Ecuador finally joined the antitrust club. The President Rafael Correa passed an antitrust law which had been approved by the National Congress two weeks ago. After reading about the new law, it allows the government to review the M&A activity as well as to fight anticompetitive conducts. In other words, it should look like the typical antitrust law.

However, as in some jurisdictions, the Ecuadorian antitrust law also has its idiosyncrasies. For instance, banks and broadcasters will no longer be allowed to hold interests in other businesses. Although this is not typically an antitrust concern, one has to recognise that there were and still are similar restrictions in jurisdictions. I have also read that the opposition fears that the law may be used to restrict even more the economic freedom as well as the political opposition.

It would be interesting to hear from our readers in Ecuador what they think about their country’s new law.