Spain: Regulator to tackle advertising oligarchs

Spanish regulator CNMC has announced it will launch an investigation against Carat España, Media Sapiens Spain, Persuade Comunicación, Inteligencia y Media and Media by Design Spain, over “possible engagement in practices restricting competition, including agreements or coordination among the companies to set quotas, fix prices or affect other commercial conditions, including through the exchange of sensitive information”. The investigation stems from a series of contract bids for creating the institutional publicity campaigns for the State Administration during 2014.

The CNMC had, at the time, raised two major issues regarding the design and carrying out of the contract bidding process. Among these concerns was the “potentially small number of suppliers” covered by the open contract bid, which the agency considered an excessive barrier to entry for small and medium sized companies.

Ultimately, the restrictions narrowed the contest to only five competitors – all of which have been found do have engaged in suspiciously irregular activity prior to the contract being awarded, as revealed by the CNMC’s investigation.

Full Content: Estrella Digital

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