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COMPETENCE DEFENSATION LAW

Law 27442

Provisions.



Article 1- Agreements between competitors, economic concentrations, acts or conduct, in any way manifested, related to the production and exchange of goods or services, which are intended or effected to limit, restrict, falsify or distort competition or market access or constitute abuse of a dominant position in a market, so that it may prejudice the general economic interest. The penalties set forth in this Act shall be applied to those who perform such acts or engage in such conduct, without prejudice to other responsibilities which may correspond as a result of such acts.

It is covered by this article, as long as the assumptions of the previous paragraph are given, the attainment of significant competitive advantages by violating other rules.

Art. 2°- They constitute absolutely restrictive competition practices and are presumed to harm the general economic interest, agreements between two or more competitors, consisting of contracts, agreements or arrangements whose object or effect is:

(a) To conclude directly or indirectly the sale or purchase price of goods or services to which they are offered or demand in the market;

(b) Establish (i) obligations to produce, process, distribute, buy or market only a restricted or limited amount of goods, and/or (ii) provide a restricted or limited number, volume or frequency of services;

(c) Share, divide, distribute, assign or impose horizontally areas, portions or segments of markets, customers or supply sources;

(d) Establish, arrange or coordinate positions or abstention in tenders, competitions or auctions.

These agreements shall be null and void and therefore shall not have any legal effect.

Art. 3°- They constitute restrictive practices of competition, the following conduct, inter alia, to the extent that they set out the hypothesis of Article 1 of this Law:

(a) Directly or indirectly fix the sale price, or purchase of goods or services to which they are offered or demanded on the market, as well as exchange information for the same object or effect;

(b) Fix, impose or practice, directly or indirectly, in any way, conditions for (i) producing, processing, distributing, buying or marketing only a restricted or limited amount of goods, and/or (ii) providing a restricted or limited number, volume or frequency of services;

(c) To conclude the limitation or control of technical development or investments for the production or marketing of goods and services;

(d) Preventing, impeding or impeding third parties to enter or stay in or exclude them from a market;

(e) To affect markets for goods or services, through agreements to limit or control research and technological development, the production of goods or the provision of services, or to hinder investments for the production of goods or services or their distribution;

(f) To subordinate the sale of one asset to the acquisition of another or the use of one service, or to subordinate the provision of one service to the use of another or to the acquisition of one asset;

(g) To subject the purchase or sale to the condition that it does not use, acquire, sell or supply goods or services produced, processed, distributed or marketed by a third party;

(h) To impose discriminatory conditions for the acquisition or disposal of goods or services without reasons based on commercial customs and customs;

(i) Unreasonably refuse to meet specific orders, for the purchase or sale of goods or services, carried out under the conditions in force in the market concerned;

(j) Suspend the provision of a dominant monopoly service in the market to a public service provider or of public interest;

(k) To dispose of goods or to provide services at lower prices, without reasons based on commercial uses and customs in order to displace competition in the market or to cause damage to the image or property or the value of the brands of its suppliers of goods or services;

(l) Simultaneous participation of a human person in relevant executive positions or director in two or more competing companies.

Art. 4°- The provisions of this Act are subject to all human or legal persons of a public or private nature, with or for non-profit undertaking economic activities throughout or in part of the national territory, and those engaged in economic activities outside the country, to the extent that their acts, activities or agreements can produce effects on the national market.

For the purposes of this law, in order to determine the true nature of acts or conducts and agreements, economic situations and relations that are actually carried out, persecuted or established shall be addressed.


Art. 5°- For the purposes of this law it is understood that one or more persons enjoy a dominant position when for a certain type of product or service is the only offerer or claimant within the national market or in one or more parts of the world or, when it is not unique, is not exposed to substantial competition or, when the degree of vertical or horizontal integration is in a position to determine the economic viability of a competing participant in the market, to their disadvantage.

Art. 6°- In order to establish a dominant position in a market, the following circumstances should be considered:

(a) The extent to which the good or service concerned is substituted by others, whether of national origin as a foreigner; the conditions of such substitution and the time required for it;

(b) The extent to which regulatory restrictions limit the access of products or suppliers or claimants to the market concerned;

(c) The extent to which the alleged person responsible can unilaterally influence the formation of prices or restrict the supply or demand in the market and the extent to which his or her competitors can counter such power.


Art. 7°- For the purposes of this law it is understood by economic concentration the taking of control of one or more companies, through the realization of the following acts:

(a) The merger between enterprises;

(b) Transfer of trade funds;

(c) The acquisition of ownership or any right on shares or shares of capital or titles of debt that give any kind of right to be converted into shares or shares of capital or to have any kind of influence on the decisions of the person issuing them when such acquisition gives the acquirer the control of, or the substantial influence on itself;

(d) Any other agreement or act that transfers in a factual or legal manner to a person or economic group the assets of a company or gives it decisive influence in the decision-making of a company ' s ordinary or extraordinary administration;

(e) Any act in subparagraph (c) of the present paragraph, which implies the acquisition of substantial influence in a company ' s competitive strategy.

Art. 8°- Economic concentrations are prohibited for the purpose or effect of which it is or may be to restrict or distort competition, so that it may harm the general economic interest.

Art. 9°- The acts specified in Article 7 of this Law, when the sum of the total volume of business of the whole of the affected companies exceeds in the country the amount equivalent to one hundred million (100.000.000) of mobile units, shall be notified for their prior examination at the date of the improvement of the act or of the materialization of the taking of control, which falls first, before the National Authority of Competition. Acts shall only cause effects between the parties or in relation to third parties after the provisions of articles 14 and 15 of this Act are fulfilled, as appropriate.

For the purpose of determining the volume of business provided for in the preceding paragraph, the Competition Court shall report annually the amount in currency of legal course to be applied during the corresponding year. To this end, the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall consider the value of the mobile unit in force on the last working day of the previous year.

The acts of economic concentration that are concluded in breach of the provisions of this article, as well as the improvement of the taking of control without the prior approval of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition, shall be punished by that court as a violation, in the terms of article 55 (d) of this Act, without prejudice to the obligation to reverse them and remove all their effects in the case where it is determined that it is reached by the present law.

For the purposes of this Act, the amounts resulting from the sale of products, the provision of services performed, and the direct subsidies received by the companies affected during the last period corresponding to their regular activities, are understood by the volume of the total volume of business, following the deduction of sales discounts, as well as the value added tax and other taxes directly related to the volume of business.

The companies affected for the purpose of calculating the volume of business will be the following:

(a) The company subject to change of control;

(b) The companies in which the company in question has direct or indirect access:

1. Of more than half of the capital or the circulating capital.

2. From the power to exercise more than half of the voting rights.

3. From the power to designate more than half of the members of the monitoring or administration board or of the bodies legally representing the company, or

4. From the right to direct the activities of the company.

(c) Companies taking control of the company concerned, subject to change of control and provided for in subparagraph (a);

(d) Those companies where the company taking control of the company concerned, subject to subparagraph (c) above, has the rights or powers listed in subparagraph (b);

(e) Those companies in which a company of those referred to in subparagraph (d) above has the rights or powers listed in subparagraph (b);

(f) Companies in which a number of enterprises covered by subparagraphs (d) and (e) jointly have the rights or powers listed in subparagraph (b).

Art. 10.- The Competition Court shall have the procedure by which it may render an advisory opinion, at the request of a party, which shall determine whether an act falls within the obligation to notify under this chapter of the law. Such a request will be voluntary and the decision of the Competition Court will be inappeal.

The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall provide for the procedure by which it shall determine whether an act which was not notified falls within the obligation to notify under this chapter of the law.

The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall establish a summary procedure for economic concentrations which, in its view, may be less likely to be reached by the prohibition of article 8 of this Act.

Art. 11.- The following operations are exempt from the mandatory notification provided for in article 9 of this Act:

(a) The acquisitions of companies from which the buyer already possessed more than fifty percent (50%) of the actions, provided that this does not imply a change in the nature of the control;

(b) Bonus acquisitions, musttures, shares without the right to vote or corporate debt securities;

(c) The acquisitions of a single company by a single foreign company that does not previously possess assets (excluding those for residential purposes) or shares of other companies in Argentina and whose exports to Argentina would not have been significant, regular and frequent over the last thirty-six months;

(d) Procurement of companies that have not registered activity in the country in the past year, except that the main activities of the company object and of the acquisition company are coincidental;

(e) The economic concentration operations provided for in Article 7 require notification in accordance with Article 9 when the amount of the operation and the value of the assets located in the Argentine Republic that are absorbed, acquired, transferred or controlled do not exceed, each of them, respectively, the amount equivalent of twenty million (20.000.000.000) of mobile units, except that in the last twelve-month period, the amount of which was exceeded 120,000. For the purpose of determining the amounts indicated above, the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall report these amounts annually in legal currency to be applied during the corresponding year. To this end, the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall consider the value of the mobile unit in force on the last working day of the previous year.

Art. 12.- The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall generally establish the information and background that persons shall provide to the National Competition Authority to notify an act of concentration and the time limits on which such information and background must be provided.

Art. 13.- The regulation shall establish the form and additional content of notification of economic concentration projects and business control operations so as to ensure the confidentiality of such projects.

Such regulation should provide for a procedure for each act of economic concentration notified to the National Competition Authority to take public status and any interested party may formulate such manifestations and oppositions. In the mediating of oppositions, the parties must be notified. The National Competition Authority shall not be obliged to issue itself on such submissions.

Art. 14.- In all cases submitted to the notification provided for in this chapter and within forty-five (45) days of submission of the information and background in a complete and correct manner, the authority, by a well-founded decision, shall decide:

(a) Authorizing the operation;

(b) To subordinate the act to the fulfilment of the conditions established by the same authority;

(c) Denial of authorization.

In cases where the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition considers that the reported operation has the potential to restrict or distort competition, so that it may be detrimental to the general economic interest, prior to making a decision, it shall communicate to the parties its objections through a well-founded report and shall convene them to a special hearing to consider possible measures that mitigate the negative effect on competition. Such a report should be made available simultaneously to the public.

In the cases referred to in the preceding paragraph, the decision period of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition may be extended by up to one hundred and twenty (120) additional days for the issuance of the resolution, through a well-founded opinion. Such a period may be suspended until the parties respond to the objections filed by the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition.

The Competition Court may not be notified of the act of concentration in question, to consider that it does not have the information and background –general or additional – presented in a complete and correct manner. However, in the absence of such information in due course, the Court of Defence of Competition may decide with the information that it may itself obtain in the exercise of its powers under this Act.

Excessive and unjustified delay in the information requirement will be considered a serious fault on the part of the officials responsible.

Art. 15.- After the period provided for in article 14 of the present Act without a resolution on this matter, the operation shall be authorized tacitly. Tacit authorization will in all cases produce the same legal effects as express authorization. The regulation of this Act shall establish a mechanism by which the time limit given to the said tacit approval is certified.

Art. 16.- Concentrations that have been notified and authorized may not subsequently be challenged at administrative headquarters on the basis of information and documentation verified by the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition, except where such a decision has been obtained on the basis of false or incomplete information provided by the applicant, in which case they shall be notified, without prejudice to any other sanctions that may correspond.

Art. 17.- When the economic concentration involves services that are subject to the economic regulation of the National State through a regulatory entity, the National Competition Authority shall require the respective regulatory entity a well-founded opinion on the proposal for economic concentration indicating: (i) the eventual impact on competition in the respective market or (ii) on compliance with the respective regulatory framework. The opinion shall be required within three (3) days of the notification of the concentration, even if it is incomplete, but the essential elements of the operation are known. The requirement shall not suspend the term of article 14 of this law. The respective regulator shall be pronounced within the maximum term of fifteen (15) days, after that period it shall be understood that the same does not object to operation.

Such a pronouncement shall not be binding on the National Competition Authority.


Art. 18.- Consider the National Competition Authority as a decentralized and autonomous body within the national executive branch to implement and control compliance with this law.

The National Competition Authority shall have full legal capacity to act in the areas of public and private law and its assets shall be constituted by the assets transferred to it and the assets acquired in the future by any title.

It will have its headquarters in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires but it may act, constitute and session anywhere in the national territory by delegates who designate it. Instructive delegates may be national, provincial or municipal officials.

Within the National Competition Authority, the Competition Court, the Anti-Competitive Conduct Instruction Secretariat and the Economic Concentration Secretariat will operate.

For the purposes of this Act, members of the National Competition Authority (i) the president and the members of the Competition Tribunal, (ii) the Instructor of Anticompetitive Conduct, who will be the head of the Conduct Instruction Secretariat and (iii) the Secretary of Economic Concentrations, who will be the head of the Economic Concentrations Secretariat.

The President of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall exercise the chairmanship, the legal representation and the administrative function of the National Competition Authority, and may perform recruitments of personnel for the conduct of specific or extraordinary work that cannot be carried out by its permanent plant, setting the working conditions and its retribution. The provisions of the labour contract law shall govern the relationship with the staff of the permanent plant.

Art. 19.- Members of the National Competition Authority shall meet the following requirements:

(a) To have sufficient background and appropriateness in the field of competition and to enjoy recognized moral solvency, all of them with more than five (5) years in the exercise of the profession;

(b) To have full dedication during its mandate, with the exception of the teaching activity and to be attained by the incompatibility and obligations set by law 25,188 on Public Ethics;

(c) They may not be engaged or associates of professional studies involved in the field of competition while remaining in their mandate;

(d) To be excluded from the cases provided for in article 17 (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), 7), 9) and 10 of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure of the Nation and in cases where they have or have had in the last three (3) years an economic participation or relationship of employment unit in any of the legal persons on which it is to be resolved.

Art. 20.- Prior to a public examination of background and opposition, the national executive branch shall designate the members of the National Competition Authority, who shall meet the criteria of technical suitability in the matter and other requirements required under article 19 of this Act.

The national executive branch may make designations on a commission basis during the time when it insulates the substance and resolution of any opposition that may be received by candidates who have participated in the public examination.

The public contest will be before a jury composed of the Procurator of the Treasury of the Nation, the Minister of Production of the Nation, a representative of the National Academy of Law and a representative of the Argentine Association of Political Economy. In the event of a tie, the Minister of Production of the Nation shall have two votes.

The jury will pre-select in the form of floor coverings for each of the members of the National Competition Authority to be covered and forward them to the national executive branch.

Applicants shall submit an affidavit to their own property, the spouse and/or the survivors, those who integrate the assets of the marital society and other provisions of article 6 of the Act 25,188 of Ethics in the Exercise of the Public Service and its regulation; in addition, they shall attach another statement which shall include the payroll of civil associations and commercial companies that integrate, or have integrated, in the last five years, (5)

The Anti-Corruption Office should undertake a report prior to the nomination of candidates for conflicts of current or potential interests that may arise under the declaration referred to in the preceding paragraph.

Art. 21.- The pre-selection, the national executive branch shall disclose the name, surname and curriculum history of each of the persons selected in the Official Gazette and in two (2) national circulation journals, for three (3) days and shall communicate its decision to the Honorable Senate of the Nation.

Art. 22.- Citizens, non-governmental organizations, professional colleges and associations for the defence of consumers and users, academic and human rights entities, may within fifteen (15) days from the publication of the outcome of the official contest, submit to the Ministry of Production of the Nation and to the chairmanship of the Honorable Senate of the Nation, in writing and in a well-founded and documented manner, comments that they consider of interest to express regarding those included in the preselection process.

Art. 23.- The appointment of the members of the National Competition Authority will require agreement of the Honorable Senate of the Nation. The national executive branch may make appointments on a commission basis during the time of the agreement.

Art. 24.- Each member of the National Competition Authority shall last in the exercise of its functions five (5) years. In accordance with the regulations, the renewal of members shall be phased out and partly re-elected only by the procedures set out in article 23 of this Act.

Any member of the National Competition Authority may be removed from office by the national executive branch when they mediate the cases provided for under this law, having to do so with the previous non-binding opinion of an ad hoc commission composed of the presidents of the Consumer Defense Commissions, the User and the Competence of the Honorable Chamber of Deputies and Industry and Commerce of the Honorable Senate of the Nation. In the event of a tie within this ad hoc commission, the President of the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Nation will vote.

Art. 25.- Any member of the National Competition Authority shall cease in full its functions to mediate any of the following circumstances:

(a) Renunciation;

(b) Mandate expiration;

(c) Failure;

(d) To be removed under article 26.

In the process of article 20 of the present law, the national executive branch shall initiate the procedure of article 20 within a period not exceeding thirty (30) days. With the exception of the case referred to in subparagraph (b) of this article, the replacement shall remain in office until the completion of the replacement mandate.

Art. 26.- They are causes of removal of any member of the National Competition Authority:

(a) Poor performance in its functions;

(b) Repeated negligence of the substance of the processes;

(c) Excessive inability;

(d) Condemns for misdemeanour;

(e) Violations of rules on incompatibility;

(f) Not to be excused in the budgets provided for in article 19 (d) of this Act.

Art. 27.- A member of the National Competition Authority on which he has a firm indictment for a malicious offence shall be suspended immediately and immediately in the exercise of his duties. Such suspension shall be maintained until its procedural situation is resolved.

Art. 28.- The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall consist of five (5) members, of which two (2) shall at least be lawyers and two (2) shall be qualified or higher in economic sciences.

The functions and powers of the Competition Court are:

(a) To impose the penalties set out in this Act, as well as to grant the benefit of exemption and/or reduction of such sanctions, in accordance with chapter VIII of this Act;

(b) To resolve the provisions of article 14 of this Act;

(c) Resolve on any charges that may be incurred as the conclusion of the summary, and the actions referred to in article 41 of the present Act;

(d) To admit or deny the evidence provided by the parties at the appropriate time of procedure;

(e) To declare the probationary period completed in the terms of article 43 of the present Act and to order the proceedings to plead;

(f) Conduct market research and research that you consider relevant. To this end, it may require individuals and national, provincial or municipal authorities, as well as consumer and user defence associations, the necessary documentation and collaboration;

(g) Promote competition study and research;

(h) Where it deems relevant, issue free competition opinion with respect to laws, regulations, circulars and administrative acts, without such views having binding effect;

(i) To adopt general or sectoral pro-competitive recommendations on competition patterns in markets;

(j) To act with the relevant units in the negotiation of international treaties, agreements or conventions on the regulation of competition and free competition policies;

(k) Develop its rules of procedure;

(l) Promote and urge action before the Court, for which it shall designate a legal representative for that purpose;

(m) To suspend the procedural deadlines of this law by a substantiated resolution;

(n) Subscribe agreements with provincial, municipal or the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires for the establishment of complaints offices in such jurisdictions;

(o) To promote consensus solutions among the parties;

(p) To sign agreements with user and consumer associations to promote the participation of community associations in the defence of competition and market transparency;

(q) Formulate annually the proposed budget for the National Competition Authority and raise it to the national executive branch;

(r) To develop any other act necessary for the continuation and instruction of the proceedings, including the convening of public hearings pursuant to articles 47, 48, 49 and 50 of this law and to give intervention to third parties as a party to the proceedings;

(s) Create, administer and update the National Register for the Defence of Competition, in which the economic concentration operations provided for in chapter III and the final resolutions issued should be registered. The Register shall be public;

(t) The others entrusted to them with this and other laws.

Art. 29.- The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition, in accordance with the provisions of the regulation, may, by a well-founded decision, issue permits for the conduct of contracts, agreements or arrangements that provide for conduct under article 2 of the present, which, at the sound discretion of the Tribunal, do not constitute prejudice to the general economic interest.

Art. 30.- The Secretariat for the Instruction of Anticompetitive Behaviors is the area of the National Competition Authority with competence and technical and managerial autonomy to receive and process the files in which it proceeds to the stage of investigation of the violations of this law.

The incumbent and representative of the Instructor of Anticompetitive Behavior will have the organizational structure, personnel and resources necessary for the fulfilment of its object.

These are functions and powers of the Anti-Competitive Conduct Instruction Secretariat:

(a) To receive the complaints and to grant the transfer provided for in article 38 of the present Act and to decide on any proceeds of the investigation of the summary provided for in article 39 of the present Act. In the case of the initiation of ex officio complaints by the Tribunal, to provide the Tribunal with all the assistance it requests to that end;

(b) Citing and holding hearings and/or detentions with the alleged perpetrators, whistleblowers, victims, witnesses and experts, receiving statements and ordering defects, for which it may request the assistance of the public force;

(c) Perform the necessary expertise on books, documents and other elements leading to research, control stocks, check origins and costs of raw materials or other goods;

(d) Propose to the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition the imputations that may correspond to the conclusion of the case, and the actions referred to in article 41 of this Act;

(e) Access places under inspection with the consent of the occupants or through a court order, which shall be requested by the competent judge, who shall decide within one (1) day;

(f) Request the competent judge the precautionary measures he deems appropriate, which shall be decided within one (1) day;

(g) Produce the necessary evidence to carry out the proceedings;

(h) Propose to the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition the penalties provided for in chapter VII of the Act;

(i) To consider seedlings and/or remedies filed by the parties or third parties against acts rendered by the Tribunal in relation to anti-competitive conduct;

(j) Develop any other act necessary for the prosecution and investigation of complaints or market investigations and any tasks entrusted to it by the Tribunal.

Art. 31.- The Secretariat for Economic Concentrations is the area of the National Competition Authority with competence and technical and managerial autonomy to receive and process the records in which the notifications of economic concentrations, preliminary inquiries and advisory opinions established under Chapter III of this Law are issued.

The incumbent and representative of the Secretary of Economic Concentrations will be the organizational structure, staff and resources necessary for the fulfilment of its object.

The functions and powers of the Economic Concentration Secretariat are:

(a) To receive, process and instruct requests for advisory opinions provided for in the second paragraph of article 10 of the present Act and to consider the origin of notifications of operations of economic concentrations, in accordance with the provisions of article 9 of this Act;

(b) To receive, process and instruct notifications of economic concentrations provided for in article 9 of this Act and to authorize, if appropriate, notifications that have qualified for the summary procedure provided for in article 10, paragraph 4, of this Act.

(c) To initiate, on its own initiative or to receive, process and instruct, in accordance with the third paragraph of article 10 of the present Act, complaints of the existence of an economic concentration operation that had not been notified and should be in conformity with the applicable law, and to consider the origin of the notification provided for in article 9 of this Act;

(d) To consider the eventual approval, subordination or rejection of the operation notified, in accordance with article 14 of this Act;

(e) To consider seedlings and/or remedies involving parties or third parties against acts rendered by the Tribunal in relation to economic concentrations;

(f) To develop any other act necessary for the continuation and instruction of the proceedings, whether in the context of the process of notification of economic concentration operations of article 9 of this Act, of the advisory opinions of article 10 or of the investigations of preliminary proceedings in article 10 of this Act.

Art. 32.- The Under-Secretary for Anti-Competitive Conduct and the Secretary for Economic Concentrations may:

(a) Receiving, adding, providing, responding and discarding trades, writings, or any other documentation submitted by the parties or by third parties;

(b) To make requests for information and documentation to the parties or to third parties, to observe or request additional information, by suspending the deadlines as appropriate;

(c) Dictate and notify all types of simple orders;

(d) To grant or refuse hearings of the files in process, and to decide on the confidentiality of documentation on its own or on the request of the party;

(e) Order and perform the necessary expertise on books, documents and other elements leading to research, control stocks, check origins and costs of raw materials or other goods;

(f) To promote consensus solutions among the parties;

(g) To require the Tribunal to reserve the proceedings, as appropriate to the Under-Secretary for Anti-Competitive Conduct or the Secretary for Economic Concentrations for the nature of the proceedings in question.


Art. 33.- The Competition Tribunal will formulate annually the proposed budget for the National Competition Authority for subsequent lifting to the national executive branch. The national executive branch will incorporate the budget into the National Public Administration Budget Bill. The National Competition Authority shall administer its budget autonomously, according to the autarchy assigned to it by this law.

Those interested who, under Chapter III of this Law, initiate proceedings before the National Competition Authority, shall pay a tariff that may not be less than five thousand (5,000) or exceed twenty thousand (20.000) Mobile Units set out in Article 85 of this Law.

The tariff will be established by the Executive Power on the proposal of the National Competition Authority. Its output will cover the regular costs of the National Competition Authority.


Art. 34.- The procedure shall be initiated on an informal basis or on a complaint made by any human or legal, public or private person.

The procedures of this law shall be public to the parties and their defenders, who may examine it from the outset. The record will always be secret to strangers.

The authority shall provide the mechanisms for all procedures, presentations and stages of the procedure to be carried out by electronic means.

The Tribunal, on its own motion or at the request of the Instructor of Anti-Competitive Conduct, may order the reservation of proceedings through a well-founded resolution, provided that publicity endangers the discovery of the truth. Such a reservation may be decreed until the transfer provided for in article 38 of this Act. After that, the Tribunal may, exceptionally, order the reservation of the proceedings, which may not last more than thirty (30) days, unless the seriousness of the fact or difficulty of the investigation require that the proceedings be extended for the same period.

Art. 35.- Once the complaint has been filed, the complainant shall be summoned to ratify or rectify the complaint, and to comply with the provisions of this law, subject to notice, in case of incomparency, to file the proceedings.

Following the receipt of the complaint, or the commencement of the ex officio proceedings, the enforcement authority may take the preliminary procedural measures which it deems appropriate to decide the origin of the transfer provided for in article 38 of this Act, the proceedings of a reserved nature.

The possessors must present special power, or general administrative power, in original or certified copy.

Art. 36.- All deadlines of this law shall be counted for administrative working days.

Art. 37.- The complaint must contain:

(a) The name and address of the applicant;

(b) The object of the complaint, telling it accurately;

(c) The facts considered, clearly explained;

(d) The right to be found succinctly;

(e) The offer of evidence that is considered conducive to the analysis of the complaint.

Art. 38.- If the Under-Secretary for Anti-Competitive Conduct considers that the complaint is relevant to him or her, he or she shall be transferred for fifteen (15) days to the alleged person responsible for the explanations he or she deems conducive. In the event that the procedure will be initiated on its own motion, the relationship of the facts and the basis that motivated it will be transferred.

You will be transferred within the same time period of the test offered.

Art. 39.- Upon receipt of the hearing, or due to its deadline, the Instructor of Anticompetitive Conducts shall decide on the origin of the preliminary investigation.

At this stage of proceedings, the Instructor of Anti-competitive Conduct may carry out the procedural measures it deems relevant, taking into account the following:

(a) In all requests for reports, offices and others, a time limit of ten (10) days will be granted for response;

(b) In the case of witness hearings, witnesses may attend the same with sponsoring counsel. In addition, the reporting and reporting parties may be able to attend with their agents, who must be properly presented in the case file;

(c) Audits or expertise shall be carried out by qualified staff appointed by the Tribunal.

Art. 40.- If the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition, after the opinion of the Instructor of Anti-Competitive Conducts, considers the explanations satisfactory, or if there is not sufficient merit for the continuation of the proceedings, its file will be available.

Art. 41.- With the completion of the preliminary investigation or the expiry of the one hundred and eighty (180) days, the Competition Court, after the opinion of the Instructor of Anti-Competitive Conducts, shall decide on the notification to the alleged perpetrators to be held within twenty (20) days of their dismissal and to provide the evidence they deem relevant.

Art. 42.- The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall decide on the origin of the evidence, considering and granting that which is relevant, in accordance with the object analyzed, and rejecting that which is overwhelming or inappropriate. A time limit shall be set for the conduct of the evidence granted. The decisions of the Tribunal for the Defence of Evidence Competition are irrecurrible. However, recourse may be made to reconsider the evidentiary measures available in relation to their relevance, admissibility, suitability and conduct.

The remedy of replenishment shall proceed against the resolutions rendered without substance, in order that the person who has rendered it proceed to revoke it on the contrary empire. This remedy will be filed, within the third day, in writing that it is founded, having to be solved by car, before the person concerned is seen. The recurring resolution will enforce, unless the appeal had been deducted along with the appeal in subsidy, and the appeal is appropriate. This resource will have suspensive effect only when the resolution appealed with that effect.

Art. 43.- With the end of the ninety-nine trial period (90) extended days for the same period, the parties and the Instructor of Anticompetitive Conducts may claim within six (6) days on the merit of the same. The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall issue a decision within a maximum of sixty (60) days.

Art. 44.- In any state of the proceedings, the Court of Defence of Competition may impose compliance with conditions establishing or ordering the cessation or abstention of the conduct provided for in chapters I and II, in order to prevent damage, or to reduce its magnitude, continuation or aggravation. When a serious injury to the competition regime may be caused, it may order the measures that, depending on the circumstances, are best suited to prevent such injury, and if so, the removal of its effects. Against this resolution appeal may be lodged with a return effect in the form and terms provided for in articles 66 and 67 of this Act. In the same vein, it may, at the request of a party, have the suspension, modification or revocation of the measures set out in the circumstances that may arise or may not be known at the time of its adoption.

Art. 45.- Until the issuance of the resolution of article 43, the alleged person responsible may commit himself to the immediate or gradual cessation of the facts investigated or to the modification of aspects related to it.

The commitment shall be subject to the approval of the Competition Court for the purpose of producing the suspension of the proceedings.

After three (3) years of the fulfilment of the commitment of this article, without recidivism, the proceedings will be filed.

Art. 46.- The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition may, on its own or at the request of a party within three (3) days of notification and without substance, clarify dark concepts or submit any omission containing its resolutions.

Art. 47.- The Competition Court shall decide to call a public hearing when it deems it appropriate for the conduct of investigations.

Art. 48.- The decision of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition concerning the conduct of the hearing shall contain, as appropriate:

(a) Identification of the ongoing investigation;

(b) Character of the hearing;

(c) Objective;

(d) Date, time and place of realization;

(e) Requirements for assistance and participation.

Art. 49.- The hearings should be convened at a minimum of twenty (20) days and notified to the parties accredited in the record within a period not less than fifteen (15) days.

Art. 50.- The call to public hearing should be published in the Official Gazette and in two (2) national circulation journals at a minimum of ten (10) days. Such publication shall contain at least the information provided for in article 48 of this Act.

Art. 51.- The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition may give intervention as a party to the proceedings before it, to those affected by the facts investigated, to the associations of legally recognized consumers and business associations, to public authorities, provinces and any other person who may have a legitimate interest in the facts investigated.

Art. 52.- The Court of Competition may require non-binding Views on the facts investigated to human or legal persons of a public or private nature of recognized disclosure.

Art. 53.- Resolutions establishing sanctions of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition, once notified to the interested and firm, will be published in the Official Gazette and when it deems it appropriate in the country ' s most popular newspapers at the expense of the sanctioned one.

Art. 54.- Any person who makes a false complaint shall be liable to the penalties provided for in article 55 (b) of this Act. For the purposes of this Act, a false complaint is made with false data or documents known as such by the complainant, for the purpose of causing damage to the competition, without prejudice to the other civil and criminal actions that correspond.


Art. 55- Human or legal persons who do not comply with the provisions of this law shall be liable to the following penalties:

(a) The cessation of acts or conduct provided for in chapters I and II and, where appropriate, the removal of their effects;

(b) Those who perform the prohibited acts in chapters I and II and in chapter III, article 8, shall be punished by a fine of (i) up to thirty per cent (30%) of the volume of business associated with the products or services involved in the wrongful act committed, during the last financial period, multiplied by the number of years of such act, amount that shall not exceed thirty per cent (30%) of the amount of business contracted to the national level. If the fine can be calculated according to the two criteria set out in the points (i) and (ii), the fines of greater value shall be applied. If the fine cannot be determined according to the criteria set out in the points (i) and (ii), the fine may be up to a sum equal to two hundred million (200,000) of mobile units. For the purpose of the point (i) the fraction greater than six (6) months of duration of the conduct shall be regarded as a full (1) year for the purposes of the multiplier of the fine. The amounts of fines will be doubled, for those offenders who have been previously convicted for anti-competitive offences for the past ten (10) years;

(c) Without prejudice to any other sanctions that may be appropriate, where acts constituting abuse of a dominant position are verified, or when it is found that a monopoly or oligolic position has been acquired or consolidated in violation of the provisions of this law, the Authority may impose compliance with conditions aimed at neutralizing the distortive aspects of competition or requesting the competent judge to dissolute, liquidated or divided enterprises;

(d) Those who do not comply with the provisions of articles 9, 44, 45 and 55 (a) shall be liable to a fine for a daily amount of up to a zero one per cent (0.1 per cent) of the national consolidated business volume recorded by the economic group to which the offenders belong during the last financial period. If the above criterion cannot be applied, the fine may be up to a sum equivalent to seven hundred and fifty thousand (750.000) mobile units per day. The days will be computed from the expiration of the obligation to notify the projects of economic concentration, since the improvement of the taking of control without the prior approval of the National Competition Authority or from the time the commitment or order of cessation or abstention is breached, as appropriate;

(e) The Competition Court may include the suspension of the National Registry of State Providers to those responsible for up to five (5) years. In cases provided for in article 2 (d) of this Act, exclusion may be up to eight (8) years.

This is without prejudice to the other sanctions that may correspond.

Art. 56.- The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall graduate fines on the basis of: the seriousness of the offence; the damage caused to all persons affected by the prohibited activity; the benefit obtained by all persons involved in the prohibited activity; the deterrent effect; the value of the assets involved at the time the violation was committed; the intentionality, duration, participation of the offender in the market; the size of the affected market; the duration of the responsible market; Collaboration with the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition and/or with the Instructor of Anti-competitive Conduct in the knowledge or investigation of the conduct may be considered as mitigating in the graduation of the sanction.

Art. 57.- Legal persons are attributable to the conduct performed by human persons acting on behalf of, with the assistance or benefit of the legal person, and even if the act which had served as the basis for representation is ineffective.

Art. 58.- When the offences provided for in this Act are committed by a legal person, the fine shall also be applied in solidarity to the directors, managers, administrators, trustees or members of the Monitoring Council, the legal representatives of such a legal person who, by their action or by the omission guilty of their duties of control, supervision or monitoring, have contributed, encouraged or permitted the commission of the offence.

In such a case, a supplementary penalty of disqualification may be imposed for trade of one (1) to ten (10) years for the legal person and for the persons listed in the preceding paragraph.

The solidarity of responsibility may reach the controlling persons when, by their action or by the omission of their duties of control, supervision or surveillance, they have contributed, encouraged or permitted the commission of the offence.

Art. 59.- Those who obstruct or mislead any investigation or fail to comply with the requirements of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition and/or the Instructor of Anti-competitive Conduct and/or the Secretary of Economic Concentrations, within the required time and forms, shall be treated from third parties outside the investigation or from those to whom the facts are attributed, may be punished with fines equivalent to 500 per day.

Failure to comply with any of the members of the National Competition Authority and obstruction or generation of research difficulties includes, among others:

(a) Not providing the required information or providing incomplete, incorrect, misleading or false information;

(b) Failure to undergo an orderly inspection in the use of the powers assigned by this Act;

(c) Failure to appear without due and previously justified cause to the hearings and/or other summons to which it was convened by a steadfast notification;

(d) Do not present the requested books or documents or do so incompletely, incorrectly or misleadingly, in the course of the inspection.


Art. 60.- Any human or legal person who has incurred or is engaged in the conduct of those enumerated in article 2 of this Act may disclose and recognize it to the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition by benefiting from the exemption or reduction of the fines in article 55 (b) of this Act, as may be appropriate.

In order to be eligible for the benefit, the benefit must be sought before the Competition Court prior to the receipt of the notification provided for in article 41 of this Act.

The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall establish a system to determine the order of priority of applications for the benefit set out in this article.

In order for the benefit to be applicable, the applicant must meet each and every requirement set out below, as appropriate:

(a) Exemption:

1. In the event that the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition has no information or has not previously initiated an investigation, the first among those involved in the conduct to supply it and to provide evidence, which in the opinion of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition allows to determine the existence of the practice. If the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition has previously initiated an investigation, but until the date of the submission of the application there is insufficient evidence, the first among those involved in the conduct, to provide information and to provide evidence, which in the opinion of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition allows to determine the existence of the practice.

2. Cease immediately with your actions, carrying out to this end the actions necessary to end your participation in the rape practice. The Competition Tribunal may request the applicant for the benefit set out in this article to continue to act or conduct in cases where it deems it appropriate for the purpose of preserving the investigation.

3. From the time of submission of your request and to the conclusion of the proceedings, cooperate fully, continuously and diligently with the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition.

4. Do not destroy, forge or conceal evidence of anticompetitive conduct, or have done so.

5. It does not disclose or publicize its intention to receive this benefit, except that it has been to other competition authorities.

(b) Reduction:

1. Any person who fails to comply with the provisions of item (a).1 may, however, obtain a reduction of 50 per cent (50%) and 20 per cent (20%) of the maximum penalty which otherwise has been imposed on him under article 55, subparagraph (b), where he contributes to the investigation additional elements of conviction to which the Tribunal already counts and meets the remaining requirements set out in this article.

2. In order to determine the amount of the reduction, the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall take into consideration the chronological order of submission of the application.

(c) Supplementary benefit:

The human or legal person who does not comply with the requirements set out in subparagraph (a) for anti-competitive conduct under investigation, but who during the substance of the same discloses and recognizes a second and dissimilar anti-competitive conduct concerted and also meets the requirements set out in subparagraph (a) above shall be granted additionally to the waiver of the penalties set out in this Act in respect of this second conduct, a fine of another third.

(d) Confidentiality and exhibit limits:

The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall confidentially maintain the identity of the person seeking to avail himself of the benefits of this article. Judges competent in judicial proceedings which may be initiated in accordance with the provisions of this law may in no case order the display of statements, recognitions, information and/or other means of evidence that have been provided to the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition by human or legal persons who have formally received the benefits of this article. The regulation of this law shall establish the procedure under which the application of the benefit provided for in this article shall be analysed and resolved.

In the event that the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition rejects the application for the benefit of this article, such a request may not be considered as the recognition or confession of the applicant for the wrongfulness of the informed conduct or of matters of fact related.

The information and evidence obtained under a rejected application may not be used by the National Competition Authority. Applications rejected may not be disclosed.

Art. 61.- Acceptance of the benefit of exemption or reduction of sanctions or fines, as appropriate, may not be carried out jointly by two (2) or more participants in the concerted anti-competitive conduct. Notwithstanding the above, the legal person, its directors, managers, administrators, trustees or members of the Monitoring Council, legal officers or representatives may be jointly accepted that by his or her action or by the omission guilty of his or her duties of control, supervision or surveillance would have contributed, encouraged or permitted the commission of the offence, provided that they meet each of them cumulatively the requirements set out in article 60 of this Act. The performance of the same will be evaluated for the purpose of obtaining the benefit in particular.

Those persons who benefit from the clemency programme under the present law, following a decision of the Court of Defence of Competition that determines that they comply with the terms set out in the provisions of this chapter, shall be exempt from the penalties provided for in articles 300 and 309 of the Criminal Code of the Nation and from prison sanctions that may in any way correspond to them for having committed anti-competitive conduct.


Art. 62.- Human or legal persons affected by the acts prohibited by this law may exercise the remedy of damages in accordance with the rules of common law, before the competent judge in this regard.

Art. 63.- The ruling of the Court of Defence of Competition on the violation of this law, once it is signed, shall make a decision on this matter. The action to repair damages resulting from the firm ruling of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall be carried out in accordance with the sumarest process established in chapter II of Title III, of the second book of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure of the Nation. The competent judge, in deciding on the reparation of damages, shall establish his judgment on the conduct, facts and legal qualifications of the same, as set out in the ruling of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition, issued on the basis of the application of this law.

Art. 64.- Persons who fail to comply with the rules of this law, at the request of the injured party, shall be liable to a civil fine in favour of the injured party which shall be determined by the competent judge and shall be graduated on the basis of the seriousness of the case and other circumstances of the case, irrespective of any other compensation that may be appropriate.

Art. 65.- When more than one person is responsible for non-compliance, they will all respond in solidarity to the injured party, without prejudice to the return actions that correspond to them. As appropriate, they may exempt or reduce their liability for redressing the damages to which the present chapter relates, those human or legal persons who are entitled to the benefit of the clemency programme under chapter VIII of this Act, following a decision of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition that determines that it complies with the terms set out in the provisions of Chapter VIII.

As the sole exception to this rule, the beneficiary of the clemency programme under Chapter VIII shall be jointly liable to (i) its buyers or direct and indirect suppliers; and (ii) other injured parties, only where it is impossible to obtain full reparation for the damage produced by other companies that have been involved in the same violation of the rules of this Act.


Art. 66- Those rulings issued by the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition ordering:

(a) The implementation of sanctions;

(b) The cessation or abstention of conduct pursuant to article 55 of this Act;

(c) Opposition or conditioning of acts provided for in chapter III;

(d) The dismissal of the complaint by the enforcement authority;

(e) Rejection of a request for acceptance of the Clemency Regime established in chapter VIII of this Act;

(f) Resolutions issued pursuant to article 44 of this Act.

Art. 67.- The appeal must be filed and filed with the Competition Court within the fifteen (15) working days of notifying the ruling. The Tribunal for the Defence of Competition shall raise the appeal with its reply to the competent judge within ten (10) days of the appeal, accompanied by the case file in which the administrative act was committed.

It shall deal with the Specialized Chamber for the Defence of the Competence of the Federal National Civil and Commercial Appeals Chamber, which is established under Chapter XI of this Law, or with the Federal Chamber that is within the country.

Appeals under article 66 (a) of this Act shall be granted with suspensive effect, subject to the accreditation of a captive insurance on the corresponding penalty, and those under article 66 (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be granted with mere effect. The appeal of daily fines under articles 44, 55 (d) and the precautionary measures under article 44 shall be granted with a return effect.

In cases where the Instructor of Anti-Competitive Behavior considers that the effective application of the penalty may be at risk due to the possible insolvency of the sanctioned, it may require payment under article 16 of Act No. 26,854 of precautionary measures.


Art. 68.- Consider the Specialized Chamber for the Defence of Competition, with a seat in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, which will act as one (1) specialized chamber within the framework of the National Civil and Commercial Appeals Chamber.

Art. 69.- The Chamber will be integrated with one (1) president, two (2) vowels and one (1) secretariat. The president and the vowels will have one (1) secretary each.

Art. 70.- The Specialized Chamber for the Defence of Competition shall act:

(a) As a court competent to appeal under article 66 of this Act;

(b) As a judicial review body of the sanctions and administrative decisions applied by the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition in the framework of this law, and their respective amendments, or those to replace them in the future.

Art. 71.- Refer to the positions of judges, officials and employees detailed in Annex I as part of this Act.


Art. 72.- The actions that arise from the offences set forth in this Act are prescribed at five (5) years after the offence was committed. In cases of continuing conduct, the deadline will begin to run from the time the commission of anti-competitive conduct in analysis ceased.

In the case of the action of compensation for damages provided for in article 62 of this Act, the period of limitation, as appropriate, shall be:

(a) Three (3) years to be counted since (i) the offence was committed or ceased or (ii) the injured person becomes aware or may be reasonable to have knowledge of the act or conduct that constitutes a violation of this law, which has caused him harm; or

(b) Two (2) years since the sanctioning decision of the National Competition Authority had been signed.

Art. 73.- Limitation periods of action are interrupted:

(a) With the complaint;

(b) By the commission of another act sanctioned by this law;

(c) With the submission of the application to the benefit of exemption or reduction of the fine provided for in article 60;

(d) With the transfer of article 38; and

(e) With the imputation provided for in article 41.

The penalty is prescribed for the five (5) years of final punishment.

In the case of the action of compensation for damages provided for in article 62 of this Act, the limitation period shall be suspended when the National Competition Authority initiates the investigation or procedure relating to an offence that may be related to the action of damage. The discontinuation of the deadlines shall terminate when the decision of the Tribunal for the Defence of Competition is signed or when the procedure is otherwise terminated.


Art. 74.- The Competition Tribunal and the Trade Secretariat will, concurrently, project financing programmes for projects, training programmes, improvement of the bureaucratic systems of the State and public works for the improvement of infrastructure resulting in an improvement in competition conditions.

Art. 75.- The Ministry of Commerce will work together with the Public Prosecutor ' s Office, cooperation agreements on the training of actors to be involved in court proceedings in defence of competition.

Art. 76.- The Ministry of Commerce will develop with the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) a collaboration agreement for the development of indicators of consumer behaviour and the incidence of competition in the markets of the Argentine Republic.

Art. 77.- The Trade Secretariat will be able to develop policy drafts for the modernization and improvement of competition conditions. You can issue reports and suggestions on your own or at the request of the provinces, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, municipalities or bodies of the national executive branch.

In the face of administrative resolutions that may affect the competition regime of their respective markets, State entities for the regulation of public services should inform the Trade Secretariat prior to the dictation of the resolution. In the final resolutions of the agencies, considerations issued by the Secretary should be addressed.

If the administrative act seriously affected the competition regime, the Secretary of Commerce may convene a public hearing.

Art. 78.- A report on the status of competition in the country will be made annually by the Trade Secretariat. The report will contain statistics on free competition in markets.

The report should be forwarded to the Congress of the Nation and published on the Secretariat website with access to the public in November of each year.


Art. 79.- They shall be of additional application for cases not provided for in this Act, the Criminal Code of the Nation and the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Nation, as long as they are compatible with the provisions of this Act. The provisions of Act 19.549 shall not apply to matters governed by this Act.

Art. 80.- Acts 22,262, 25,156 and articles 65 to 69 of Title IV of Law 26.993. Eliminate references to law 25,156 under articles 45 and 51 of Law 26.993. However, the authority for the application of such rules shall, with all powers and powers, including the penalties, which this law grants to the National Competition Authority, and shall continue to process the cases and procedures that are open to the date of entry into force of this law until the establishment and operation of the National Competition Authority. The National Competition Authority has been established and put into operation, the cases will continue to be brought before it.

Art. 81.- The regulation shall establish the conditions under which the processing of files initiated in the terms of chapter III of Act 25,156 will continue.

Art. 82.- Any attribute of jurisdiction related to the object of this law granted to other State agencies or entities is repealed, with the exception of article 80 of this Act.

Art. 83.- This law shall be regulated by the Executive Power in the term of sixty (60) days, computed from its publication. In the regulation of this law, the Executive Power shall set the date for the convening of the public competitive examination for the appointment of the members of the authority under Article 20 of this Law, which shall be established within the maximum period of up to thirty (30) days from such regulation.

Once the terrestrials have been carried out, in designating the formation of the first Competition Tribunal, the Executive Power shall establish that two (2) of its members shall last in its functions three (3) years only, in order to allow the successive phased renewal.

Art. 84.- The first paragraph of Article 9 of this Law shall enter into force after the period of one (1) year after the commencement of the National Competition Authority. Until this happens, the first paragraph of Article 9 of this Law shall govern the following text:

Acts referred to in Article 7 of this Law, when the sum of the total volume of business of the whole of the affected companies exceeds in the country the amount equivalent of one hundred million (100.000.000) of mobile units, shall be notified for its prior review or within one week of the date of the conclusion of the agreement, of the publication of the purchase offer or of exchange, or of the acquisition of a national participation, in the first case of

Art. 85.- For the purposes of this law, entrust the mobile unit as an account unit. The initial value of the mobile unit is set at twenty (20) pesos, and will be automatically updated every one (1) year using the variation of the consumer price index (IPC) published by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) or the official inflation indicator that replaces it in the future. The update will be made on the last working day of each year, entering into force from the time of publication. The National Competition Authority will publish the updated value of the mobile unit on its website.

Art. 86.- Incorporate article 13 bis into law 24,284, which shall read as follows:

Article 13 bis: On the proposal of the Ombudsman, the Bicameral Commission provided for in article 2 (a) of this Act shall designate one of the deputy as the Deputy Ombudsman for Competition and Consumers. The Deputy Ombudsman for Competition and Consumers shall have as its sole mission the defence of the interests of consumers and companies against anti-competitive behaviour or administrative decisions that may infringe their rights and well-being. The Deputy Ombudsman must demonstrate sufficient knowledge and experience in the defence of consumer and competition interests.


Art. 87.- Créase la Comisión Redactora del Ante proyecto de Ley Nacional de Fomento a la Competencia Minorista, en el ámbito del Ministerio de producción de la Nación, la que se conformada por:

(a) The Minister of Production of the Nation, or who he designates in his place;

(b) The Secretary of Commerce of the Nation, or who he designates in his place;

(c) The President of the National Competition Authority, or who he designates instead;

(d) The President and Vice-President of the Consumer Defense Commission, the User and the Competition of the H. Chamber of Deputies of the Nation;

(e) The President, Vice-President and Secretary of the H. Senate Commission on Industry and Trade.

Art. 88.- The Drafting Commission of the Draft National Law on the Promotion of Minority Competition will have as its main function the elaboration of a draft National Law on the Promotion of Minority Competition in order to guarantee the conditions of free competition between mass consumption establishments and their suppliers, which should at least evaluate, according to the highest international standards, the following points:

(a) Subjects covered, including full or hypermarket supermarkets and supermarkets in accordance with Act No. 18,425;

(b) Product categories;

(c) Maximum limits of space in gondola;

(d) Maximum time for payments to suppliers when these are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MiPyMEs);

(e) Limitation to the demand for unilateral advances, debits or economic retentions that are not mutually agreed upon by suppliers, when these are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MiPyMEs);

(f) Limitation to unfavourable conditioning mechanisms imposed on suppliers when these are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MiPyMEs);

(g) Limitation of sanctions for retaliation;

(h) Adaptation times for new conditions for actors covered by the new National Law on the Promotion of Minority Competition.

Art. 89.- In order to comply with its content, the commission will have the technical and administrative support of the Ministry of Production of the Nation.

Art. 90.- Please inform the Minister of Production of the Nation to designate the Secretary of the commission established by this act, to submit communications and to issue the implementation actions necessary for the implementation of the present act.

Art. 91.- In a maximum period of one hundred and eighty (180) days from the sanction of this law, the Drafting Commission of the Draft National Law on the Promotion of Minority Competition will raise the draft bill to the national executive branch to send it to the Honorable Congress of the Nation.

Art. 92.- Contact the national executive branch.

IN THE SESSION OF THE ARGENTINE CONGRESS, IN GOOD AIRES, TO THE NEW DAYS OF THE MESSAGE OF THE YEAR DOS MIL DIECIOCHO.


MARTA G. MICHETTI. - EMILIO MONZO. - Eugene Inchausti. — Juan P. Tunessi.

NOTE: The Annex/s that integrate/n this(a) Law is published in the web edition of BORA -www.boletinoficial.gob.ar-.


(Note Infoleg: The annexes referred to in this rule have been extracted from the Official Gazette web edition. These are available in the following link: Annexes)