CNMC head recovers from non-compliance with big companies after two years

The new head of the super-regulator came to the post controversially: his thirty years of very long experience as a lawyer on competition matters and as legal adviser to dozens of large corporations would force him to avoid any decision or negotiation. These companies will have represented them for the next two years. He was also evident in the opposition parties in the months before his appointment. He worked as a consultant in the Presidential Cabinet..

This Friday, it’s been exactly two years since Fernández’s appointment was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE). After the mandatory period has passed, the CNMC president is relieved of any incompatibility that requires him not to attend important discussions in the halls or plenary session of the body to avoid conflicts of interest with the companies he consults. His final stage as a distinguished lawyer in the office of Cuatrecasas.

Upon their arrival at the organization, Cani Fernández had to make a comprehensive list of all the companies he had worked with as a lawyer during the previous two years.. A list known only to the secretary of the Commission Council and the chief of staff, and whose full contents have been kept secret for the time being.

When one of the companies on this roster appeared in a CNMC file, the organization took action. An emergency firewall preventing Cani Fernández from accessing even the case-related documents and the president was physically absent from the rooms where the rest of the executives were discussing the case.

During this time, the agency, citing attorney-client professional secrecy, refused to list the affected companies and disclose exactly which companies the president had a conflict of interest with. Mandatory by the Transparency and Good Governance CouncilFollowing a formal appeal by elDiario.es, CNMC was forced to publicly disclose that last month it was forced to avoid fifteen filings due to the inclusion of eight companies Fernández recommended. FCC, Acciona, Cepsa, Mediaset, Areas, Rentrak and Toro and the Betolaza group.

Two years after Fernández’s legal advice ended, the list of these companies is getting shorter and names are disappearing. Reached two years since his appointment as PresidentThe legal ban on participating in certain files due to eventual conflicts of interest disappears. And all the while, Fernández, who has shown his anger when his impartiality is questioned and information is requested about it, is already immune from non-compliance.