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Spain: National Horse-breeding Association fined for abuse of dominance

 |  December 12, 2017

Spanish regulator CNMC has slapped the National Association of Horse Breeders of Purebred Spanish Horses (ANCCE) with a €187,677 (approximately US $ 221,300) fine for abusing their dominant position in certain markets, including the regulation of equestrian competitions and the management of the breed’s lineage.

The ANCCE is an association of purebred Spanish (Pura Raza Española, PRE) breeders. Among other actions, it deals with the organization and regulation of breeder competitions for the aforementioned horse breed, commonly called “morphological contests”. In addition, the ANCCE is also present in the promotion markets of the Pura Raza Española horse, owning and running several websites.

The CNMC’s probe into the association’s work has found that, starting in 2011, the ANCCE carried out a reform of the Regulations of PRE Morphological Contests in order to limit competition in the Technical Secretariat services for these competitions and reinforce their position in the horse promotion market.

With these actions ANCEE limited the freedom of the organizers of morphological competitions to contract technical secretariats during 2011 and 2012, prohibiting them from hiring PRE-specialist promoters MELPI until they had implemented the computer program required by the Association. It was MELPI’s complaint that prompted the CNMC’s investigation into the sector.

Full Content: CNMC

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