Market Entry And Competition Law In Latin America

This book explores the relationship between market entry analysis in competition law and the study of the determinants of aggregate investment. Macroeconomic and social characteristics, such as widespread corruption, political instability, and low levels of education are associated with lower investment rates. Progress on these indicators on the other hand is also strongly associated with sustained growth and higher investment rates. This book analyzes the interaction between these macro variables and the market-specific analysis typical in antitrust cases. Against this background, representative decisions of four Latin American competition authorities - México, El Salvador, Colombia, and Chile - on unilateral conduct are analyzed, focusing on market power assessment. The analysis shows that there is little to no explicit or implicit consideration of the impact of the macroeconomic environment on market dynamism and therefore on market power. This book also explores the influence that EU and US competition law have in the standards to prove ease of market entry developed by the Latin American authorities. Although most of the Latin American authorities share a lack of reliance on market forces, which is characteristic of EU competition law, this book argues that market entry analysis still needs to be adjusted to fit the socio-economic context that affects investment within the country and the degree to which each particular market is affected. Finally, the book proposes a framework on how the macro characteristics covered can be incorporated into competition law enforcement.

In the past few years Latin American countries have taken giant steps to reposition their competition authorities in the global antitrust arena, granting them much greater autonomy both domestically and internationally. This is the first book to offer an in-depth analysis of this complex scenario. At the heart of the presentation are seven chapters detailing the competition regimes of the most active national jurisdictions in the region - Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia. Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. Written by practicing experts with considerable hands-on experience in their respective countries, each of these chapters provides a comprehensive description and explanation of the evolution, current state, and prospects for antitrust in the country. Preceding these country-by-country analyses are more general chapters on the use of economic analysis and on the special field of the information and communications technology industry, as well as chapters on the working of competition law in countries with regulated markets and in the cluster of Central American countries. Topics addressed encompass the following and more: • relevant institutions and legislation; • cartel investigations; • unilateral conduct policies; • merger review; • international coordination; • enforcement; and • remedies. Each chapter includes analysis of relevant case law, allowing the reader to gauge the positions, views, and tendencies of each competition law regime. The authors also pay attention to the specificities and idiosyncrasies that are so important for a correct understanding of the practical realities of competition policy and enforcement. With its wide-ranging and in depth-approach, this book provides an incomparable analysis of a challenging region poised to become increasingly important in the international recognition and enforcement of antitrust law. It is in this sense an essential guide for lawyers, economists, corporations, academics, and government officials interested in understanding where competition law is, and where is it is going to, in Latin America.

Contains the results of peer reviews of the competition law and policies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina.

Thanks to the strategy of `apertura' that has characterized economic policy throughout Latin America since the debt crisis, foreign investment is on the rise and a significant degree of economic stability has been achieved. In the global arena, however, the enormous promise of Latin American trade remains only partially realized, as policy makers in the region struggle to design a `fair' level playing field for encouraging sustained and equitable development, through implementing transparent regulatory business environments across the region. Competition policy has accordingly become a major regulatory issue in both individual Latin American countries and in regional cooperation arrangements. In considering the development of the "second generation" of regulatory policy initiatives implemented in the region, this important book analyzes the role of competition policy in the promotion of successful and sustained economic development. Examples of the vital and diverse aspects of the region's competition policy agenda covered are: comparative assessments of the legal regime of different Latin American countries for dealing with business restrictive practices, including cartels, vertical restraints, market foreclosures and mergers the increasing introduction of competition principles in the promotion of institutional reforms in the promotion of investments and technology, privatization processes, antidumping policy and trade remedies, and the regulation of public utilities the institutional factors influencing the relationship between competition authorities and other regulatory agencie The author combines the legal description of the jurisdictions reviewed with the analytical tools of institutional economics, to give a fully rounded picture of this complex and evolving subject.

This book offers an unparalleled analysis of the emerging law and economics of competition policy in Latin America. Nearly all Latin American countries now have competition laws and agencies to enforce them. Yet, these laws and agencies are relatively young. The relative youth of Latin American competition agencies and the institutional and political environment in which they operate limit the ability of agencies to effectively address anti-competitive conduct. Competition policy is a tool to overcome anti-market traditions in Latin America. Effective competition policy is critical to assisting in the growth of Latin American economies, their global competitiveness, and improving the welfare of domestic consumers. This book provides new region specific insights on how to better achieve these aims. This authoritative volume will be of particular interest to competition agencies, academics in law, economics and Latin American Studies, practitioners around the world in the areas of antitrust and competition policy, policymakers, and journalists.

Antitrust policy nominally plays an instrumental public interest role. The generally accepted notion is that it is a government instrument designed to intervene in relatively unregulated markets in order to preserve rivalry among independent buyers and sellers. Competition authorities are supposed to restrain business conduct that exercises monopoly power aimed at excluding competitors or exploiting consumers and clients. Thus it can be said - although few pro-market theorists make the insight explicit - that antitrust provisions reveal mistrust of the capacity of markets to promote social welfare. The inner logic, enforcement mechanisms, and practical outcomes of antitrust provisions are all intrinsically contradictory to the natural dynamic course of market functioning. In Dr. De Leon's challenging thesis, this mistrust of the market lies at the root of antitrust policy, giving rise always to a preference towards 'predicting' the result of impersonal market forces rather than interpreting the entrepreneurial behaviour which creates those forces. And it is in Latin America that he finds the powerful evidence he needs to support his case. From the formative years of Latin American economic institutions, during the Spanish Empire, economic regulations - far from being driven by the pursuit of promoting free trade and economic freedom - have been conceived, enacted and implemented in the context of deeply anti-market public policies, trade mercantilism and government dirigisme. The so-called "neoliberal" revolution of the 1990s triggered by the Washington Consensus did not really change the interventionist innuendo of these policies, but merely restated the social welfare goal to be achieved: the pursuit of economic efficiency. Dr. De Leon presents his case against the assumption that consumer welfare orientated policies such as antitrust do really promote entrepreneurship and market goals. Paradoxically, antitrust enforcement has undermined the transparency of market institutions, in the name of promoting market competition. The author's provocative analysis marshals several sets of facts in support of his thesis, including the actual functioning of antitrust policy as reflected in case law in various Latin American countries, the preference of merger control over other less intrusive forms of market surveillance, the constrained role of competition advocacy against government acts, and the ineffective institutional structure created to apply the policy. Among the many specific topics treated are the following: government immunity; strategic industries; state-owned enterprises; politically influential groups; measurement of market concentration; the burden of proof of social welfare benefits; the role of joint trade associations and professional guilds; institutional arrangements that favour collusion; selective distribution; sector regulation; erosion of property rights; marginal role of courts in the antitrust system; leniency programs; and privatized public utilities. The growing significance of Latin America in the context of economic globalization endows this book with huge international interest. Written by a leading authority on the topic, this is the first book that presents a detailed description of Latin American antitrust law and policy as it has been developed through numerous judicial opinions. A wide variety of audiences around the world will find it of extraordinary value: competition law specialists, scholars and students of the subject, policymakers and politicians in Latin America, as well as all interested lawyers, jurists, and economists.

The Latin American countries, both individually and as a community, are poised to become increasingly important in the international recognition and enforcement of competition law. Recent policy developments in the region are particularly instructive on cross-border mergers and international cartel investigations. Although this book’s focus is on Latin America, its in-depth exploration of areas such as information exchange among competition authorities, compliance, settlements and remedies are of great value and interest to competition lawyers and policymakers worldwide. Including numerous recent cases and best practice indicators, the contributors ̄ competition authority officials, practitioners, academics and economists ̄ cover such topics and issues as the following: • antitrust compliance programs; • competition advocacy; • bid rigging in public procurement; • predatory pricing; • use of indirect evidence in investigations; • shareholders’ damages claims; • relation between antitrust and intellectual property; and • merger control. There are country-specific chapters on particular developments in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Paraguay. Highlighting the importance of international competition regulatory cooperation, this insightful book offers both practical guidance and food for thought to lawyers at national competition authorities, corporate counsel, and other competition law practitioners and academics.