Overview
- Spain’s competition watchdog sanctioned Nautalia Viajes, Viajes El Corte Inglés, Ávoris Retail División and IAG7 Viajes for collusion affecting tenders at the Banco de España and the Complutense University of Madrid.
- Nautalia, Viajes El Corte Inglés and Ávoris face six‑month prohibitions on contracting with the public sector, and IAG7 faces a three‑month ban.
- The CNMC found that in October 2021 the four firms coordinated a collective no‑show to force a re‑tender by the Banco de España under more favorable terms.
- In a separate October 2022 episode, Nautalia, Viajes El Corte Inglés and Ávoris allegedly rotated assignments for UCM travel needs, yielding single bids and weakening price and quality pressure.
- The resolution follows inspections begun in December 2023, deems the conduct a serious breach of Spanish and EU competition law, and marks the fourth time the CNMC has directly set the scope and duration of contracting bans; Ávoris has already appealed and other firms have not commented.