Portugal’s Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court (TCRS) has upheld a decision of the Portuguese Competition Authority (AdC) imposing a €3,092,000 fine on three companies belonging to the multinational technology consultancy group Inetum for engaging in anticompetitive practices in the labour market. The judgment represents the first judicial confirmation in Portugal of a sanction imposed for restrictive agreements affecting employment markets.
The case concerns a series of bilateral “no-poach” agreements between competing companies under which they committed not to recruit or approach each other’s employees with unsolicited job offers. According to the AdC’s investigation, Inetum participated in this arrangement for at least seven years, from March 2014 until August 2021. The Authority concluded that the agreement restricted competition for skilled professionals in the technology consultancy sector by limiting worker mobility and reducing employees’ bargaining power in negotiations over wages and career progression.
In its ruling, the TCRS characterised the infringement as “very serious”, emphasising the strategic importance of the labour market involved. The Court noted that the agreement affected a sector dependent on highly qualified human capital, where specialised professionals are scarce and demand for their services is strong. It stressed that labour mobility is a key driver of efficiency and innovation in such markets.
According to the judgment, by restricting employee mobility the companies involved effectively immobilised a critical resource in a high value-added sector. The Court also highlighted the broader economic implications of the conduct, observing that the information technology sector plays a central role in the modernisation of the Portuguese economy and supports key industries such as banking and insurance. In this context, the existence of a no-poach arrangement among technology consultancies was seen as particularly harmful because it could generate inefficiencies throughout the value chain that depends on specialised IT services.
The Court further found that the agreement did not benefit consumers or business clients. Instead, by limiting the mobility of highly skilled professionals, it prevented talent from moving to projects where it could be used most productively. This restriction could ultimately lead to lower-quality services or higher prices for consultancy clients.
The AdC opened its investigation in March 2022 after identifying indications of anticompetitive conduct in the technology consultancy sector. Within the same proceedings, the Authority had previously sanctioned three additional companies for similar practices occurring between 2014 and 2022. Those companies were fined a combined €4,082,000, with reductions granted due to their cooperation with the investigation under a settlement procedure.
The fine imposed on Inetum was calculated on the basis of the companies’ turnover in the affected market and took into account the gravity and duration of the infringement, as well as the degree of participation of the companies and their economic situation, in accordance with Portuguese competition law.
