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.

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

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 assistin.

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.

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.

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.