The Spanish Competition Authority fines 26 companies and two trade associations for taking part in a school transportation cartel and confirms the prohibition of contracting with the public sector (Transporte Escolar Murcia)

On 20 June 2019, the Spanish Competition and Markets Authority (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, “CNMC” or “Spanish Competition Authority”) fined 26 school transportation companies and two trade associations for taking part in a bid-rigging cartel. [1] The fines amounted to EUR 1.88 million for the companies and EUR 75,000 for the trade associations. In addition, this is only the second time that the CNMC has decided to prohibit the infringing companies from contracting with the public sector an antitrust infringement, leaving the determination of the specific time and scope of such prohibition to a separate public body and procedure. [2] Introduction and facts According to the CNMC Decision, in 2009 these companies set up a cartel to unlawfully share public school