The CNMC is thus positioned ahead of the meeting of Vice President and Minister of Consumption Alberto Garzón next Monday with consumer organizations and distribution employers to discuss initiatives to limit the price of essential food in the purchasing basket. the effect of inflation.
According to the agency, both the Law on the Protection of Competition and the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union “Explicitly prohibits agreements or recommendations to fix prices or other business terms that restrict or distort competition”.
“Determining maximum prices between operators, even under the auspices or incentives of public authorities, What is forbidden is a price deal.“The CNMC pointed to these regulations.
The Commission emphasized that There is an obligation to monitor, investigate and punish. He recommended any deals companies might agree on and “to carefully consider the effects of any public intervention in terms of prices”.
According to him, an agreement to fix maximum prices, even if punctual, sets a standard or scale for fixing prices, which “ultimately leads to higher prices, less innovation, less investment, and an adverse change in the competitive structure of the market”. .
CNMC warned possible reduction in price competition of companies.besides the impossibility of small and medium-sized operators to pursue such measures in economic contexts similar to the current situation.
These measures “could empower major market operators to the detriment of others, with negative long-term effects on the competitive nature of the market and therefore on consumers”.
The organization explained that due to their greater financial strength, negotiation power and business diversity, large distributors may face a loss in sales that the agreed ceilings may imply.
Disadvantaged small distributors may disappear in a context similar to the current situation.According to the CNMC, “a reality that always hurts consumers” marked by high production costs to eliminate competition.
The National Markets and Competition Commission reminded that public regulation of prices normally “has adverse effects, and the medium and long-term effects of regulation need to be carefully weighed.”