MSI's Argentine law firm member Garcia Menendez - Attorney at Law outlines further details on Argentina's New Competition Law, which introduces significant changes to the current system.
The new Argentine competition/antitrust law was published on May 15, 2018 under number 27,442 (the “Law”).
The new Law introduces significant changes to the current system. The most significant changes are explained below:
Regarding the antitrust authority, the Law creates the National Authority of Competition (“ANC”), which comprises the Competition Tribunal (“TDC”), with 5 members, and a Mergers Control Secretary and an Anticompetitive Practices Secretary. The ANC would be, in principle, independent from government.
The selection process of the ANC could take long, and in the meantime the Commerce Secretary will continue being the authority.
The Law also creates a specialized appeal chamber within the Federal Civil and Commercial National Chamber for the City of Buenos Aires, and the federal courts of the provinces will also treat appeals related to the Law.
Regarding merger control notifications, the Law sets forth that the notification has to be done “before” the closing of the transaction (the previous law gave the possibility to notify within a week from closing). Nevertheless, for a period of one (1) year from the incorporation of the ANC, merger notifications can be done within a week from closing.
