Spain: Business officials fined by CNMC mostly remain in place, investigations finds

An investigation by El Diario de España has revealed that more than half of executives and businessmen who have been personally sanctioned for failing to comply with the country’s competition laws have not received much punishment, as they continue to be linked to their companies, often in high-ranking positions.

Personal sanctions are contemplated in the Competition Law since 2007, though the first was only applied in May 2016. Since then, the CNMC has imposed fines on 19 sanctioned individuals, for a total of around 160,000 euros.

The biggest fine so far (€ 36,000) corresponds to José Luis Illana García, director of Prosegur, a company that was sanctioned along with rival Loomis in November 2016 with fines totalling €46.4 million (US$51 million approximately) for dividing amongst themselves the cash management services market for banks and various public entities. Personal sanctions have also been applied in other investigations since 2016, including railway cartels and adult diapers.

Most of these sanctions are not yet iron-clad, as the norm in these cases is for a series of appeals to be sought and fought. The final decision of the Supreme Court usually takes an average of eight years.

Full Content: El Diario

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