Cofece imposes fines of more than 11 million pesos on water management and treatment companies

The Federal Commission for Economic Competition (Cofece) sentenced to a fine of 11 million 29 thousand 31 pesos to three water and waste management and treatment companies for failing to notify three transactions they have carried out which could lead to market concentration.

The supervisory authority indicated that the companies Engie, Suez (formerly Sonate Bidco) and Veolia Environnement had not notified the concentration operations provided for by the federal law on economic competition (LFCE) and therefore sanctioned them.

“In accordance with the commitment to sanction any economic agent who does not comply with the criteria and procedures of the law… due to the potential negative impacts this has on the well-being of the population, the Cofece Plenary has decided of fine to the aforementioned companies – with a total of 11 million 29 thousand 331 pesos”.

He explained that compliance with the notification procedure is very important to preserve the conditions of competition for the benefit of consumers, because Cofece thus has access to the elements allowing it to assess that the result of the concentration does not result in a power of attorney . market that threatens the rest of the competing companies and check that the competitive pressure between them is preserved for the benefit of consumers.

Following the analysis, it was revealed that the Plenary Assembly can authorise, condition or oppose a concentration and that the candidates must wait for this decision before closing the operation.

In this case, the sanctioned companies carried out three operations on a very important market which, due to their characteristics, required the authorization of Cofece before being carried out.

Consequently, due to the omissions to notify these concentrations, the companies were sanctioned for having obstructed the work of the authority of competition.

However, once the procedure was closed and the conditions of the mergers reviewed, these were authorized because they did not present any competitive risks for their consumers.

Cofece indicated that once the case has been resolved and the parties notified, the sanctioned economic agents have the right to apply to federal justice to have the legality of Cofece’s actions examined.

Finally, Cofece urged economic agents to respect the regulatory framework, in order to avoid being subject to legal sanctions.