Latin American Competition Law and Policy

Thanks to the strategy of "apertura" that has characterized economic policy throughout Latin America since the debt crisis, foreign investment is on the rise and a significant degree of economic stability has been achieved. In the global arena, however, the enormous promise of Latin American trade remains only partially realized, as policy makers in the region struggle to design a "fair" level playing field for encouraging sustained and equitable development, through implementing transparent regulatory business environments across the region. Competition policy has accordingly become a major regulatory issue in both individual Latin American countries and in regional co-operation arrangements. In considering the development of the "second generation" of regulatory policy initiatives implemented in the region, this book analyzes the role of competition policy in the promotion of successful and sustained economic development. Examples of the vital and diverse aspects of the region's competition policy agenda covered are: comparative assessments of the legal regime of different Latin American countries for dealing with business restrictive practices, including cartels, vertical restraints, market foreclosures and mergers; the increasing introduction of competition principles in the promotion of institutional reforms in the promotion of investments and technology, privatization processes, antidumping policy and trade remedies, and the regulation of public utilities; the institutional factors influencing the relationship between competition authorities and other regulatory agencies; the governance factors determining the agenda of competition policy enforcement; the impact of international competition principles on the policy agenda of Latin American competition authorities, in the context of the WTO, the FTAA and regional economic integration agreements. The author combines the legal description of the jurisdictions reviewed with the analytical tools of institutional economics, to give a fully rounded picture of this complex and evolving subject. As a result, "Latin American Competition Law and Policy" stands out as a fundamental resource for all world trade professionals at a time when Latin America's presence in the global economy is rapidly assuming greater dimensions.