de TV Digital (“DTS”) (together, the “Complainants”) lodged a claim against the collecting society Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (“SGAE“) for an (...)
7591
Background The Agrupación de Agentes y Servicios Oficiales Citröen de Cataluña (hereinafter, “the ASOCC”), an association of the repair shops integrated in the repair and maintenance services’ network of Citröen in the region of Cataluña, lodged on 1 October 2003 a complaint before the (...)
