Suspension of terms Colombian Trademark Office

03/04/2020

The government of Colombia declared a State of Economic, Social and Ecological Emergency on March 17, 2020 through Decree 417 for a period of 30 days (April 15). In line with the guidelines issued by the national government in order to avert the public calamity affecting the country due to the coronavirus COVID – 19.  The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce has issued Resolution No. 12169 of March 31. 2020 by means of which it has been established: 

1. To suspend the terms of all administrative, sanctioning and disciplinary actions in progress from April 1^st, 2020 through April 15^th. On these dates there will be no legal administrative terms, including the expiry of the sanctioning authority and the procedure for prior control of integrations.

Exceptions are: 

• Actions of a non-punitive nature that may be managed by electronic means provided by the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce, with the exception of the procedures for the renewal of Distinctive Signs and the payment of fees for New Creations rights.

• Actions related to the effectiveness of fundamental rights, especially those referring to habeas data, the adoption of interim measures and the filing of actions in the area of Consumer Protection, Technical Regulations and Legal Metrology, the initiation of precautionary measures and actions in the area of practices of restrictive competition related to the affectation of goods and services in the framework of the State of Economic, Social and Ecological Emergency and all those necessary to avert the crisis caused by the COVID – 19. 

• The procedures related to the applications for authorization of business integrations in progress and in cases in which all the necessary information for the final decision to be taken has been gathered. 

• The terms to tend to new and ongoing requests made to the entity are to be complied with. Petition rights.

Superintendency of Industry and Commerce called on mayors to carry out inspection and surveillance measures on consumer protection 

31/03/2020

The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (hereinafter “SIC”), through the External Circular of March 31, 2020, urged the country’s district and municipal mayors to carry out inspection and monitoring actions regarding the activity of producers and suppliers and determine whether they may be violating consumer rights, with conduct such as:

• Hoarding
• Tied sales
• Misleading advertising
• Misleading information 

Without limiting the crimes stated in Title X of the Colombian Criminal Code which are General Prosecutor Office’s jurisdiction, under the faculties granted to Colombian Mayors per Article 62 of Law 1480 of 2011 (Consumer Statute). 

The results of inspection must be sent to the following emails provided by the SIC dirproteccion@sic.gov.co  or  contactenos@sic.gov.co.

COVID-19 and free competition in the transporting sector: Decree 482 of March 26th, 2020

28/03/2020

In order to counteract the negative effects on the transport sector derived from national mobility restrictions imposed by Decree 457 of March 22^nd, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 crisis, by which instructions were given for the compliance with the mandatory preventive isolation that began on Tuesday, March 25^th, 2020, the National Government issued Decree 482 of March 26^th, 2020, “By which measures for the provision of public transport service and its infrastructure, within the state of economic, social and ecological emergency are enacted”. 

This Decree ordered the creation of the Logistics and Transport Center, which, attached to the Ministry of Transport, and composed of several ministers, a delegate of the presidency and several members of the government, will have advisory, supervisory and decision-making functions in order to improve the conditions for the provision of public transport services permitted under Decree 457 of March 22^nd, 2020. 

Article 3 of the Decree has important repercussions in terms of free economic competition in the sector, since it empowers the Logistics and Transport Center to “Adopt and issue regulations regarding the conditions in which different actors in the transporting sector can cooperate or be coordinated.” Likewise, the Center will have the power to “Authorize efficient logistical synergies agreements, under the terms of article 8 of this Legislative Decree.” Said article refers to contracts, covenants, concertations or agreements that may be in force until the end of the mandatory preventive isolation and the state of economic, social and ecological emergency. 

With the above, it is understood that this Center will be empowered to authorize any kind of agreement, covenant, or concertation between different types of conveyors; agreements that under normal conditions could be considered contrary to free competition. Although the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism or his delegate will participate in the decision-making process, direct involvement of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce in the is not required. 

While, in principle, the Superintendence maintains its legal power to issue advocacy opinions regarding the decisions made by the Center, aside from the fact that,  in accordance with article 7 of Law 1340 of 2009, the Center can choose to depart from them, it is also clear that this power will only apply when the Center issues regulation. Thus, the Superintendence will not be empowered to intervene in the authorization of any type of agreement between the carriers that may be interpreted as anti-competitive under normal conditions. 

It should be noted that, from a competition perspective, the paragraph of Article 1 of Law 155 of 1959 establishes that “The Government, however, may authorize the conclusion of agreements or covenants that, despite limiting free competition, aim to defend the stability of a basic sector of production of goods or services of interest to the general economy”. The previous exception is further developed by article 1 of Decree 1302 of 1964, which includes basic sectors such as food, clothing, health and housing. 

Several governments have recognized that the current situation imposes greater pressure on companies to provide all kinds of medical resources and food to supply the population. Although the above may result in pro-competitive collaboration scenarios between different agents, entities such as the U.S. Department of Justice have stated that the flexibility of government entities, under no circumstances, can be understood as a “free pass”.

Superintendency of Industry and Commerce launches mobile app to file real-time complaints while COVID-19 emergency

24/03/2020

In order to avoid negative behaviors that could disturb consumers’ rights and free competition on the Colombian markets, the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (“SIC”) -Colombian authority on these matters-, launched a mobile app that allows users to file real-time complaints of conducts that violate consumer rights during the COVID-19 emergency.

The App already has a 2.0 version and by now is only available for Android devices and must be downloaded from your phone accessing to the SIC’s website  https://www.sic.gov.co/descargue-la-app-de-pqrfs; The App will soon be available for direct download from virtual stores and iOS.

It can also be downloaded via this QR code:

After you have downloaded the app, you must log in.  The user has the option to use it anonymously, in accordance with the use instructions published by the SIC:

1. Enter
2. Sign in -or not- as anonymous
3. Choose the “consumer claim” option in the menu.
4. Attach photos or files that support your complaint, only if you have them.
5. Fill out your personal data (if you have not chosen to enter anonymously).
6. Finish the process by pressing the “file” button, where you will immediately receive the file number.

The Superintendent of Industry and Commerce took the launching opportunity to call on consumers: “We invite consumers to not make nervous purchases, to not hoard and make responsible use of resources so that we can all access them“, also mentioned that the SIC’s attention on digital channels has doubled and is making control and verification visits to verify compliance with regulation.

Suspension of terms Colombian Copyright Office

19/03/2020

The Colombian Copyright Office, through resolution No. 68 of March 17, 2020, suspended: i) the terms in the jurisdictional processes that are processed before the Subdirectorate of Jurisdictional Affairs of the Colombian Copyright Office, ii) the legal terms of the administrative investigations carried out against the collective management companies, and iii) the procedures and services that are carried out in person. 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following procedures and services can be performed digitally: 

1. Registration of works and contracts, through the website: derechodeautor.gov.co
2. Reconciliation requests, through the mail: info@derechodeautor.gov.co
3. Requests, through the mail: info@derechodeautor.gov.co

 The terms are suspended from March 18 to April 30, 2020.