Global Competition Law is primarly a practitioner's guide presenting the most salient aspects of the major competition laws country by country, giving an overview of their structure and most charasteristic elements.
Global Competition Law also provides insight into possible future developments in the field.

Global Competition Law

The recently enacted Anticorruption Statute of Colombia (Article 410a of the Colombian Criminal Code) includes a provision criminalizing bid rigging in the context of public procurement. Section 27 of the Anticorruption Statute penalizes with 6 to 12 years of prison and a fine of between 200 to 1,000 times the minimum monthly wage (approximately US$ 52,000 - 263,000) any person who, in the course  …

Criminal sanctions

A number of injunctions are available for third parties seeking redress for anticompetitive conduct suffered.

Cease and desist orders

For companies, fines can be as high as 100,000 times the minimum monthly wage or up to 150% of the profits generated by the violation of the duty to report (Law No 1340 of 2009).

For individuals who facilitate, authorize, perform or tolerate anticompetitive conduct, fines of up to 2,000 current monthly minimum legal wages may be imposed, in which cases, the company is expressly prohibited from paying or guaranteeing the fine imposed on the individual.

The criteria used by the authority to determine the amount of a fine on a company include:

- the impact that the conduct had over the market;

- the benefit from the conduct received by the perpetrator;

- the degree of participation of the party;

- the market share of the party as well as the portion of its assets or sales or both involved in the conduct;

In March 2023, the Colombian Constitutional Court found that Sections 66, 67, and 68 of Law No 2195 regarding fines were unconstitutional due to procedural defects. As a consequence, the latter articles were left without effect, and the previous applicable articles (namely Sections 25 and 26 of Law No 1340) were reinstated.

Fines

The recently enacted Anticorruption Statute of Colombia (Article 410a of the Colombian Criminal Code) includes a provision criminalizing bid rigging in the context of public procurement. Section 27 of the Anticorruption Statute penalizes with 6 to 12 years of prison and a fine of between 200 to 1,000 times the minimum monthly wage (approximately US$ 52,000 - 263,000) any person who, in the course of a public procurement selection process, concludes an unlawful agreement after having engaged in corruption. Disqualification from public tenders is also incurred for a period of eight years.

According to Section 14 of Law No 1340 of 2009, the SIC may grant benefits to individuals or undertakings who have engaged in conduct that violates competition law if they work in collaboration with the authority. Therefore, in those cases when a participating company reports the existence of anticompetitive conduct to the authority and cooperates in the delivery of information and relevant evidence, including identification of the other participants, such an undertaking can receive full exemption from fines. This benefit applies even when the competition authority has already initiated an action.

Decree No 1523 of 16 July 2015, which repeals and replaces Decree No 2896 of 5 August 2010, details the rules applicable to leniency applications. Under the new rules, the ring-leader may not qualify for leniency. The first applicant may be granted full imunity, the second may qualify for a fine reduction of between 30-50% and the subsequent applicants may receive a fine reduction of up to 25% depending on the value of the evidence submitted. A marker system is established to determine the rank of the applications. A leniency plus scheme is also made available to applicants who may not benefit from full immunity but report a second infringement that the SIC is unaware of. In such a case, they may be awarded and additional 15% discount on the first infringement penalty.

In the case of bid rigging, a criminal offense, the beneficiary of full immunity may also be granted a reduction of one third of the sentence, a 40% reduction of the criminal fine and a reduction of three years of the disqualification from participation in public tenders. 

Leniency

A person can claim damages in the administrative law court for losses suffered as a result of an agreement that unreasonably restricts competition, unless the defendants can prove that the violation was neither intentional nor negligent. There are no special procedures or rules for these claims for damages. No class actions are permitted for unlawful restrictive agreements or practices.   

Global Competition Law

947. Criminal sanctions

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Les notions juridiques connexes

947. Criminal sanctions

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise