Region: Spain

The Portuguese and Spanish antitrust watchdogs have jointly raided a wood chip company in Spain over potential market-sharing and unlawful information exchanges.

26 October 2022

Spain’s antitrust watchdog has fined Merck €38.9 million for abusing its dominant position in the market for a type of contraceptive, finding the company unlawfully delayed the entry of a competing product through deceptive patent litigation.

25 October 2022

Spain’s antitrust enforcer is investigating if Booking.com imposed unlawful exclusivity clauses and unfair trading conditions on hotels, joining a long list of competition authorities that have scrutinised the platform’s contractual restrictions.

18 October 2022

Spain’s antitrust enforcer has fined renewable energy producer Audax €9.2 million for breaking the country’s competition law by deceiving consumers into switching providers.

17 October 2022

Squire Patton Boggs has hired Gorka Navea as a partner in Madrid from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

04 October 2022

Senior officials at competition authorities in Spain and France have called on academics to conduct more enforcement impact assessments, while a commissioner at the Italian Competition Authority called for more studies into antitrust issues in labour markets.

23 September 2022

Italy’s Competition Authority has witnessed a surge in leniency applications following the transposition of the ECN+ directive, which is likely due to the introduction of criminal immunity, a commissioner at the agency has said.

22 September 2022

The Spanish competition authority has opened a Phase II investigation into the acquisition of a Barcelona port terminal by its only rival, having rejected the purchaser’s proposed commitments.

21 September 2022

Spain’s antitrust watchdog has hit Telefónica with a €5 million penalty for not abiding by the remedies it imposed when conditionally approving the telecommunications operator’s acquisition of Distribuidora de Television Digital in 2015.

16 September 2022

Spain’s antitrust watchdog has cautioned the national government against fixing prices for certain staple food products amid rising inflation, claiming this would violate both national and EU antitrust laws.

13 September 2022