2 results
Argentina
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- By Marcelo A. den Toom, M & M Bomchil, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- General editor Maher M. Dabbah, Queen Mary University of London, Paul Lasok QC
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- Book:
- Merger Control Worldwide
- Published online:
- 05 November 2014
- Print publication:
- 31 May 2012, pp 43-60
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Summary
Although Argentina’s first competition law dates back to 1923, a merger-control regime was introduced only in 1999. The 1990s in Argentina’s case are widely considered a period in which unprecedented measures to foster foreign investment were introduced. Perhaps the most relevant of those measures was the Government’s decision to privatise most state-owned companies. As the twentieth century drew to a close the privatisation process was however subject to harsh criticism, in part due to the competition problems caused. A notable example of a transaction giving rise to such criticism – and which went largely unchecked – was the sale of the oil and gas conglomerate, YPF to the Spanish energy company, Repsol. The legislative reaction to the criticism and the YPF/Repsol transaction was the passing of the Competition Act 25,156, which entered into force in September 1999 and which included a specific mechanism dealing with mergers (‘the Act’).
However, prior to the adoption of the Act controlling mergers was not absolutely beyond the reach of Argentina’s system of competition law. In fact, the Act’s predecessor, Competition Act 22,262 of 1980, did in theory allow for the possibility of certain mergers being reviewed, but only through an ex-post investigation, as was the case with regard to other business phenomena giving rise to competition concerns, notably anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominance. Nonetheless, this was not a suitable way to deal with a business phenomenon such as mergers.
1 - Argentina
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- By Marcelo A. den Toom, M. & M. Bomchil, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- General editor Maher M. Dabbah, Queen Mary University of London, K. P. E. Lasok QC
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- Book:
- Merger Control Worldwide
- Published online:
- 30 July 2009
- Print publication:
- 29 May 2008, pp 1-8
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Summary
Legislative development
29 March 2007 Bill
On 29 March 2007 Senator Jorge Milton Capitanich submitted to Congress a bill with proposed amendments to the Competition Act 25,156 (“the Act”). The Bill has been subject to criticism, for the following reasons:
The Bill provides that economic concentrations affecting the “national interest” in the utilities, defence, energy or mining sectors, or those sectors having “a substantially high impact on employment or investment in accordance with standards set forth by the enforcement authority, with respect to the level of impact in each sector”, may be subject to a second review, not by the competition authorities but by the Ministry of Economy. This new review is to be based on purely political grounds.
While on the one hand the Bill provides for the completion of the steps required for the formation of the new competition agency, the TNDC, created by the Act, on the other it appoints the members of the existing agency, the CNDC, as members of the TNDC for the first tenure, while at the same time providing that the two new members who must be appointed to complete the seven-member TNDC will be appointed by the President of Argentina within 30 days from the passing of the law. This procedure would change the rules for the formation of the TNDC as originally provided for in the Act (election through an independent jury in a competitive process).
The text of the Bill almost completely reproduces the text of the bill that a former Minister of Economy of Argentina had introduced on 17 August 2005 (see below).