Pre Merger Control Approval Under The Uruguayan Antitrust Act

1. Introduction

The Uruguayan Government recently enacted law number 18.159 named "Trade Freedom and Free Competition Preservation Act" (Libertad de Comercio y Preservación de la Libre Competencia) (the "Antitrust Act") which included, for the first time in Uruguayan statutes and aside from provisions regarding anticompetitive conducts, a type of pre-merger control approval in certain specific cases (economic concentrations). Such law becomes effective during the first week of August 2007.

Based on that circumstance there are no precedents that may guide our conclusions concerning the application of the abovementioned provisions and, consequently, the following report is solely based on our interpretation of the Antitrust Act.