📋 Tender Overview
The Commission for the Defense of Consumers and Public Services Regulatory Bodies Codeco of the Congress of the Republic unanimously approved the opinion of Bill 36692022-CR which modifies the Penal Code and the Single Ordered Text of the Law of Repression of Anticompetitive Conduct in order to strengthen the work of the National Institute of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property Indecopi in the fight against anticompetitive practices. This ruling was previously approved by the Justice Commission of Congress. In this way Codeco agrees with the reform of the Leniency Program to prevent the criminalization of anti-competitive conduct from affecting this program which in Peru and at a comparative level has been the most useful tool for the detection of the cartels that do so much harm to the economy and consumers. As is known Law 31040 criminalized anticompetitive conduct without extending the benefits to those who collaborate with Indecopi in criminal proceedings. The national director of Investigation and Promotion of Free Competition Jess Espinoza welcomed Codecos decision and stressed that approximately 35 of the cases that Indecopi has sanctioned in recent years had the support of the Leniency Program. Through this economic agents access the benefit of reduction or exoneration of sanctions in exchange for providing evidence for the detection of cartels according to the Law for the Repression of Anticompetitive Conduct. This bill rightly restricts criminal prosecution of cartels which are the most harmful behaviors for the economy and for consumers and in addition extends the benefits for collaboration with criminal headquarters to encourage collaborators to go to Indecopi . This also avoids overlapping in the investigation and the risk that those investigated point out that since the case is being investigated in criminal courts the Indecopi procedure must be suspended. Espinoza also specified that the aforementioned bill will allow for a robust Leniency Program which conforms to the technical standards and best practices recommended by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD and the World Bank.
