“Agreements amongst competitors in public tenders create harm to the countries´ economies, as a result of bid rigging, in both governmental and municipal tenders”, asserted Jose Enrique Argumedo, Competition Superintendent.

Press release C. 40-09

El Salvador, September 16th, 2009.

Competition Advocacy

CS Shares Experience on Bid Rigging during Latin American Competition Forum

The Competition Superintendence (CS) had an important participation in the VII Latin American Competition Forum, sharing its experience in the fight against bid rigging, amongst other topics.

The CS participated in the VII Latin American Competition Forum, which took place on Santiago de Chile, on September 9th and 10th, 2009. Said event was organized by the Economic Attorney General´s Office, (in Spanish, Fiscalía Nacional Económica “FNE”), and the Tribunal for Competition Defense, (in Spanish, Tribunal de Defensa de la Libre Competencia), both from the Republic of Chile. Spain, Canada, the United States of America, Colombia, and Brazil, amongst others, participated in the aforementioned forum.

Amongst the topics discussed during the above cited event, Jose Enrique Argumedo, Competition Superintendent of El Salvador, chaired the session on the “Fight against Bid Rigging”, one of the priority issues for the SC since the present year.

“Competition Problems in Telecommunications” was another important topic discussed during the forum, based on a document prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where Dr. Argumedo participated as a speaker. The Competition Policy Working Group in the Central American Integration presented a contribution in said session, where each of the region´s countries´ presented the competition

conditions in aforementioned sector and concluded with the regional challenges in that topic.

Other Activities

The Ibero-American Competition Forum took place after the Latin American Competition Forum, during which the Competition Superintendent had an important participation as speaker in the session: “The Organization and Specialization of the Judicial Branch”, sharing the Salvadoran experience.

Edificio Madreselva, 1er Nivel, Calzada El Almendro y 1ª Ave. El Espino, Urb. Madreselva, Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador.

E-mail: contacto@sc.gob.sv - www.sc.gob.sv

During this last forum, the CS and the Economic Attorney General´s Office, (in Spanish, Fiscalía Nacional Económica “FNE”), renewed the Memorandum of Understanding and the Complementary Agreement for Technical Assistance, which was first signed in May 2007.

Said Memorandum of Understanding pursues to establish the general bases of institutional coordination for the establishment of permanent cooperation mechanisms, in order to promote cooperation and coordination between the competition authorities; help prevent and identify possible anticompetitive practices; and, carry out the necessary coordinated actions to insure competition in the different markets; as well as exchange perspectives, institutional policies, knowledge, and experiences.

The purpose of the Complementary Agreement is to regulate the technical assistance of the Government of Chile through the Tribunal for Competition Defense, (in Spanish, Tribunal de Defensa de la Libre Competencia), with training carried out by Competition Law experts with respect to technical and methodological elements for market analysis, formal and informal consults, and internships for public officials.

Background

Latin American Competition ForumYear Country2003 France2004 USA2005 Spain2006 El Salvador2007 Mexico2008 Panama2009 Chile

Edificio Madreselva, 1er Nivel, Calzada El Almendro y 1ª Ave. El Espino, Urb. Madreselva, Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador.

E-mail: contacto@sc.gob.sv - www.sc.gob.sv