Julián Palacín: “We have members at Indecopi who do not serve full time”

After knowing the controversial ruling of an Indecopi court in favor of Bimbo, Julián Palacín, head of the institution, assured that 48% of the members and commissioners of its decision-making bodies would be investigated.

I see a good mood to investigate conflicts of interest from various fronts: Comptroller, Minsa, Ombudsman, and now Indecopi.

We do not agree with many things that are happening and especially with the issue of conflict of interest. Here is a specific issue, the vowels must be inhibited when there are these conflicts. We are looking at research how many inhibitions per year there have been, to get the average of who did and who did not.

What Indecopi is looking for with Julián Palacín is to rescue the best people prepared technical secretaries in positions of chamber members, but we also want to combat continuity, corruption

However, you have spoken of reviewing 48% of the appointments in the institution.

I want to clarify that in that 48% there could be vowels in conflict … as well as there could not be. There are vowels that were inhibited. We have reviewed percentages and yes, definitely, we must rescue those cases. Now, those who did not, go to the PCM for analysis.

The problem is the precedent that is created with regard to the octagons because behind that come 150 similar cases, so there comes the problem, so we want to clarify this and begin to organize our institution.

Wouldn’t Hooker set up a gross misdemeanor removal, in your opinion?

The issue is already in PCM, because I understand there are two cases. It is PCM who will finally have to make the decision. My commitment is to secure identifying these chaos where there is a possible conflict of interest to order the institution. I am grateful to consumer associations such as Aspec, who are sending us complaints about these possible conflicts of interest.

Do you consider that there is a takeover of the pro-industry in Indecopi?

Everything is a process, these charges come from previous administrations, they even go through the recommendation of the president of Indecopi, former presidents of the Republic and former prime ministers. There were several filters to be able to identify these alleged conflicts before the appointment.

Solutions must be sought, and those solutions go hand in hand with a package of legislative reforms and internal reform. We cannot think that this is not going to change. We have members who serve half time at Indecopi and the other half at their law firm.

It is worth remembering that Bimbo was not the first case.

I am facing this whole system in order to clean the house. I don’t understand how other Indecopi presidents have not been able to do what I have done in forty days. If they already had these chaos detected, why did they keep quiet? Why didn’t they bring it up? It is inconceivable.

Once the administrative instance is finished, this can be appealed and finally, it goes to the Judiciary. The subject of the chambers is autonomous, yes, but it depends on the chambers and presidencies of Indecopi to appoint members and verify that there is no suspicion of any kind of conflict of interest. Indecopi proposes suitable people, but we cannot name someone from the SNI, I don’t understand how Mr. Gagliuffi crossed his mind.

And citizen participation is vital to denounce, right?

That’s how it is. As a result of the Bimbo case coming to light, Minsa has announced that it is going to appeal, because it concerns the health of millions of people.

So, could you explain to me, why does a citizen have to pay S / 1,400 to file a formal complaint for advertising warnings in Indecopi?

Well … part of this reform to the consumer code is to create a multisectoral commission to change these types of events. Not only in bureaucratic barriers, but in intellectual property there are fees that are exorbitant. They could be lowered. The idea is that this is within everyone’s reach, it seems inconceivable to me to charge S / 1,400 to an ordinary citizen.

There are a series of problems that also in my administration will be seen through the national council that I preside where there are actors such as the SNI, there is the Ombudsman’s Office, all the ministries, PCM, consumer associations, where I definitely have the task of watching over the consumers and what happens in society.

We are going to activate this, as well as the collective lawsuits that no Indecopi president has done despite the fact that the law gives us this power. Indecopi will honor its name as guarantor of the consumer; We have to be aligned defending these causes, we owe ourselves to the people and the consumers.

And is it not that Indecopi has too many functions?

Look, we live on what we collect, which is basically the fees, that we use to pay the staff in our 26 offices. We are talking about more than 1,500 workers in charge of Indecopi, who for 29 years we have been training. We have highly trained people in line bodies, international cooperation with international organizations, the Indecopi school, where we are going to bring professionals from Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Argentina, etc.

We have a titanic job. We are an entity, remember, very well seen at the international level, that has been told to me now last on my trip to Geneva. We have a very good reputation and I think that it is not necessary to reduce or remove any faculty, It should be remembered that the consumer protection commission is the largest that Indecopi has and the one that receives the most complaints, especially in banking and insurance matters.

And in Peru? Are you aware that Indecopi’s image has deteriorated over the years?

We cannot tarnish the image of an institution due to the mismanagement of 5 or 6 members …

Note that you spoke of 48% of civil servants, that is, there must be more than 5 or 6.

It is possible … but, as I said, there will be surprises. Because when this information is complete I will make it public. In a few days they will have more, it is the only thing I can anticipate.

Will you then propose modifications to the law and regulations to establish higher requirements for members of the commissions and the chambers?

Definitely. This must be studied in depth, we cannot have part-time members who work later in private activity seeing the number of cases that are resolved in Indecopi. I think that one could think of having full-time vocals in a single job, and for that it would be necessary to improve their income. That should be discussed with the PCM and the MEF.

Sure, because there was talk of a lack of budget.

Yes. It will be a priority issue in this Indecopi reform and we will see it in our management. We cannot allow this to continue, but for this we need the budget.

And those changes to climb the fence at Indecopi, do they include you? Because when he arrived, several officials resigned (José Távara, Percy Marquina, Matilde Schwalb Helguero and Gisella Orjeda).

There are groups of power that have arranged to carry out a devastating campaign against a lawyer with more than thirteen years in the profession, just because he belongs to the ruling party. I am a founding partner of my own study, I have been successful in private activity and now I take my earnings to the public function.

Why didn’t they say anything against my predecessor, Hania Pérez de Cuéllar? She only took general studies at a technical institute in France for one year and seven months, she has only one diploma, have you found that out? I think that this is going to be clarified because the Comptroller’s Office has already asked Indecopi for my professional title and Hania’s diplomas. Because I have a degree, Hania only has diplomas, and they are not awarded by a university because, if that were the case, she would have had to revalidate her degree here at a Peruvian university.

To be head of Indecopi, the law does not require any type of requirement. It is a political position, it is a designation of the PCM and the president.

And that last one seems good to you?

I think it should stay that way, because Indecopi, despite being a specialized technical entity, has the power to appoint a person of trust, a position of President Castillo and proposed by the Prime Minister. That’s good, alternation is important.