Press release 16/2023
December, 19, 2023

The decision
The AdC fined the company Lusopalex with €75,000 for having carried out a merger before prior notification.
The merger should have been notified to the AdC before it took place, since it met the notification threshold for market share, set out in Article 37(1)(a) of the Competition Law.
The Competition Law establishes the obligation of prior notification to the AdC of mergers that fulfil certain thresholds linked to the market share and/or turnover of the companies involved and imposes an obligation to suspend the implementation of operations until a final decision of non-opposition is obtained.

The settlement procedure
The company has shown full cooperation with the AdC, both during the phase of analysing the merger, which was notified a posteriori, and also during the course of the proceedings, which have now concluded with the payment of the fine imposed by the AdC.
 In setting the amount of the fine, the AdC took this collaboration and the fact that the operation in question had been notified, although a posteriori, into account.
The settlement procedure established in the Competition Law, which the companies in question used to conclude the process, depends on the confession and assumption of responsibility by the companies in question, which renounce litigation in court and benefit from a reduction in the fine.
This procedure allows for procedural simplification and celerity, making it an instrument at the service of procedural efficiency by optimising the application of competition law.
The AdC continues to be active in detecting gun-jumping, providing companies with a confidential prior assessment mechanism, which they can use to clarify whether or not certain concentration operations should be notified to the Competition Authority.
You can find out how to access this prior assessment on the AdC's website if you have any doubts.
This was the first fine imposed by the AdC that will revert in full to the Treasury, namely to the recently created Fund for the Promotion of Consumer Rights, as part of the amendment made by Law 17/2022 of 17 August.