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Fourth issue “From Collusion to Competition”

By  |  November 29, 2012
Welcome to the November Issue of our cartel column, “From Collusion To Competition.” This month’s issue is particularly special to me as it comes from beautiful Portugal, my native country. For that reason, our column will present three rather than two articles.
Our first article is by Professor Manuel Sebastião, the President of the Portuguese Competition Authority. Professor Sebastião presents an overview of the amendments to the Portuguese competition act and explains how these represent important improvements in terms of both enhanced speed and effectiveness of antitrust enforcement in Portugal.
The new Portuguese Competition Act: rationale and key features by Manuel Sebastião (President, Portuguese Competition Authority)
The following two articles are authored by leading Portuguese law firms. The first, by Ricardo Oliveira and Luis Miguel Romão from PLMJ, focuses on the amendments to the leniency rules in Portugal, allowing an opportunity for further alignment of these rules with the existing European Union rules. The article explains that, even though Portugal has had a leniency program since 2006, to date only one case of leniency application resulted in an infringement decision. That landmark case has become known as the “canteens’ cartel,” and may have set the pace for some of the recent amendments to leniency.
Leniency rules under the new 2012 Portuguese Competition Act – Challenges and opportunities experience by Ricardo Oliveira (PLMJ Law Firm, Partner and Head of EU & Competition Law Practice) and Luis Miguel Romão (PLMJ Law Firm, Consultant)

Our third article, by Gonçalo Anastácio and Alberto Saavedra from SRS Advogados, discusses the important decision of whether or not to appeal Competition Authority decisions. With new rules related to the appeal process, it is important for companies to anticipate their consequences when considering whether and how to proceed with future appeals.

To appeal or not under new Portuguese Competition Law by Gonçalo Anastácio (SRS Law Firm, Partner and Head of the Competition Law Practice) and Alberto Saavedra (Lawyer at SRS Law Firm)
Excellent reading, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!