Argentina “relaunches” its Antitrust Agency.

Finally, the mystery has been revealed. The trending topic between antitrust lawyers in Argentina ceased to be an open secret. Esteban Greco is “the chosen one” and will be the one in charge of the presidency of the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC) in Argentina during Macri’s administration, upon a plan of the new Government to “relaunch” the Agency.

Although up to date no formalities have been fulfilled in relation to Greco´s designation, the announcement became a public issue this week while Argentina´s finance minister Alfonso Prat Gay said that the CNDC is under his opinion the way and a tool by means of which the new administration shall “arrange certain excesses”. The official announcement is expected to take place during the next few weeks.

The new President has a Ba in Economics from the Universidad de Buenos Aires and a Masters Degree in Economics from Instituto Di Tella. He also has significative experience in antitrust issues, he was Deputy General Manager at the Ente Nacional Regulador del Gas in Argentina (ENARGAS) and acted as a consultant for several Government Agencies in Latin America, being an undisputed reference in antitrust issues.

There is no doubt that the new President will have to address important challenges during his mandate. The creation of the long awaited “National Tribunal for the Defense of Competition” (TDC) seems to be the first step towards a successful beginning for the new administration.

Promoting the implementation of leniency programs, updating the notification thresholds, strengthening the relations between the agencies of the region, creating a fast track procedure for the notification of economic concentrations, and putting aside the modifications introduced by the Kirchner administration upon the reforms on the supply law in 2014, are some of the important issues to be taken into account by the new administration on their “relaunching” plan.

However, the biggest challenge will be to ensure that the Agency ceases to be used as a political tool in order to become a real autarchic entity with organic and functional autonomy.

We wish the new President the best of luck.