Antitrust law in Colombia is the law 155 of 1959.

 

Purpose

This law was initially created mostly with the aim of the government to regulate prices and so keep the equilibrium between consumer and producers. Furthermore, it ruled about restrictive commercial practices and the registration about the Industrial Property.

This act has become a powerful tool of the government to regulate the prices of first necessity good, and the tariffs on the public services. Also to encourage production through fixation of prices of the low cost first necessity products; but the measures adopted by the government regarding the price fixing were too strict and threat to discourage national production affecting in the end the consumer, because of the lack products in the market, caused by those measures.

 

Is antitrust enforcement getting tougher in Colombia?

 

In recent years, the Santos administration has dedicated significant resources and devoted restructuring initiatives to enhance and intensify the competition law enforcement in Colombia. These efforts largely follow suggestions made by the OECD and the IDB in 2009, as well as additional notes in the Colombia Report of the OECD published in 2013 related to the enhancement of Colombia’s competition policy and its application.

In 2009, the Colombian Competition Regulator (SIC) celebrated the 50th anniversary of the enactment of the competition statute in Colombia.1 A Commission comprising the OECD and the IDB (the Commission), led by a former Argentinian regulator, presented a report on Colombian competition law and policy.

In 2015, the SIC is expected to impose fines on sugar cane mills for a new cartel investigation. In 2010, the SIC imposed fines for the maximum permitted under the old statute; the fines are expected to be for the maximum permitted under Law 1340.5

However, before the first quarter of 2015 had ended, the SIC publicly announced6 that the government is preparing a new bill to make fines for competition violations more severe.