​Press Release 12/2019

 

 

The Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC) – Portuguese Competition Authority carried out dawn raids in two premises of seven undertakings in the waste management sector in the district of Lisbon on suspicions of anticompetitive practices, which impact the normal functioning of the market.

 

The dawn raids have been undertaken with authorization from the Department of Criminal Investigation of Lisbon and have been accompanied by police enforcement Guarda Nacional Republicana - GNR.

 

The AdC ordered the infringement procedure to be subject to secrecy taking into account that the interest behind the investigation would not be duly safeguarded should the procedure be made public.

 

The AdC performs such proceedings, under the powers conferred on it by the Competition Law, as a means of obtaining evidence of anticompetitive practices. The occurrence of a dawn raid does not imply that the companies targeted will be subject to a conviction, nor a judgment about the culpability of their conduct in the market.

 

 Violation of competition rules not only reduces consumer welfare, but also undermines the competitiveness of businesses and penalizes the economy as a whole.

 

Since the beginning of 2017, the AdC has carried out search and seizure operations in 21 investigations, corresponding to 51 facilities, namely in the sectors of tourist river transport, driving education, distribution and retail, insurance, food industry association and advertising association, telecommunications and provision of healthcare.

 

The dawn raids are in line with the priorities set by the AdC for 2019, which focus on the strengthening of antitrust enforcement.

 

Lisbon, 2  july 2019