Indecopi: “Peru has implemented 80% of OECD recommendations on competition”

The president of Indecopi, Julian Palacinreported that our country has managed to implement 80% of all the recommendations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of free competition.

During his presentation before the OECD Special Commission of the Congress of the Republic, the head of the regulatory body stated that only the elimination of bureaucratic barriers, one of the key requirements of the international organization, has allowed savings of up to 33 million soles during the last four years.

“At the level of entities in Lima and Callao, the Judiciary, as well as at the regional level throughout the country, we have been carrying out investigations for the voluntary elimination of bureaucratic barriers. It is about preventing, not just imposing fines, and we can see many of these barriers in the TUPAs,” Palacín said.

“Thus, between 2017 and 2021 we have achieved the elimination of 9,491 barriers in Lima and Callao and 15,756 in the interior regions of the country, making a total of 25,247 bureaucratic barriers eliminated at the national level, which has generated savings of 33 million dollars. soles”, he expanded.

Palacín Gutiérrez explained that Indecopi is adhering to the OECD recommendations for the protection of consumers in electronic commerce and decision-making in consumer policies. This has allowed the formulation of policies related to the digital economy, unsafe products and deceptive practices.

“Currently, we are evaluating a proposal to improve regulations on the Consumer Protection and Defense Codein its 11 years of validity (…) Indecopi ratifies its commitment to continue implementing the OECD recommendations to guarantee the incorporation of Peru”, he specified before Congress.

Indecopi: more budget is needed

Among other measures taken by Indecopi to comply with the recommendations of OECDPalacín Gutiérrez referred that special emphasis has been placed on promoting the resources allocated to advocacy activities, translated into market studies that promote free market competition.

“For example, we have the medical oxygen report that was awarded by the World Bank and the International Competition Network (ICN). In addition, in the framework of the pandemic, the report on the market for the retail sale of medicines in clinics was issued, and the report on the improvement of health registration procedures, which is already reviewed by Minsa, ”he said.

The head of Indecopi stressed that a market study has also been carried out on the card payment system in Peru, which recommended that agents eliminate possible anti-competitive conduct in the sector.

“In January of this year, the BCRP was in favor of the recommendations given by Indecopi and is in the process of implementing them. However, these studies require additional resources, so we will make greater efforts to get the MEF to approve an additional budget.“, advancement.