The Competition Tribunal dismissed a lawsuit by the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office against Sociedad deDesarrollos Educacionales S.A., for alleged infringement of antitrust laws in the tender processes for school uniforms, uniforms that are mandatory for all the students of the schools it controls.
According to the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office, the plaintiff had established that the use of a uniform was mandatory, without using the necessary participation channels to determine the design and the provider. This would translate into an imposition to buy, affecting free competition.
The Tribunal stated that the plaintiff had neither acted against antitrust laws nor against Dictamen N° 1186 of the H: Comisión Preventiva Central (Central Preventatie Commission), of November 30, 2002 –which was deemed violated by the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office. Even though the defendant did not use a public tender mechanism, it assigned the exclusive supply of the mandatory uniforms by a private tender, having invited a sufficient, although limited, amount of potential suppliers.