The magistrate of the mercantile number 11 of Barcelona has sentenced against the campaign “Strategic consumption” of the ANC and considers it proven that this supposed, de facto, a boycott at non-independent companies. The judge agrees with Workforce Development In his complaint, he coincides with the previous resolutions of the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) and orders the definitive closure of the website with the search engine for companies related to pro-independence positions. “It has been proven that the conduct carried out by the ANC constitutes an act of obstruction, in its boycott modality,” considers the magistrate in the sentence to which EL PERIÓDICO has had access. There is a possibility of appeal on the same.
November 2018, one year and one month after the 1-O referendum the ANC announces the launch of a campaign dubbed “Consum estrategic”. According to it, the pro-independence entity – at that time presided over by Elisenda Paluzie– thus begins the preparation of a list of companies related to their positions and calls on the population to only consume in these. In order to benefit, as they argued, the positions favorable to the independence of Catalonia. Subsequently, it launches a web page with a search engine for sympathetic companies and presents them as an alternative to those companies “that have participated in the campaign of fear”. Faced with this initiative, the Foment del Treball employers’ association files a complaint with the courts, considering that said act constitutes a boycott and an act of unfair competition.
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The legal battle began in 2019 and the court in charge of the case accepted the precautionary measures demanded by Foment and ordered the temporary suspension of the ANC website. Before issuing a sentence, the CNMC also inspected the case and censored the ANC campaign, although it decided not to impose any sanctions. “The loss of customers by unrelated companies was not a mere collateral effect of the promotion of other entities according to the game of free competition, but a main, conscious and deliberate objective of the campaign,” the entity considered.
Once the investigations of the CNMC have been concluded, the commercial court of Barcelona has issued its verdict and has ruled in the same line. “The conduct displayed by the ANC went beyond provoking or stimulating debate or informing consumers,” he says. The ruling orders the definitive closure of the website, charging the costs of the judicial process to the sovereign entity and vetoing future similar actions in the future.