The Commission for the Promotion and Defense of Competition, a decentralized body with technical autonomy from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), decided to continue with the investigation that had begun after a complaint from the Montecon company, for the new 50-year concession contract between the government and Katoen Natie in the port of Montevideo.
On January 21, La Diaria reported that the Undersecretary of Economy and Finance, Alejandro Irastorza, had signed a rsolution that revoked the admission of the complaint and therefore the decision to advance in an investigation.
However, on February 1, the Commission issued a resolution stating the “relevance of the complaint filed by Montecon,” without “making room for the preventive termination” requested by the company and “the adoption of precautionary measures,” according to the text released by the Radiomundo program En Perspectiva.
The resolution is signed by the three members of the Commission for the Promotion and Defense of Competition: Daniel Ferrés, Natalia Jul and Alejandra Giuffra.
According to La Diaria, with the revocation made by the MEF on the file of the investigation that the Commission had initiated, the matter returned to the beginning of the process and the commissioners had 10 business days to decide whether or not to accept Montecon’s complaint.
The central issue is the agreement to extend the concession of the container terminal signed between the Executive Power and the Belgian company Katoen Natie, and the new berthing regulations that give it priority for the dispatch of ships.
Montecon considers that the agreement and the decrees harm it and violate Law 18,159, which protects the free competition. That is why he filed a complaint against the Executive Power, the Ministry of Public Works, the National Ports Administration, Katoen Natie and Terminal Cuenca del Plata.
Decision 32 2022 New Admission of Complaint by The Observer on Scribd
