Spain: Regulator closes file on energy companies after court annulment

Spanish competition authority CNMC has closed the files on the country’s leading energy companies, opened in 2009 by the agency’s predecessor, whose investigations had resulted in a 61 million euro fine. The fine was later annulled by the country’s National Assembly, along with the “entirety of the proceedings” carried out by the former Competition Commission.

The Assembly found that the probes carried out at the headquarters of Unesa in November 2009 had not been properly motivated, annulling the fines resulting from this evidence on Endesa (26 million) and Iberdrola (21.6 million), along with 8.8 million fined to Gas Natural Fenosa, 1.4 million to E.On España (now Viesgo) and 900,000 euros to Unesa.

The group representing these energy giants had argued that the investigation had violated Constitution articles 18 and 24, related to the ‘inviolability’ of private domiciles and the Right to Secrecy in private settings, as well as attorney-client privilege.

The CNC’s 2011 sanction was imposed as a response to an alleged agreement between the companies to prevent new competitors to access vital client information at a key moment for the electric industry’s liberalization in 2009.

Full content: El Economista

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