Margarida Matos Rosa (Portuguese Competition Authority) : Overview of a vigorous term as President of the AdC and some thoughts on trending competition issues

In the past six years, the Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC) imposed fines totaling over EUR 1.4 billion, with almost EUR 500 million being applied in 2022. This is a very significant increase compared to the EUR 50 million accounted for in the six-year period prior to your appointment as president of the AdC’s Board in 2016. What, in your view, explains this difference, and which factors do you view as most relevant in this respect ? From the outset of my term as president of the AdC, I had a clear sense that the authority could—and should—do more to benefit not only consumers, but also firms that play by the rules. I have therefore set enforcement in antitrust as a clear priority. Within antitrust, I prioritized cartels because of the gravity of the harm they invariably cause to the