BizCLIR

Competition policy encompasses a broad range of microeconomic, industrial and commercial policies that promote competitiveness. These include classic antitrust/competition laws, consumer protection law and free trade laws. The interface between competition law and, for example, privatization and foreign investment, can have a significant bearing on industrial structure and the competitive market performance of enterprises in both the private and public sector, and on economic development generally. For example, competition law and international trade liberalization complement each other by promoting trade, market access, economic efficiency, and consumer welfare. Competition law and liberal trade regimes mutually support their complementary objectives. For example, trade liberalization and competition law together can prevent powerful business interests with monopoly power from creating barriers to trade. Similarly, competition law and privatization interact to ensure that a public monopoly is not merely transferred to a private monopoly. When a sector has been liberalized through market entry of competitors, competition law and its enforcement can fill the primary role of maintaining competition while avoiding distortions caused by anticompetitive practices. Finally, while competition law seeks to improve consumer welfare, consumer protection law protects that welfare by ensuring the availability of truthful information about products and the reliability of express or implied promises.

While the government of Guatemala has engaged in significant efforts to adopt a competition law, thus far these efforts have been unsuccessful. The technical advisory board within the Ministry of Economy responsible for competition-related matters, Dirección de Promoción de la Competencia (DPC), does not have sufficient resources to carry out its responsibilities. Consumer protection policy in Guatemala is weak. It is unclear whether this weakness in consumer protection enforcement stems from a weak legal framework, or whether it is the implementing institution that needs reforms.