This Tuesday, January 24th, 2023, NGO INNOVARTE held a round table to debate and reflect on the protection of free competition against abuses of digital platforms. The roundtable, called “Competition Law Reform in Chile: Protection against abuses by large digital platforms”, with the pro-bono collaboration of Clifford Chance LLP and the Center for Regulation and Competition (REGCOM) of the University of Chile, under the auspice of the Open Society Institute.
The purpose of the meeting was to present a first working document for a legal reform model prepared by attorney Michael Jacobs at the request of NGO INNOVARTE. Thomas Vinje and Stavroula Vryna from Clifford Chance LLP gave a presentation on the recent experience in the European Union, where the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has just been approved, and the relevance of a legal reform to provide tools for the competition authorities to facilitate the prevention and sanctioning of abuses.
The national speakers included Mr. Francisco Agüero, Director of the Center for Regulation and Competition of the University of Chile, Cristián Reyes, representing the Free Competition Program of Pontifical University of Chile and Fernando Araya, Academic of the Department of Business Law of the Diego Portales University. They addressed the current scenario in Chile regarding the Protection of Free Competition in relation to potential abuses of large Digital Platforms and the need for their regulation.
Finally, Felipe Irarrázaval, Director of the Competence Center (CECO, by its initials in Spanish) of the Adolfo Ibáñez University, opened the broad discussion at the table. Among the conclusions of the event -attended by various experts in the area, academics and authorities- was the need for more data on the Chilean experience with large platforms, as well as the interest in continuing to advance in the study of the subject.
