​Press release 16/2018

 

 

The Portuguese Competition Authority (Autoridade da Concorrência – AdC) confirms that it carried out dawn raids in the last few days at the premises of an association of the retail food sector, following suspicions of a concerted practice of price fixing, which may substantiate an infringement to the Competition Act.

 

In the context of an investigation for anticompetitive practices and under the powers provided by the Competition Act, the dawn raids were carried out in the district of Oporto, by case handlers of the AdC, in cooperation with the Department of Criminal Investigation and Police officers.

 

Unannounced inspections are a means to obtain evidence of anticompetitive practices. However, the fact that they are carried out does not entail that the involved undertakings will be sanctioned, nor does it imply a judgment on whether the undertakings are guilty of an unlawful conduct in the market.

 

The infringement of competition rules not only reduces consumer welfare, but also weakens the companies’ competitiveness, undermining the economy as a whole.

 

The AdC published in November 2016, the Guide for Business Associations - With Competition Everybody Wins, with the purpose of advising associations of undertakings and its members, for decisions or behaviors to avoid, in order to ensure compliance with the Competition rules. The Guide is available at AdC’s website, at www.concorrencia.pt (in Portuguese only).

 

Since the beginning of 2017, the AdC carried out 17 dawn raids in 36 premises of 37 entities in the sectors of touristic river cruises, driving teaching, retail distribution and insurance, and now, in an association of food retail.

 

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

 8 October 2018