Press Release 28/2024
December 30, 2024

The Portuguese Competition Authority (AdC) publishes today on its website the Competition Policy Priorities for 2025.
The AdC is guided by the principle of public interest in promoting and defending competition, and may, based on this, assign different degrees of priority in the treatment of the issues it is called upon to analyze.
The Competition Policy Priorities are published in the last quarter of each year, providing a clear and strategic outlook on the AdC's objectives without any sector-specific references regarding its sanctioning powers.
The Competition Policy Priorities aim to contribute to economic growth, investment, and innovation, namely through the recommendation to remove barriers to entry and expansion in various sectors of the national economy.
The AdC's Priorities for 2025 include:

Combating Anti-Competitive Practices
The AdC will intensify efforts to investigate anti-competitive practices with the most negative impact on the economy and consumers, such as cartels and other horizontal agreements, with particular attention to public procurement and labour markets. Concurrently, the AdC will continue to scrutinise vertical restrictions and decisions by business associations that harm competition.
Proactive detection capabilities will be enhanced through new internal organisational models and broader use of forensic IT tools.
The leniency programme will continue to be promoted as an essential instrument to combat anti-competitive practices.

Abuse of Dominant Position
Detecting and investigating abuses of dominant positions will remain a priority, especially in sectors of significant economic relevance and direct impact on consumers.

Merger Control
Merger reviews will be conducted promptly and rigorously.
Special attention will be given to ancillary restrictive clauses.
The AdC will also initiate a review of the suitability of the current legal framework for merger control, particularly in markets characterised by high innovation dynamics.

Promoting Competition
The AdC will launch an outreach and dialogue cycle with key sectors of the Portuguese economy to reinforce awareness among stakeholders about the importance of tackling collusion in public procurement, fostering competitive labour markets, and addressing the interaction between competition and sustainability.

Monitoring the Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The AdC will monitor developments in digital markets, both to identify potential competition constraints and to enforce the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in close collaboration with the European Commission.
The AdC will also explore the impacts of generative AI development on competition policy, including publishing thematic analyses to promote contestability and prevent market bottlenecks from consolidating market power.

Implementing Innovative Technologies
To strengthen its capacity to detect anti-competitive practices, the AdC will introduce innovative forensic IT tools and integrate Artificial Intelligence into its investigation processes.