Lisbon, Feb. 27, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's Competition Authority (AdC) last year handed down seven condemnatory decisions, resulting in total fines of around €67.2 million - almost double the amount recorded in 2023, according to data sent to Lusa on Thursday.
When questioned by Lusa, the regulator headed by Nuno Cunha Rodrigues, who completes two years in office on 13 March, indicated that this amount represents almost double the figure recorded in 2023, when fines totalling some €35 million were imposed as a result of eight convictions.
Even so, the figure falls short of the €487.6 million reached in 2022, which resulted from 11 convictions for restrictive competition practices, in various sectors such as distribution, professional football or health.
Among the approximately €67.2 million in fines imposed in 2024, the largest slice concerns one of around €29.25 million imposed on a technology consultancy for restricting sales and customer allocation.
The second-largest fine was imposed on five laboratories and a business association for participating in a cartel for clinical analyses and Covid tests. It was initially reported as amounting to €48.6 million but, an AdC official explained to Lusa, there was a waiver of the fine for one company, as part of the leniency programme, so the actual fine was €22.5 million.
In 2024, the regulator received four applications for leniency, as well as three bills of indictment - bills that have yet to be finalised - and there were five open investigations and four searches and seizures, according to the report sent to Lusa.
Last year, there were also 93 final decisions on market concentration operations - a new record and 11 more than the previous year's 82 registered (thus equivalent to an increase of 13.4%), as well as nine investigations into possible "gun-jumping" and 15 prior assessment processes.
"The concept of 'gun-jumping' corresponds to the violation of the obligation not to implement a concentration - which fulfils one of the notification criteria set out in the Competition Law - before the adoption of a non-opposition decision by the Authority," the AdC explained. "This violation can occur before or after notification."
The average time taken to analyse non-complex mergers remained relatively stable: in 2024 it was 36 days, while in 2023 it was 35 days.
On the legal front, last year was marked by a decision in September byt the Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court upholding the €225 million in fines imposed by the AdC on 11 banks, ruling that it had been proven that between 2002 and 2013 there was "collusion" between the banks when they exchanged information on loans (interest-rate spreads and amounts granted) and that they "aligned commercial practices" - so distorting competition. However, at the beginning of February of this year, the Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) ruled that the statute of limitations for this case had expired on 11 February 2024.
On 21 February, the AdC announced that it had lodged an appeal with Portugal's Constitutional Court against the TRL's decision.
In 2024, the competition regulator also issued 23 studies, recommendations and written opinions covering various sectors, including a recommendation on the conditions for boarding and disembarking passengers by unmarked passenger transport vehicles (TVDE) and by taxis at Portugal's airports, and a guide to good practice on sustainability agreements.
JMF/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
