New Regulation to Implement the Leniency Program

The Secretariat of Industry and Trade of the Ministry of Economy issued Resolution 98, approving the Regulation for the Implementation of the Leniency Program, drafted by the National Commission for the Defense of Competition. ^[1]

 

The Regulation specifies the stages, procedure, and requirements a natural or legal person that has engaged or is engaging in a conduct listed in section 2 of the Antitrust Law 27442 for the Defense of Competition (LDC) has to fulfill to benefit from the exemption or reduction of the corresponding sanction, following sections 60 and 61 of the LDC and complementary legislation.

 

Although the leniency mechanism had been established in the LDC, since its entry into force in 2018, it remained unregulated. This limited the predictability and transparency of the procedure. Thus, between 2018 and 2024, the leniency program had very limited practical application in Argentina.

 

The Regulation includes new features that will facilitate and encourage the filing for leniency in Argentina:

 

1. Creating a Leniency Unit within the National Commission for the Defense of Competition, in charge of receiving and processing leniency applications.

 

2. Delimiting a process for marker applications.

 

3. Delimiting the leniency application process, detailing its timing, formal requirements, and application content.

 

4. Clarifying the classification and granting process of exemption, and the penalty reduction benefits.

The enforceability of the Regulation is an important milestone toward an extended application of the leniency program in Argentina and, therefore, toward the prosecution and sanctioning of cartels.