Argentine Antitrust Commission Opens Consultation Process for Draft Bill

On August 30, 2016, the Argentine Antitrust Commission (“CNDC”) has opened a public consultation process for its draft bill reforming its competition law.

The main characteristics of the draft bill include:

1. Institutional framework

• The creation of an independent agency, the National Competition Authority (the “ANC”), as a decentralized and independent agency within the sphere of the Argentine Government.

• The ANC´s 5 members will be: a President and 4 commissioners, all of them requiring technical background and suitability. They will have 5 years-long terms and can only be removed with certain proper justification.

2. Sanctions/Leniency

• The implementation of new criteria for the determination of fines.

• Calculation of Fines: up to 30% of the business volume of the affected markets, multiplied by the number of years of the duration of the conduct.

• Limit: 10% of the economic group´s international business volume, taking into account the previous financial year.

• Second offence: doubles the fine.

• The creation of a Leniency Program.

3. Pre-merger control

• The implementation of a pre-merger control regime.

• The update and modification of the notification thresholds and the methods used for their calculation.

• The introduction of a fast track mechanism for certain transactions.

4. Damages

• It allows for damages suits as a consequence of infringements to the competition regulations.

5. Judicial review

• The creation of the National Antitrust Court of Appeals, which will act as the competent court in matters regarding appeals to the ANC´s decisions.

The deadline for submitting the comments is September 30, 2016.