Case details

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Anticompetitive practices
Case reference
PRC/2023/3
Entities involved
  • Associação Portuguesa De Técnicos De Audiovisual - APTA CINEMA E PUBLICIDADE
Natural persons involved
No
Sector
  • Others
Activity (NACE)
  • J59 - Motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities
Investigated practice
  • Decision of association of undertakings
Legal provisions
  • European-TFEU-Article 101
  • National-Law 19/2012-Article 9
Case origin
Leniency
Dawn raids
No
Cooperation with sector regulators
Status
Closed
AdC’s decision
Sanctioning decision
Settlement
Sanction imposed
  • Associação Portuguesa De Técnicos De Audiovisual - APTA CINEMA E PUBLICIDADE - €20,000.00
Summary of the case

The AdC initiated the investigation in April 2023, following a leniency application.

Having assessed all the evidence produced up to that point, the AdC decided, on 21.11.2023, to move to the next phase of the proceeding, notifying the statement of objections (SO), in which the AdC concluded that the association under investigation had prepared, adopted and published fee scales, setting the minimum prices to be charged by its members for the provision of audiovisual production services across the entire national territory. Such conduct constitutes a restriction of competition by object, prohibited under the terms of paragraph a) of no. 1 of article 9 of the Law no. 19/2012 and paragraph a) of no. 1 of article 101 of the TFEU.

The association did not reply to the SO. In the course of the investigation, additional evidence-gathering measures were carried out, culminating in a report on these measures adopted on 24.04.2024, to which the association under investigation also did not respond.

In August 2024, upon the conclusion of the investigation, the AdC fined the association under investigation in the amount of €20.000,00 for the aforementioned conduct of setting minimum prices for audiovisual production services, which persisted, permanently, from at least December 2019 until the date of this Final Decision.

Timeline
2024-08-14
AdC´s Decision (in Portuguese)
2023-11-22
AdC investigates price fixing in audiovisual production services
2023-11-21
Statement of objections - Statement of objections
2023-04-12
Case initiation - Case initiation
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