The Colombian Competition Authority, the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio - SIC has fully reactivated local merger control procedures, including deadlines for ongoing applications and reception of new filings as of May 12, 2020. Prior to the new decision, all deadlines were suspended and no new applications were being received, which had significantly impacted ongoing review procedures and the ability to file new applications. New merger control cases will only be accepted electronically.
In a separate decision, the SIC issued formal guidance setting criteria for collaborations among competitors meant to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 emergency. Under the new guidance, collaborations among competitors will be presumed to meet the efficiency test but will need to be informed to the SIC.
Up to this point, there was no requirement (or option) to report collaborations among competitors or to secure approval but the parties still needed to meet the SIC’s guidance which required, among others, that the parties were able to provide evidence of efficiencies (among other requirements) to avoid a potential challenge by the SIC. Under the new guidance, collaborations will be presumed to meet the efficiency test, but the parties will need to report the agreement to the SIC.
The new guidance appears to indicate that the report must be filed after the agreement has been entered into, but it is not entirely clear on the subject.
Finally, other collaborations among competitors, i.e. those not meant to address the COVID-19 emergency, will continue to operate under the existing guidance, i.e. no report will be required but the burden of proof on efficiencies will still fall on the parties.