Two Recent Antitrust Decisions: The Beer Manufacturers Case and the Airlines Case.

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Two Recent Antitrust Decisions: The Beer Manufacturers Case and the Airlines Case.

By Ernesto Cavelier and Jose Elias Del Hierro

This article will review the antitrust and restrictive practices regulations in view of two recent decisions issued by the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce. Both cases serve to illustrate the conditions that require a filing and the powers enjoyed by the antitrust authority in Colombia, and provide an excellent outline of the type of decision likely to be issued in other cases. Moreover, the cases illustrate the wide range of discretion enjoyed by the antitrust authority, particularly since the decisions reached seemed to be contradictory. The first case approved a merger between the two largest brewers in the country. While the approval was granted, a good number of conditions were imposed on the parties to the transaction. The second case objected to the proposed merger of the two largest airlines in Colombia, on the basis of forceful but debatable arguments. The study of both cases will give the reader substantial information to understand the regulations that apply to a proposed merger and the likelihood of an approval.

In a recent newspaper article, the former Superintendent of Industry and Commerce explained his decisions saying that while they might have seemed contradictory, in both cases he was trying to benefit the public and the consumers. In the first case (the Beer Manufacturers Case) the approval was granted in view of the fact that one of the beer manufacturers would not survive without the integration; if that were the case, a monopoly would emerge, and there would be no easy legal recourse to break it afterwards. The...

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