Mexico’s Calderon Seeks Stronger Antitrust Law, Fines
By Jens Erik Gould and Crayton Harrison
April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon, seeking to strengthen competition among companies, proposed bigger fines and jail time for antitrust violations.
Calderon will ask Congress to change Mexico’s competition law to incorporate his proposals, he said today in a speech in Mexico City. The country needs more competition to promote investment, he said.
Calderon proposed fines of as much as 10 percent of revenue and possible jail time for colluding on prices. He also proposed fines of as much as 8 percent of revenue for “relative monopoly practices,” or restrictions such as exclusivity agreements that keep new competitors from entering an industry.
About 30 percent of consumer spending goes to markets with a lack of competition, causing Mexicans to spend 40 percent more than they would with better enforcement of antitrust rules, Calderon said. He didn’t name specific industries that lack competition.
“We will give the Federal Competition Commission the power it needs to meet its objectives,” Calderon said. “One of the principal criticisms in the subject of competition is that the commission has no teeth.”
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