The Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court (TCRS) upheld the Portuguese Competition Authority’s (Autoridade da Concorrência - AdC) decision of imposing a fine of €150,000 euros on Peugeot Portugal, S.A. for providing false, inaccurate or incomplete information, further to a request of the AdC.

 

In the judgment delivered in 14 October 2016, the Court dismissed entirely the appeal filed by Peugeot Portugal, S. A. and considered that "the conduct of the undertaking puts in danger the investigative activity of the authority" and "jeopardises market regulation".

 

In June 2015, the AdC imposed a fine of €150,000 to Peugeot Portugal for providing false, inaccurate or incomplete information in response to a request of the AdC, under its sanctioning powers. This was the first time that the AdC fined an undertaking for providing false, inaccurate or incomplete information, pursuant to the Competition Act.

 

The provision by an undertaking, following an AdC’s request, of all information in its possession that is to the best of its knowledge, accurate and complete, is fundamental for the proper exercise of the AdC’s sanctioning and supervision powers.

 

In this regard, the supply by an undertaking, either negligently or deliberately, of information that turns out to be misleading or incomplete, could conceal competition problems in the market and harm businesses and consumers, besides raising obstacles to the investigation.