Below we cover the main competition law developments in Spain in 2022, concerning (i) institutions, (ii) restrictive agreements, (ii) abuse of dominance, (iii) procedure, (iv) mergers, and (v) the internal market. The selection, as usual with these lists, is inherently subjective. The authors note that they have favoured a broader selection of issues to include…
Over the last five years, mass litigation in the field of antitrust in Spain has rapidly increased. The so-called “Trucks Cartel Litigation” has generated thousands of judgements and dozens of referrals to the CJEU. These judgements and referrals have allowed national courts and the CJEU to clarify several legal questions, such as the temporal application…
Background It has become usual in Spain’s FDI system for reforms to be introduced by measures formally unrelated to FDI. The latest reform is no exception and Articles 61 and 62 of Royal Decree Law 20/2022, of 27 December, addressing the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine, supporting the reconstruction of the Island…
On 21 October 2022 the Spanish CNMC imposed a fine of 38.9 million EUR on MERCK SHARP & DOHME DE ESPAÑA, S.A. and its parent company MSD HUMAN HEALTH HOLDING, B.V. (hereafter jointly ‘MSD’) for abusive practices in the Spanish market of contraceptive rings. Their breach consisted in having made baseless court claims with the…
Almost two and a half years have passed since Spain’s Royal Decree Laws 8/2020, of 17 March, on extraordinary urgent measures to address the economic and social impact of COVID-19, 11/2020, of 31 March, adopting additional urgent social and economic measures to address COVID-19, and 34/2020, of 17 November, on urgent measures to support business…
With the much-debated reforms to Act 19/2003, of 4 July, on capital movements (“Act 19/2003”), the Spanish foreign direct investment (“FDI”) regime has been expanded over the past few years. However, FDI screening in relation to defense investments predates Act 19/2003 (and the recent FDI hype more broadly), and was regulated in Royal Decree 664/1999…
2021 has been an eventful year for the competition law and policy landscape in Spain. Below we review the main developments and takeaways from the last year in the following areas: (i) institutions, legislation and Covid-19; (ii) merger control; (iii) restrictive agreements and abuse of dominance; and (iv) State aid. Institutions, Legislation and Covid-19…
Background Another day, another ground-breaking change in Spain’s FDI rules. November 2021 has been an eventful month for FDI in Spain. The following two developments are likely to be consequential in the evolution of the country’s policy as regards foreign investments: (i) More than a year after the establishment of the Spanish 2020 FDI ex-ante…
There is a lot of hype about the Spanish FDI regulations introduced by a number of Royal Decrees in 2020: fines of up to the value of the deal, non-controlling acquisition of shares can potentially trigger a filing, etc. And yet, prior to 2020, Spain already had FDI provisions on the books. These pre-2020 FDI…
When we earlier reported the German Facebook proceedings in terms of a legal opera [Link], this metaphor was, as I am afraid we have to admit, a little ill-fitting. As things now seem, we can observe a whole oeuvre, a whole cinematic universe, as a good number of spin-offs, sequels and side-stories centred around Facebook…
