TOURISM LAW AND COMPETITION – A PORTUGUESE PERSPECTIVE 439 No other recommendation has recently addressed in such a direct manner the sector of activity in question though some may indirectly have had impact on the same one: In 2017, the CA was requested by the Portuguese Parliament to swiftly investigate public allegations on cartelisation of prices between the airlines flying between Lisbon and Funchal (Madeira)62. The CA concluded that on the basis of the data obtained notably from the sectoral regulator, it was not possible to confirm such an anticompetitive practice. Nonetheless and given the specificities of the route in question, the CA would continue to be attentive to any developments, as was already in the past. In 2018, the CA issued an opinion regarding the regulation of Cabify, Taxify andUber in Portugal. In this context, the CA recognised that certain requirements of access to the activity, namely reputability and the number of years the vehicles used have been circulating, created distortions of competition, granting a competitive advantage to taxis63. In the last months, it is interesting to highlight that the operationalization of one of the measures to support the tourism industry in the aftermath of the COVID 19 crisis, which was proposed by the Portuguese Government and provided in the 2021 State budget adopted by the Parliament64 has raised competition concerns to the PCA from the viewpoint of competition neutrality. Without prejudice to detailing the same hereunder in F.5., it should be noted that the PCA issued two sets of Recommendations65 from the complementary perspectives of promotion of the competition conditions, technological neutrality in public procurement and competition neutrality of the public intervention. Whether coincidently or not, after the issuance of the first set of 62 The Commission for Economy, Innovation and Public Works of the Portuguese Parliament (“CEIOP”) addressed a request for clarification to the CA with reference no. 35/CEIOP. The relevant documents are available at: http://concorrencia.pt/vPT/Estudos_e_Publicacoes/Documents/2017%20-%20Liga%C3%A7%C3%B5es%20 a%C3%A9reas%20Madeira.pdf. 63 For more information, please consult the CA’s website in this link: http://www.concorrencia.pt/vPT/ Estudos_e_Publicacoes/Recomendacoes_e_Pareceres/Documents/1.%20Parecer%20AdC_GOV_Regime%20 juridico%20de%20TVDE_S-AdC-2018-110%20SA.pdf. 64 See article 405 of Law 75-B/2020, of 31 December 2020 (approving the State Budget for 2021), published in the Official Gazette nr. 253/2020, 1st supplement, Series I. 65 The first one was adopted on 6 November 2020 and the second one was adopted on 22 January 2021. For more information, please consult the CA’s website in these links: http://www.concorrencia.pt/vPT/Estudos_e_ Publicacoes/Documents/2020%20-%20Coment%C3%A1rios%20e%20Recomenda%C3%A7%C3%A3o%20 da%20AdC%20Proposta%20de%20Programa%20IVAucher.pdf and http://www.concorrencia.pt/vPT/Estudos _e_Publicacoes/Recomendacoes_e_Pareceres/Documents/2021-Coment%c3%a1rios_AdC%20_Concurso_ IVAucher.pdf
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==