PCA Adopts Guidelines On Remedies

After a public consultation phase initiated at the end of 2010, the Portuguese Competition Authority ("PCA") made available, at the end of July 2011, the final version of its "Guidelines on the Adoption of Remedies in the Control of Concentrations" ("Guidelines").

As clarified by the PCA, the Guidelines are "a set of de indications pertaining to the selection, design, execution and monitoring of remedies, within the procedure of previous control of concentrations between undertakings".

Indeed, certain concentrations between undertakings (e.g., mergers or acquisitions or certain changes in the control of undertakings) are subject, according to Law No 18/2003, of 11 June 2003, to mandatory prior notification to the PCA, in so far as certain turnover or market share thresholds are met. After the assessment of their impact on competition, the PCA may decide not to oppose such operations, to prohibit them or not to oppose them by imposing certain conditions and