The Portuguese Competition Authority - AdC has fined an association of consultancy service providers, active throughout the entire national territory, for drafting and adopting minimum fee tables to be charged in Portugal in the national market for the provision of consultancy services in the fields of architecture and engineering, as well as environmental, economic and management consultancy services related to those.
The business association cooperated with the AdC, refraining from contesting the factual allegations, ceasing the practice, and voluntarily paying a fine of 580,000.00 euros, by agreeing to the settlement procedure.
A decision by a business association to fix prices represents a high degree of harm to competition. Therefore, it is prohibited under Article 9 of Law No. 19/2012, of 8 May ("Portuguese Competition Act"), and under Article 101 of the TFEU.