Rita Prates

Principal Consultant at Vieira de Almeida

February 2022 - Present • Lisbon, Portugal

At the beginning of 2022, I joined the EU & Competition team of VdA Vieira de Almeida, as Principal Consultant. VdA is a Tier 1 Portuguese law firm. I am advising clients on merger control, gun-jumping issues and leading the defense of a case accusing a supplier of participating in an agreement and/or concerted practice related with hub and spoke. I also advised in a case related with state. Finally, I am working in the area of ESG and Competition, and I oversaw the first due diligence to a company regarding fair competition and taxonomy (minimum safeguards).

Case Handler at Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC) - Portuguese Competition Authority

11 years 11 mth • February 2010 - January 2022 • Lisbon, Portugal

I was a Competition Expert at Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC), the Portuguese Competition Authority, where I worked for more than 10 years. At the AdC, I have developed extensive merger analysis and infringement proceedings involving several economic activities. I was the team leader of the first gun jumping case Decision without settlement issued by the AdC (PCC 1/2020 - Fidelidade SGOIC). This case was upheld to the Competition Court, and the AdC’s infringement Decision was confirmed. I was also the case handler of the two prohibition merger Decisions issued by the AdC (in a total of three): Ccent. 4/2013 Controlinveste*ZON Optimus*PT /Sport TV*Sportinveste*PPTV and Cent. 12/2009 TAP/SPdH. On behalf of AdC, I served as Co-Chair of the Merger Working Group of ECN (European Competition Network) for the years of 2018-2020, where I lead, jointly with the European Commission and the other designated Member-State, the works of the group regarding merger control policy.