ja_mageia

Its subjective field of application shall be all those individuals and legal persons, public and private, national and foreign, who develop economic activities, whether profit or non-profit, in the Uruguayan territory. This regulation also entails those who develop economic activities abroad, having effects on the national territory.

It is important to highlight its main points:

1) Any act whose effect or purpose is to restrict, limit, hinder, distort or prevent current or future competition in the relevant market is prohibited. By way of example, it is prohibited to arrange or impose directly or indirectly purchase or sale prices or other transaction terms in an abusive way or to hinder access to the market of potential newcomers.

2) The abuse of dominant position is forbidden. The dominant position is observed when one or various agents can significantly affect relevant variables of the market in which they operate, regardless of competitors, buyers or supplier’s behavior. The abuse of the dominant position is seen when these agents act wrongfully, with the aim of getting advantages or causing prejudice to others, which would not be possible if said domain position did not exist.

3) When market agents perform operations which imply modifying the control structure of participating companies (economic concentration), they shall notify the enforcement authority 10 days before being carried out. Economic concentration acts shall mean all kind of legal business which entail control transfer of the total or part of economic units or companies, like for example, company merger, purchase of stock, quotas or shares, acquisition of commercial, industrial or civil entities, total or partial acquisition of corporate assets.

4) When economic concentration implies forming a monopoly, parties shall request authorization from the enforcement authority of this law.

5) Decree 404/007 states that a monopoly shall be deemed as the existence of a sole company in a relevant market.

6) The enforcement authority shall be empowered to carry out proceedings aiming at investigating, analyzing and punishing forbidden practices according to the current law. It may act ex officio or upon complaint.

7) The penalties that may be imposed are the following: a) Warning; b) warning and publication of the resolution, at the expense of the infringing party, in two newspapers of national distribution; c) Fines which vary from approximately US$ 8500 to over US$ 1.600.000, varying on a daily basis based on the Indexed Unit, 10 % of annual turnover or the equivalent to three times the damage caused by the anticompetitive practice, if it can be determined.

8) The enforcement authority shall be also entitled to carry out any proceeding to investigate an alleged anticompetitive behavior. In addition, it shall decree the preventive cease of the harmful behavior, request injunctive relief from the court before initiating administrative acts and imposing fines to the members of bodies managing and representing legal persons who perform acts forbidden by law, actively contributing to the development of anticompetitive practice.

9) The enforcement body shall suspend acts to the effects of reaching an agreement with the alleged infringing party to cease or modify the behavior under investigation, unless its illegitimacy and identity of the doer are notorious. Under certain circumstances, it may also suspend acts with identical term, upon the joint request of the plaintiff and the defendant, in order to consider the possible conciliation.

10) The enforcement body shall be the Committee for the Promotion and Defense of Competition, which shall depend on the Ministry of Economics and Finance.

11) Legal Actions in relation to forbidden practices by this Act shall prescribe five years after occurring, both for the Goverment and third-parties.