Garrigues’ EU and Antitrust Law Department advises clients from almost all industries in dealings with a host of administrative bodies and courts, both in Spain and the European Union.

The process of decentralizing the application of EU competition law, set in motion by the European Commission with the adoption of Council Regulation (EC) no. 1/2003, in force since May 2004, and confirmation by the Spanish Constitutional Court that autonomous community governments have the right to play their part in the enforcement of fair trading, has been cemented by the desire of the European Commission to encourage victims suffering damage from antitrust infringements to seek redress at court.

All these factors, alongside the major reforms proposed in this field of Spanish law, have led to an increase in the number of authorities and courts involved in the day-to-day application of competition law. As regards the Executive, Spain has already seen the emergence of almost ten new regional antitrust authorities, reinforcing the work performed in this field by the nationwide antitrust authority (soon to undergo far-reaching institutional reform) and the European Commission. As for the judiciary, the judges of the European Court of Justice, the Court of First Instance, and Spanish judges from the civil and judicial review jurisdictions have seen their number swelled recently by judges from the commercial courts.

Contact:

Marcos Araujo
Hermosilla, 3 - 28001 Madrid
Tel: +34 91 514 52 00
Fax: +34 91 399 24 08