EU: Spain and Portugal hold annual bilateral competition meeting

Portugal’s antitrust regulator the AdC and Spain’s regulator the CNMC met in the 8th Bilateral Meeting between the countries. During the meeting, the authorities coordinated their investigation and sanctioning activity in the Iberian Peninsula.

The competition authorities of Portugal and Spain have held these meetings since 2004. Since then, there has been an increasing integration of both markets which requires additional cooperation between both authorities. The directors and deputy directors of both entities took part in the working sessions.

In particular, the AdC and the CNMC have strengthened cooperation in fighting cartels and in advocacy initiatives. Working sessions aimed at sharing experience and to improve mutual knowledge of both markets.

The AdC and the CNMC also discussed the transposition of the new ECN + directive.

The AdC and the CNMC have reiterated the commitment to cooperate on priority issues of both entities, such as enforcement procedures and new strategies to fight bid-rigging in public procurement, in Portugal and Spain. Another relevant topic was cooperation in the analysis of merger cases.