24 - Spain

Summary

Relevant legislation and statutory standards

On 5 July 2007 the Spanish parliament enacted a new Defence of Competition Act 2007 (the “Act”) which entered into force on 1 September 2007. The Act, which replaces the much-amended 1989 Act, contains several potentially important reforms of the Spanish merger control rules, which are described below.

The Act is to be implemented through a Royal Decree in the coming months, although at the time of writing the implementing legislation in force is still the legislation applicable under the previous legislation (specifically, Royal Decree 1443/2001). As such, the account provided below should be verified against the actual provisions of the final implementing legislation.

Greater independence in decision-making

The Act makes fundamental changes to the decision-making bodies and enforcement authorities by combining previously separate authorities and minimising the role of the Government.

Under the 1989 Act, decision-making powers were shared between the Competition Service (the “Servicio de Defensa de Competencia” or “SDC”), the Minister of the Economy (the “Minister”), and the Government (the “Consejo de Ministros” or “Council of Ministers”), while investigative and enforcement functions were shared by the SDC and a Competition Tribunal (the “Tribunal de Defensa de Competencia” or “TDC”). Under the new Act, however, the Competition Service and the Competition Tribunal have been merged within a single, independent and autonomous National Competition Commission (the “Comisión Nacional de Competencia” or “CNC”) that in turn incorporates an Investigation Directorate and a decision-making Council.