The Commission for the Defense of Competition and the world Bank carried out the activity “Strengthening the role of market institutions for the promotion of competition in the Uruguayan markets”.
The event was attended by, among others, the president of the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU), Diego Labatthe vice president of the Communications Services Regulatory Unit (Ursec), Gustavo Delgado and Alvaro Fuentesdirector of the Consumer Defense Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
The Commissioner for the Promotion and Defense of Competition (CPDC) of the MEF, Daniel Ferres, reported that sixty company mergers take place annually in Uruguay. According to the hierarch, half of the applications that enter the office under the Ministry of Economy and Finance have incomplete information, an aspect that is later solved to quickly direct the process.
At the event, international experts also valued the number portabilityone of the central aspects included in the Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC)as a relevant point of the position regarding the defense of free competition.
In this line, the vice president of Ursec, Gustavo Delgado, acknowledged that Uruguay “arrived late” but described number portability as a success and a necessity that, in addition, has allowed before improve your position in the market.
The Office for the Promotion and Defense of Competition’s main task is to analyze competitive practices and penalize, if appropriate, irregularities or practices of a monopolistic nature in accordance with Law 18159.
This week the body ruled in favor of the National Administration of Ports (ANP), after Montecon had filed a complaint against him for alleged anti-competitive practices. You must also resolve the purchase of the refrigerator BPU by Minervawhich would leave more than half of the local slaughter market in Brazilian hands.
In this sense, the resolution of the CPDC considered that the action of the ANP in the case raised, “is covered by the provisions indicated and in the “Regulation of Docking of the Port of Montevideo (Decree 115/2021) that establishes the regime berthing priorities and the obligation to assign berths with different priorities depending on the type of vessel”.
For this reason, it ordered the file of the proceedings for not finding “reasons of merit to continue with the future of these folios,” the agency reported.
In the activity carried out in the Central Bank amphitheater, the coordinator of Innovation and Technology Policies of the Market and Technology Unit of the World Bank, Elena Gassoland representatives of Chili, Peru and Argentina among others.
The Ferrere, Guyer-Regules and De Posadas studios, which usually work advising companies in these areas, also gave their vision at the seminar.
Source: Ambito
