The case originated in a complaint from the Coimbra Hospital Centre, following the decision to cancel a public tender for the acquisition of reagent strips for determining glucose levels, on the grounds that the prices proposed by five competing companies were the same.
The AdC opened an enquiry, in the scope of which it was found that a concerted practice had taken place, with accusations being made against the companies involved.
In the final condemnatory decision, handed down on 28.12.2004, the AdC concluded that the companies, by having committed a concerted practice, with the object of fixing uniform prices in a public tender, in which they were all competitors, infringed the provisions of article 4 of Law 18/2003, of 11 June, imposing a fine of €658,413.00 for each defendant.