The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC), represented by Dr. Diego Solano Osorio, Advisor to the Superintendent, actively participated in the 2025 Latin American and Caribbean Competition Forum (FLACC), held from 7 to 9 October 2025 at the Central Bank headquarters in Asunción, Paraguay.

In addition to the FLACC sessions, several parallel events also took place, including Paraguay’s National Competition Day, the Ibero-American Competition Forum, and the Meeting of the Competition Agencies Group of the Americas (GrACA).

The event was organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and Paraguay’s National Competition Commission (CONACOM), with the purpose of promoting technical exchange and strengthening regional cooperation on competition policy.

Among the leading figures in attendance were Jorge Srur, Southern Regional Manager and Representative of CAF in Paraguay; Frédéric Jenny, Chair of both the FLACC and the OECD Global Forum on Competition; and Mario Umaña, Senior Competition Consultant at the IDB.

The sessions addressed key topics such as price regulation in free-market economies, competition risks in oligopolistic markets, competition and intellectual property, and the coordination of enforcement and advocacy tools, among others.

During the first session, participating countries shared experiences regarding price regulation in free markets and the risks associated with oligopolistic market structures, emphasizing the importance of maintaining regulatory frameworks that ensure economic efficiency and consumer welfare. Contributions from experts from Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil provided valuable insights into the impact of price fixing and market structures on resource allocation and the functioning of strategic sectors such as the banana and dairy industries.

Regarding the convergence between competition policy and industrial property, practical cases of coordination between the respective authorities were presented, underscoring the need to understand sector-specific regulations and to strengthen institutional cooperation mechanisms to ensure a balanced application of both regimes. Delegations from Paraguay, Peru, Chile, Spain, and Argentina shared their experiences on how industrial property rights—particularly patents—can influence market dynamics and technological innovation.

The Forum also addressed remedies in digital markets and included the presentation of the Annual Report of the OECD Regional Centre for Competition in Latin America (CRC), led by INDECOPI (Peru) and OECD experts. These sessions facilitated the identification of best practices for applying competition policies in digital environments and reaffirmed the role of regional agencies as promoters of more dynamic, equitable, and transparent markets. Both the IDB and the OECD emphasized the need to strengthen competition policies as key instruments to boost productivity and innovation in Latin America.

Finally, the participation of the SIC in the FLACC 2025 reaffirms Colombia’s commitment to strengthening regional institutional frameworks for competition, fostering technical knowledge exchange, and advancing economic integration across Latin America and the Caribbean. This engagement contributes to the institutional positioning of the SIC in multilateral competition policy discussions, supporting the development of regional consensus, the design of more effective policies, and the identification of reforms aimed at promoting fairer, more dynamic, and efficient markets — ultimately benefiting the national economy, regional integration, businesses, markets, and consumers.