The year that is almost over has not been especially prolific in sanctions for the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), in charge of pursuing cartels or any other business practice of market abuse. Since January, the Competition Authority has only imposed half a dozen small fines, and would have closed one of its slowest years in this area if it had not been for the severe punishment imposed on Apple and Amazon in July.
The amount of fines this year stands at 210 million euros, 32% less than the 308 million in 2022. The figure is actually similar to the 200 million in 2021, but it has its nuances because, if the sanction is not counted to Amazon and Apple, would have been just 16 million, the lowest since the organization was created in 2013, only behind the 7 million in 2020, the year of the pandemic and also the arrival to office of the current president, Cani Fernández. In the previous stage, with José María Marín Quemada at the helm, they exceeded 500 million a year.
However, the CNMC has opened a new front this year by fining Apple and Amazon 194 million euros for restricting competition in Spain, by limiting both the distributors of the smartphone manufacturer's products and the advertising spaces of its competitors. It is the second largest Competition penalty to date for a group of companies, behind the 203 million for construction companies, and the first for one in particular, Apple, which must pay 143 million, unless it prevents it in court.
The rest of the year's sanctions have been minor: 11 million to Telefónica for breach of its merger agreements with DTS, 5 million to contractors of the Ministry of Defense, 3.5 million to commercial registry data providers, 1.5 million to Xfera Móviles for not notifying a purchase and just over 31,000 euros to taxi drivers in Murcia.
There has been no major news regarding the dismantling of cartels, but there have been announcements of the opening of files that could lead to sanctions next year, including the most recent one, related to the drug distribution market in pharmacies, which has already included inspections. to the companies.
Possible anti-competitive practices are also being investigated in the transport of goods by rail, in the distribution of tenders for travel agencies, in the electrical sector, in agricultural machinery and in hairdressing products. Since 2020, investigations into food distribution companies have remained open.
Since the end of March there has been a sanctioning file against another technology giant, Google, which is being investigated for imposing “unfair conditions” on the press and news agencies.
On the other hand, this year files have been filed on the Covid ICO credits and, at the end of November, on the publication of fake reviews on Amazon, Booking and Tripadvisor.
