Spain: National Assembly knocks down fines as conflict with CNMC grows

Spain’s highest court, the National Assembly, has rejected a new set of fines imposed by National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), further fuelling the apparent conflict between both entities.

The Assembly has annulled three fines against Vodafone, Orange and Telefónica, totalling almost €123 million over alleged abuse of dominance in the wholesale SMS market. Recently the Assembly annulled yet another fine against energy heavyweight Repsol, set at €22 million, for price-fixing. The CNMC also lost a case against Telefónica, whom it had accused of illegally imposing permanence commitments on its customers.

The CNMC, chaired by José María Marín Quemada, has blamed the inadequacies of current legislation, which causes frequent litigation in the courts that forces the intervention of the National courts. In particular, the existence of out-of-court dispute settlement mechanisms is lacking in current legislation, which would prevent many cases from dragging on in the courts.

Most of decisions by the Assembly on whether to strike down the CNMC’s sanctions were unrelated offense or culpability of the offender, but often hinged on the CNMC’s methodology for setting the amount. Therefore, 17 appeals out of 94 submitted to the National Assembly (18%) were won ‘cleanly’ by the CNMC, which highlights the huge discrepancies between the two institutions.

Full Content: El Confidencial

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.