Gerardo Calderon-Villegas, Jul 14, 2010
In April 2010, President Felipe Calderon sent the Mexican Congress a bill to amend the Federal Law of Economic Competition (“LFCE”) and other statutes, in order to strengthen competition policy and law enforcement. This bill has been approved with some minor changes and additions by the House of Representatives and probably will be discussed and approved by the Senate in its next legislative session (September-December).
In general terms, the proposed amendments are aimed to increase sanctions for illegal conducts, including criminalization of absolute monopolistic practices, and to strengthen the Federal Competition Commission’s (“CFC” or “Commission”) powers to investigate and punish said conducts.
According to the bill, the proposed core lines of action are:
1. To facilitate compliance of competition legislation and to focus CFC’s attention and resources on relevant cases;
2. To improve effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency of CFC’s operations; and
3. To achieve a more efficient competition policy through the adoption of effective instruments to investigate and sanction anticompetitive practices.
The most relevant amendments are discussed below.
