The AdC is mandated to ensure compliance with the rules on the promotion and protection of competition. Its fundamental objective is to safeguard the commercial autonomy of undertakings and the proper functioning of competitive market dynamics, with a view to maximising consumer welfare and enhancing the competitiveness of the economy.
Under its Statutes, the AdC is responsible for promoting the adoption of practices that foster competition and for encouraging the development of a competition culture among economic operators and the general public. It also disseminates relevant guidance on competition policy. To this end, the AdC is empowered, inter alia, to issue recommendations and general guidelines.
Pursuant to Law No. 19/2012 of 8 May and the Regulation on Merger Notification Forms, “[i]t is presumed that a decision authorising a concentration also covers restrictions directly related and necessary to its implementation” (also referred to as “ancillary restraints”). The notifying parties are therefore required to identify and justify such restrictions.
In its substantive competition assessment of a notified concentration, the AdC examines whether the restrictions identified and justified by the parties are directly related and necessary to the implementation of the transaction.
With a view to providing legal certainty to the parties involved, the draft Guidelines on Ancillary Restraints, now submitted for public consultation, set out the AdC’s approach to the interpretation of the concept of ancillary restraints and explain how the AdC assesses them within the framework of merger control.
In this context, the AdC is launching a public consultation on its draft Guidelines on Ancillary Restraints and invites all interested parties to submit comments and/or observations within 30 working days, to the following email address: consultapublica@concorrencia.pt. 
Submissions must clearly indicate the subject (“Guidelines on Ancillary Restraints”), the name of the respondent, postal address, email address, and telephone number. They must also include a non-confidential version and provide justification for any confidentiality claims; otherwise, the submission may be made public.