Fuel Fixers Fined

The Supreme Court has confirmed a fine of 22,590,000 euro imposed on Repsol in 2016 by the National Commission of Markets and Competition, for collusion in price fixing.

The highest court in the land confirmed the original ruling against the firm for “conducts consisting of coordination agreements and strategic information exchanges on the subject of prices in the fuel sector in Spain.”

The appeal was raised with the technical defence that Repsol SA, who were the company cited in the case filed by the competitions board, “could not be considered the author of the infringement when the sanctioned facts were materially committed by Repsol Comercial de Productos Petrolíferos SA “, which is a subsidiary of Repsol SA.

However, the Supreme Court states that “it is in accordance with the principles of personality and culpability, included in articles 24 and 25 of the Constitution, to sanction a parent company as the author of collusive behaviour constituting infringements of competition materialised by a company.”