DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Sarah de León Perelló, Elizabeth Silfa Micheli and Naomi Rodríguez Manzueta, Headrick Rizik Álvarez & Fernández
a view to generating benefits and value for con - sumers and users of said goods and services in the Dominican territory. It is applicable to all economic agents, legal or natural persons, gov - erned by private or public law, for profit or non- profit, foreign or domestic, that do business in Dominican territory. It is also applicable to: • acts, agreements or conducts, including those derived from a dominant position, that originate outside the Dominican territory, if they have restrictive effects on competition within the national territory; and • acts, agreements and administrative provi - sions that have the effect of restricting com - petition. Law No 42-08 basically regulates: • concerted practices; • abuse of dominant position; and • unfair competition. The National Commission for the Defence of Competition ( Pro-Competencia ) is the authority in charge of ensuring the protection of free com - petition in the Dominican Republic. In certain regulated sectors, the applicable sectorial laws contain provisions regarding the defence of free competition that delegate func - tions in this area to the regulator of the sector in question (eg, INDOTEL in matters of telecom - munications). 6.4 Abuse of Dominant Position Economic Dependence The abuse of economic dependency, the eco - nomic subordination of one contracting party to the other in a given contract, is not regulated. There are legal provisions, such as Consumer Protection Law No 358-05, that prohibit abusive
clauses in adhesion contracts in commercial relations with consumers (B2C). The commercial or contractual relationships between profession - als (B2B) are governed based on the principle of “the free will to contract” and Article 1134 of the Dominican Civil Code, which establishes that legally formed agreements have the force of law between the parties. Abuse of Dominant Position Law No 42-08 prohibits the abuse of dominant position. Pursuant to the provisions of this Law, dominant position is defined as the control of the relevant market enjoyed by an economic agent, by itself or jointly with others, that gives it the power to hinder the maintenance of effec - tive competition or allows it to act in said market regardless of the behaviour of its competitors, clients or consumers. The possession of a dominant position in the market or its increase, by itself, does not con - stitute an offence under the law, only its abuse. A patent is an exclusive right granted by the Dominican state to inventions and utility models and gives the inventor exclusivity for its exploi - tation for a fixed period of time. According to Law No 20-00 on Industrial Property (“Law No 20-00”), an invention is any idea or creation of the human intellect capable of being applied to industry that meets the patentability condi - tions set forth in the applicable legal framework and may refer to a product or a procedure. To be patentable, the invention must be capable of industrial application, be novel and have an inventive level. 7. Intellectual Property 7.1 Patents
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