Government dismisses the president of Indecopi arbitrarily

The Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM) concluded the appointment of Julián Palacín Gutiérrez as president of the Board of Directors of the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi).

In his replacement he placed the lawyer Karen Caceres Durangowho was the administrative secretary of the PCM since December 2022. Supreme Resolution No. 051-2023 sustains that Palacín does not meet the minimum requirements established in Law 31419 to hold the position; However, PUCP professor and researcher José Távara explains that this same law specifies that it only applies to officials with free removal and that this is not the case of the president of Indecopi.

In this way, the correct thing would have been to appeal to article 6 of Legislative Decree 1033, which establishes that the removal of these charges only proceeds in cases of serious misconductduly justified and with the right to defense.

“The charges have to have a mandate of a defined duration, they have to be free of pressure, which is achieved in some way by preventing arbitrary removal, and that is what in my opinion has happened, because they have clearly violated article 6 of the DL 1033, appealing to another legislative decree that establishes a cumbersome, very little transparent and discretionary interpretation,” Távara explained to La República.

Although Professor Távara stated that he did not know the history of Mrs. Cáceres, he stated that it is a “serious problem” when the members of the Board of Directors of an entity such as Indecopi have held positions of trust in other ministries. “It is through the channels of political pressure that the pressures of the power groups are transmitted, which sometimes have ongoing procedures in Indecopi. Which is very serious.”he emphasized.