PORTUGAL Trends and Developments Contributed by: José Luís da Cruz Vilaça and Mariana Tavares, Antas da Cunha Ecija
Competition Law Enforcement and Litigation in Portugal: Dual-Track Growth in 2026 Portugal’s competition enforcement landscape has continued to develop in 2026, with sustained activity on both the public and private enforcement fronts. In terms of public enforcement, the Portuguese Compe - tition Authority ( Autoridade da Concorrência – AdC) has maintained an active agenda, including expand - ing its focus to include areas such as labour-market cartels. Regarding private enforcement, the growing number of collective damages actions, covering sec - tors such as the retail, banking, automotive and phar - maceutical industries, reflects the increasing impor - tance of private antitrust litigation in Portugal. These developments are contributing to an increasingly well- established and broad framework for both follow-on and standalone antitrust claims. This article surveys the most significant enforcement, legislative and judicial developments that have shaped antitrust litigation in Portugal in 2026 and their practi - cal implications for companies and lawyers operating or facing exposure in this jurisdiction. AdC Public Enforcement in 2026: The Hub-and- Spoke Legacy As we entered 2026, the legacy of the AdC’s multi- year hub-and-spoke enforcement programme in the retail sector was still very much present in Portuguese public enforcement. Following dawn raids in 2017, the AdC proceeded to issue multiple Statements of Objections and sanctioning decisions between 2020 and 2023. These targeted alleged vertical price co- ordination between major suppliers and Portugal’s leading supermarket chains via shared distributors and retailers. The programme saw six supermarket chains and around ten suppliers sanctioned across more than a dozen proceedings. Cumulative fines across the series totalled over EUR686 million, making it one of the larg - est competition enforcement programmes in Portu - guese history. Key milestones included fines totalling EUR304 million under two decisions in December 2020. Successive decisions continued to build the enforcement record through 2022 and 2023, including the Beiersdorf (2022), Active Brands (EUR5.7 million in
2022) and JNTL Consumer Health Portugal (EUR16.9 million in April 2023) decisions. With one exception, the decisions remain under appeal before the Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court (TCRS). The exception is the Active Brands case, in which the TCRS found that the AdC had not met the applicable evidentiary standard and accord - ingly annulled the fines imposed. However, these decisions should be viewed in the broader context. In other significant cases, the Lisbon Court of Appeal has upheld AdC infringement findings. This includes the confirmation in 2023 of Super Bock’s EUR24 mil - lion fine for resale price maintenance in the HORECA channel, as well as the fines imposed on EDP/Sonae and EDP Produção. Taken together, these develop - ments illustrate the growing body of appellate case law on competition infringements, providing greater legal and evidentiary clarity for subsequent follow-on litigation. A New Enforcement Frontier: Labour-Market and No-Poach Cartels One area that has received increased attention from the AdC in 2026 is competition in labour markets. Labour-market competition was identified as a policy priority for 2026, alongside public procurement and liberal professions, and this has been reflected in a number of enforcement actions: • Inetum ( court confirmation in 2026 ): In February 2025, the AdC fined three Inetum group companies a total of EUR3.092 million for bilateral no-poach - ing agreements that restricted the recruitment of IT specialists between March 2014 and August 2021. On 30 March 2026, the TCRS upheld the fines in full. This was the first time a Portuguese court confirmed a competition fine for restrictive labour- market practices. The Court characterised the infringement as “very serious”, taking into account the importance of the affected IT sector to the banking and insurance industries. • APESPE ( March 2026 ): The AdC fined the Por - tuguese Association of Private Employment and Human Resources Companies EUR4.519 million for a no-poaching clause in its Code of Ethics. The clause, which had been in place from 1987 until March 2025, was found to restrict member tem -
135 A NTITRUST LI T IGATI O N 2026
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