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CENTRAL AMERICAN COMPETITION REGULATIONS
[/vc_column_text][us_separator][vc_column_text]As of March 10, 2021, the Council of Ministers of Economic Integration, hereinafter COMIECO, approved the Central American Competition Regulation, which has been signed by the Republics of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The main objective of the aforementioned regulation is to promote regional competition through mechanisms for cooperation and promotion of competition, in order to contribute to the development of economic activities and maximize the benefits of trade liberalization. The agreement seeks to jointly regulate all anticompetitive practices at the regional level, prohibiting the following practices: a) Agreements between companies, decisions of associations of companies and concerted practices between companies that have the purpose or effect of preventing, restricting or distorting competition; b) Any abuse by one or more companies of a dominant position or substantial market power or significant market share, and c) Concentrations between companies that significantly hinder effective competition. It should be added that the above classification is quite broad, so its application must be verified according to each legislation, since it broadly regulates the provisions of the Salvadoran Competition Law. One of the essential topics addressed by the aforementioned regulation is cooperation between the member countries. This includes, but is not limited to, enforcement activities, consultations, information exchange, technical assistance, and joint training, in accordance with the legislation of each State Party. Regarding the exchange of information, the applicable law for each State Party must mediate; in the case of El Salvador, the content of the Law on Access to Public Information, as well as any other applicable legislation, as appropriate. The sharing of information with other competition authorities in cases where it is warranted, for example in the case of an economic concentration or anti-competitive practice by regional corporate groups, must be handled by each authority in charge with the caution that each piece merits in an effort to safeguard the confidential or reserved information of the administered, as stipulated in Article 18 of the aforementioned regulation, additionally agreeing on the information protection mechanisms they deem appropriate in accordance with the law. One of the purposes of the regulation is to empower the Regional Committee created therein to issue joint guidelines on competition best practices, as well as other necessary inputs for promoting competition in each member state. In the case of El Salvador, the authority in charge of enforcing it will be the Competition Superintendency.
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