On May 28th, Resolution SIyC 98/2024 was published in the Official Gazette, by means of which the Secretariat of Industry and Commerce of the Ministry of Economy approved the Regulation for the Implementation of the Leniency Programme laborated by the National Commission for the Defence of Competition (CNDC).
The regulation specifies the stages, procedure and requirements that a human or legal person that has incurred, or is incurring, in one of the conducts listed in Section 2 of Act No. 27.442 on the Defence of Competition (LDC, for its acronym in Spanish) must comply with in order to apply for and obtain the benefit of exemption from or reduction of the corresponding sanction, as provided for in Sections 60 and 61 of the LDC and its complementary regulations.
In addition, the regulation provides for the creation of a working group called the ‘Leniency Unit’ (UC, for its acronym in Spanish), which will be in charge of receiving and processing leniency applications in their initial stage. As established in the regulation, the UC must be formed by the CNDC within its current resources, considering that its members must be independent from the National Directorate of Anticompetitive Conducts, the National Directorate of Economic Concentrations and not be exercising as an authority of the CNDC. Also, at least one of the agents affected by the UC must have the rank of National Director, who will be in charge of the resolution or handling of matters related to the implementation and enforcement of the aforementioned regulation.
Pursuant to the provisions of Chapter VIII of the LDC and the recently approved regulation, the authorities of the CNDC, by means of Provision 57/2024, appointed the persons assigned to the UC. Catalina Aldama, who currently holds the position of National Director of Competition Advocacy, will be in charge of the Unit, being assisted by Rafael Lobos, Ana Julia Parente, Germán Zamorano, whose appointments as General Director of Economic and Legal Studies, Director of Legal Studies and Director of Competition Advocacy, respectively, are in process, as well as by Mariana Bermúdez, who works as assistant in the National Directorate of Competition Advocacy, and who will be in charge of technological and administrative support tasks.
As established in Section 3 of Resolution SIyC 98/24, the agents that make up the UC are committed to maintain the utmost confidentiality and secrecy regarding the data and information to which they have access by virtue of the functions entrusted to them, to use such information only for the specific purpose for which it was intended, not to communicate or make public information not classified as ‘public’ and to observe and adopt any security measures necessary to ensure the confidentiality, secrecy and integrity of the data and information. This obligation of reserve and confidentiality shall continue to be in force even after they have been removed from the aforementioned Unit.
Both, human and legal persons that have incurred or are incurring in a concerted conduct typified in Section 2 of the LDC –i.e., in the practices commonly known as hard core cartels as agreements to fix prices, to restrict supply, to share the market or to coordinate bids in tenders or auctions- may apply to the Leniency Programme.
The Leniency Programme allows the applicant to benefit from an exemption from, or a reduction of the sanction, which can amount to fines of up to 30% of the turnover of the offending companies in Argentina. To qualify for this benefit, the applicant must continuously cooperate with the CNDC, providing information and evidence that allows the agency to prove the existence and operation of the cartel.
For enquiries about the availability of markers or other general enquiries about the Leniency Programme, please write to the following e-mail address: [email protected].