ABSTRACTThe entry into force of the Organic Administrative Code caused various interpretations regarding the applicability of its provisions in investigative and fining procedures before the Superintendence of Market Power Control. Several provisions of this regulatory body generated opportunities for some, and procedural risks for others, so its application was widely controversial until the State Attorney General settled the dispute through a ruling which determined that the competition authority should apply its own procedural rules, the application of the Organic Administrative Code being supplementary. This statement leaves new questions as to which aspects regulated by the Organic Administrative Code are applicable in a supplementary way to the Organic Law of Regulation and Control of Market Power, its regulations and the Instruction of Administrative Procedural Management of the Superintendence of Market Power Control, and which are not.
KEYWORDS: Competition, legal procedure, legal standard, public administration, market.
RESUMENLa entrada en vigor del Código Orgánico Administrativo ocasionó una diversidad de interpretaciones respecto de la aplicabilidad de sus disposiciones a los procedimientos de investigación y sanción a cargo de la Superintendencia de Control del Poder de Mercado. Varias disposiciones de este cuerpo normativo generan oportunidades para unos y riesgos procesales para otros, por lo que su aplicación fue ampliamente controvertida hasta que la Procuraduría General del Estado zanjó la controversia mediante un pronunciamiento que resolvió que la autoridad ecuatoriana de competencia debía aplicar sus normas procedimentales propias, siendo supletoria la aplicación del Código Orgánico Administrativo. Este pronunciamiento deja nuevas interrogantes, ¿cuáles aspectos regulados por el Código Orgánico Administrativo, y cuáles no son aplicables de forma supletoria a la Ley Orgánica de Regulación y Control del Poder de Mercado, su Reglamento y el Instructivo de Gestión Procesal Administrativa de la Superintendencia de Control del Poder de Mercado?
CÓDIGO JEL: D41, H5
The entry into force of the Organic Administrative Code caused various interpretations regarding the applicability of its provisions in investigative and fining procedures before the Superintendence of Market Power Control. Several provisions of this regulatory body generated opportunities for some, and procedural risks for others, so its application was widely controversial until the State Attorney General settled the dispute through a ruling which determined that the competition authority should apply its own procedural rules, the application of the Organic Administrative Code being supplementary. This statement leaves new questions as to which aspects regulated by the Organic Administrative Code are applicable in a supplementary way to the Organic Law of Regulation and Control of Market Power, its regulations and the Instruction of Administrative Procedural Management of the Superintendence of Market Power Control, and which are not.
JEL CODE: D41, H5