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El The exchange of commercially sensitive and strategic information in statistical reports made by Trade Associations as an independent anticompetitive felony in DL 211

Authors

Abstract

The antitrust implications of exchanges of sensitive and strategic information between competitors, as a type of horizontal cooperation agreement, have been widely debated. However, there is an analytical field within this topic that has not been sufficiently developed. We refer to the exchange of commercially sensitive and strategic information collected and disseminated through statistical reports made by trade associations. The purpose of this paper is to support the independent nature of this felony, based on the criteria used by national and comparative doctrine and jurisprudence; and its subsumption within our universal antitrust rule. As a result of this analysis, a methodological proposal is exposed for our competition agency -the FNE- with the purpose of strengthening the process of qualification of this activities within the investigative antitrust procedure.

Keywords:

Exchange, comercially sensitive and strategic information, antitrust law, Trade Association, statistic reports

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