The Spanish competition authority ("CNMC") has fined six companies and five directors participating in three cartels, breaching EU and Spanish antitrust rules by fixing prices and other commercial conditions, sharing customers and exchanging commercially sensitive information for almost 20 years.
| what you need to know - key takeaways |
- This case provides a good illustration of collaboration between regional competition authorities and the CNMC.
- Investigations by regional authorities can lead to national investigations when evidence suggests that the conduct investigated affects several regions.
- This case also shows that the CNMC is committed to using fines on company directors as a deterrent against participation in cartel activity.
|
This case originated with dawn-raids conducted by the Basque competition authority at the premises of two companies in June 2016, in relation to suspected anticompetitive agreements regarding the commercialisation of metallurgical coke. When analysing the information seized, the regional authority determined that the suspected conduct could involve other Spanish regions and cover several other products. Therefore the regional authority alerted the CNMC, which subsequently raided the premises of four other companies in October 2018 and in January 2019. This led to the opening of a formal investigation into seven companies (although the authority eventually closed proceedings against one of these companies, Cementos Tudela Veguín, due to a lack of evidence).
The first cartel was made up of three companies: Toro, FISL and Grafitos. According to the CNMC, these companies supplied various customers on the basis of agreed prices and conditions for a period of 17 years. To this end, the companies coordinated the bids and prices that each offered to their customers, and exchanged information on customer negotiations. The directors of the participating companies monitored compliance with their anticompetitive agreements through meetings, telephone calls, and emails, providing compensation for any deviation from their agreement.
The second cartel was made up of two companies: Candel and García Munté Energía. These companies shared customers, each establishing exclusive customer relationships, as well as agreeing on sales quotas, sales prices and exchanging commercially sensitive information between August and December 2015 and between December 2017 and September 2018. The directors of these companies also held meetings and shared communications coordinating their client sharing activities (establishing vetoes, priorities rules, etc.), as well as explicitly agreeing to keep their activities secret.
Finally, the third cartel was made up of two companies: Candel and Capex CGC. These companies had agreed to fix prices and share customers, through the exchange of information on prices and quantities, between July 2015 and February 2016. In this case, only the director of Candel was sanctioned.
The CNMC imposed fines of a total of €3.5 million on the companies participating in the cartels as well as fines of €0.16 million on the company directors.
This case illustrates both the CNMC's commitment to identifying and dismantling cartels in Spain as well as its commitment to imposing fines on company directors as a deterrent against participation in cartel activity.
With thanks to Ana Soria of Ashurst for her contribution.
