Oriol Armengol has been a partner in the European and Competition Law practice since 2018, when he joined Garrigues after having led the same practice at another firm. In his professional activity, he has been involved in a wide variety of transactions and has participated in some of the most notorious and technically complex cases in the field of competition law in Spain. In administrative and litigation matters, Oriol has experience in:

• Investigations of the European Commission, the CNMC and the regional competition authorities in connection with cartels and all sorts of collusive agreements, including the preparation of requests for immunity from fines;
• Investigations of the CNMC and the regional competition authorities in abuse of dominance cases;
• All kinds of merger control files, both in phase I and II, including upfront buyer proposals and fix it first remedies, as well as commitments negotiations;
• Litigation before contentious-administrative Courts in connection with appeals against CNMC decisions and decisions of the regional competition authorities, including intervening before the Supreme Court;
• Litigation before civil courts both in connection with procedures of direct application of competition law and in damage claims litigations; and
• Litigation before the European Courts in direct appeals brought against European Commission decisions.

His transactional advice includes:

• Negotiation of all kinds of M&A, cooperation and distribution agreements;
• Internal investigations aimed at identifying potential competition infringements, and preparation and implementation of internal compliance programmes;
• Assistance in the implementation of exclusive and selective distribution networks and franchise networks; and
• Assistance in multijurisdictional filings.

Oriol Armengol speaks Catalan, Spanish, French and English.

• Degree in Law, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1987-1992).
• Master’s Degree in European Law, Instituto Universitario de Estudios Europeos (1993).
• Master’s Degree in European and Competition Law, University of Liège (Belgium) (1994).

Oriol is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars on competition law. He is also a visiting professor at University Carlos III in Madrid, where he lectures at the Master’s Degree on EU Law (MUDUE) and the Master’s Degree in Access to the Practice of Law. 

• Member of the Madrid bar, where he had been Vice-President of the Competition Law Section.
• Member of the Board of the Spanish Association of Competition Law (Asociación Española de Derecho de la Competencia - AEDC).
• Member the Board and Treasurer of the Association for the Study of European Law (Asociación para el Estudio del Derecho Europeo - AEDEUR).

• Chambers & Partners
  
  For 16 consecutive years, Oriol Armengol has been acknowledged in Band 1 as one of the most renowned experts in EU and Competition law in Spain. He is praised in the 2022 Edition because he “retains an impressive practice advising on damage claims, merger control procedures and investigations brought by the CNMC”.

• Legal 500
  Oriol Armengol is typically recognised as one of the leading lawyers on EU and Competition law in Spain. In the last edition of the guide, he is praised by clients as being “the go-to lawyer for competition law for digital platforms and related businesses”.

• Global Competition Review
  Along with the rest of the team, Oriol has been referred as one of the elite competition lawyer in the last edition of the legal directory.

Oriol has published extensively on various questions related to competition law, and has participated in a number of collective works on the matter, including most notably:

• “Interaction between competition law and IP law”, in XXVIII Jornadas de Estudio la AIPPI (2023) (*)
• “Pricing algorithms, tacit collusion and competition law”, in Práctica Mercantil para abogados (2021) (*).
• “Competition Law and debarment: a critical view”, in Anuario de Derecho de la Competencia (2017) (*).
• Co-author of the chapter “Administrative proceedings before national competition authorities: the merger control procedure”, in the collective work Treaty of Competition Law (2017) (*).
• “New dissuassive instruments: sanctions to directors and debarments”, en Jornada Anual de la Competencia, CNMC (2016) (*).
• Co-author of “The role of Spanish authority in Law 20/2013, of 9 December, on the domestic single market”, in Anuario de Derecho de la Competencia (2015) (*).
• Co-author of “The State intervention in corporate transactions in the EU”, in Competition Law and its application in Spain (2014) (*).
• “The commitment decisions of Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003”, in Anuario de Derecho de la Competencia (2008) (*).
• “The merger control proceedings in the new Law 15/2007”, in the collective work Law 15/2007, for the Defense of Competition (2008) (*).
• Co-author of h“Some reflections on Article 9 Commitment Decisions in the light of the Coca-Cola case”, European Competition Law Review (2006).

(*) Originally published in Spanish. See Spanish version of the CV for more details.