The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (English: National Commission on Markets and Competition), abbreviated as CNMC, is a Spanish independent
competition regulator
A competition regulator is the institution that oversees the functioning of markets. It identifies and corrects practices causing market impediments and distortions through competition law (also known as antitrust law). In general it is a governm ...
responsible for enforcing
competition law
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
. It was established by virtue of the Spanish Competition Act (Ley de Defensa de la Competencia or LDC, the competition defence act, of 3 July 2007). It was preceded by the Tribunal de Defensa de la Competencia (Competition Defense Court) until 1 September 2007.
Structure
President
* Luis Berenguer Fuster (until September 2011)
* Joaquín García Bernaldo de Quirós (2011- )
Members of the Council
* Pilar Sánchez Núñez
* Julio Costas Comesaña
* Jesús González López
* Inmaculada Gutiérrez Carrizo
* Luis Díez Martín
Directors for Investigations
* Carlos Pascual (until September 2008)
* Clara Guzmán Zapater (2008-)
Notable cases
In 2021, CNMC fined eight companies including
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
,
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...
and
ACS Group
ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. () is a Spanish company dedicated to civil engineering, construction, all types of services and telecommunications. It is one of the leading construction companies in the world, with projects ...
a combined 127.3 million euros ($148 million) for allegedly rigging public contracts valued at 4.1 billion euros for rail-signalling systems between 2002 and 2017.
In 2022, CNMC fined six leading construction firms – Dragados (part of
ACS Group
ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. () is a Spanish company dedicated to civil engineering, construction, all types of services and telecommunications. It is one of the leading construction companies in the world, with projects ...
),
Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas
The FCC Group, formerly Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, S. A. (currently one of the group's entities), is a Spanish business group, based in Barcelona. It has specialised in public services. Its shares were first listed on the stock exchan ...
,
Ferrovial
Ferrovial S.E. (), previously Grupo Ferrovial, is a Spanish multinational company that operates in the infrastructure sector for transportation and mobility with four divisions: Highways, Airports, Construction, and Mobility and Energy Infrastru ...
,
Acciona
Acciona, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational conglomerate dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure (construction, water, industrial and services) and renewable energy. The company, via subsidiary Acciona Energía, produces 21 ...
,
Obrascón Huarte Lain, and
Sacyr – a total of 204 million euros ($208 million) for colluding between 1992 and 2017 in submitting bids for public projects, such as roads and airports. Their collusion was considered socially damaging as they affected thousands of construction bids published by public authorities in Spain, leading to fewer and lower quality bids and putting competing companies at a disadvantage.
In response to the
2021–2022 global energy crisis, CNMC lowered the financial burden on around 300 smaller Spanish electricity traders and direct electricity consumers when depositing collateral payments in an attempt to help them stay afloat.
[Jesús Aged (26 September 2022)]
Spanish competition watchdog moves to keep electricity traders afloat
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
.
See also
*
Autorité de la concurrence
The ; ) is France's national competition regulator. Its predecessor, the Competition Council, was established in the 1950s. The Competition Authority is an , responsible for preventing anti-competitive practices and monitoring the functioning ...
(France)
*
Bundeskartellamt (Germany)
*
Competition and Markets Authority
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the principal competition regulator in the United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for promoting competitive markets and tackling unfair beh ...
(United Kingdom)
*
List of competition regulators
*
List of telecommunications regulatory bodies
Legal regulatory bodies that govern telecommunications systems in different countries are as follows.
This list contains bodies ensuring effective regulatory role in a territory which is not necessarily a state, but is listed as "territory" or " ...
References
Competition regulators
Consumer organisations in Spain
Regulation in Spain
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