The CNMC has reported that Güeñes cannot benefit local producers at the San José Fair, even though the City Council allocates up to 40% of the scoring to territorial criteria in the distribution of stalls. This body explains in a statement that “territorial roots cannot constitute a requirement or an assessment criterion to access public activities or contracts, as it violates the principle of non-discrimination in articles 3 and 18 of the Market Unity Guarantee Law”.

The CNMC recalls that the National Court already declared in its ruling of April 16, 2021 (appeal 11/2019, UM/093/19) that granting a higher score to an operator based on their domicile is “discriminatory”. If the reason were sustainability, the Council should apply “objective criteria such as carbon footprint or proximity in distribution”.

With this report, the National Commission for Markets and Competition responds to a complaint filed on February 23 before the Secretariat for Market Unity, “under article 26 of Law 20/2013, of December 9, on the Guarantee of Market Unity in relation to a specific valuation criterion contained in the regulatory bases of the 2026 San José Fair of Güeñes, which took place on Sunday, March 22”.

Although “the Vizcaya City Council argues that the social headquarters of the product and the location of the fair will be prioritized, with the aim of promoting sustainable practices and reducing carbon dioxide emissions,” the CNMC points out that “the distance of the social headquarters to the fair does not imply that producers are carrying out sustainable practices in the manufacture of their products, which would mean that this requirement would not be justified in terms of necessity or proportionality.” In that case, “objective measurements such as carbon footprint should be chosen,” they indicate.