Spanish High Court annuls fine of Talleres Alegria following appeal of Spanish train equipment cartel

The Spanish High Court (Audiencia Nacional) ruled on 28 January 2022 on the appeal of a fine imposed by the Spanish competition authority CNMC on Talleres Alegria as a result of its alleged involvement in a horizontal agreement by train equipment manufacturers.

The CNMC had investigated agreements between train equipment manufacturers in case S/0519/14 INFRAESTRUCTURAS FERROVIARIAS. The companies agreed to form temporary joint ventures to submit bids for procurement contracts related to the provision of railway equipment and the CNMC had argued that these agreements had the object of restricting competition. It fined Talleres Alegria and three other companies in June 2016.

Compass Lexecon advised Talleres Alegria in their appeal of the CNMC fine before the Audiencia Nacional. The Spanish High Court ruled in favour of our client and cancelled the fine of almost 1.8 million euros. The court relied on the findings of our report to conclude that Talleres' bidding behaviour may be explained by economic and capacity constraints rather than by a horizontal agreement.

The Compass Lexecon team advising Talleres was led by Elena Zoido and Alejandro Requejo and also included Bruno Vidal Boyer and Francisco Franchetti. They worked together with a team from Alvargonzález, Corcelles y García Cruces.