Up to 6 years in prison for businessmen who violate free competition

With 107 votes in favor and none against, the Plenary of Congress approved this Thursday the 5th bill 3669/2022-CR, which establishes two to six years in prison for people who prevent, restrict or distort the free competition in the national market.

The text —presented by Congresswoman Adriana Tudela (Avanza País)—modifies the Penal Code and the Single Ordered Text of the Law for the Repression of Anti-competitive Conduct (Law 31040) by strengthening the work of Indecopi to curb anti-competitive practices (read, business cartels).

“The PL restores the effectiveness of the Leniency Program to eliminate cartels for the benefit of all consumers in the country. The text that I proposed equates our legal framework to international standards (…) and will allow Indecopi, through the Leniency Program, to identify and deactivate more cartels. The defense of free competition is everyone’s task!” added Tudela Gutiérrez.

From the indecopi They welcomed the approval of this initiative —which must now be promulgated or observed by the Executive Branch— and recalled that The defects in Law 31040 distanced Peru from the most representative competition agencies in the world and from the OECD criteria, since it included the criminal figure of “abuse of market power”, which did not meet the essential requirements of a standard of this nature.

For example, criminal sanctions were not contemplated for the most serious cases of anticompetitive practices (cartels) or the protection of employees who avail themselves of the Leniency Program. Nor did it have rules to guarantee the confidentiality of confidential collaborators.