Argentina: CNDC and Ministries to lower logistics costs

Argentina’s National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC) joined the Minister of Production, Francisco Cabrera, and the Minister of Commerce, Miguel Braun, in recommending to the Undersecretariat of Ports and Waterways to intervene in the market for port services and regulate tariffs until the conditions for effective competition have been established and their adherence to international market prices has been demonstrated.

The announcement comes after 17 months of negotiations with various economic sectors, with little response from representatives of this industry in particular. The present move was prompted by a complaint denouncing the cartelization of services, which joins a request to the commission from Jorge Metz, the Under Secretary in charge of Ports, to investigate the situation in this market. In these 17 months of negotiation, the government has achieved some positive results, but at the cost of strained relationships with several employers and trade unions in the sector.

A year ago, the Government evaluated the possibility of reducing tariffs by decree. Instead, they opted for the mediation of the CNDC, in a strategy that has yielded positive results. Metz now has Cabinet support, and opposing parties will have to justify any decision they take: those affected must now contend with and strike down reports from the CNDC’s ​​anti-competitive conduct unit.

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