PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: Rafael Rivera, Malvis Mina, Nicole Pérez and Carolina Lino, BDO Panama
In Panama, the highest tariffs apply to agricultur - al products and some industrial goods, and the tariffs applicable can range from 15% to 30%.
tions under the framework of competition and consumer protection law. The economic agent may submit a notification of the economic concentration to the authority prior to its entry into effect – that is, before the merger or acquisition is completed. The interested party must submit the notifica - tion in writing, accompanied by a copy of the relevant legal instrument, whether it concerns a merger or an acquisition. Within 20 days of receiving the notification, the Consumer Protection and Competition Defense Authority may request additional documenta - tion. The Authority then has 70 days from the date of receipt of the notification – or from the date on which additional information or docu - ments are received, as applicable – to issue its resolution. As part of the review process, the competent authority will examine the financial statements of the parties involved in the transaction, cop - ies of relevant business valuation or investment projection documents, and a description of the goods and/or services produced or offered by each economic agent, among other require - ments, to ensure that the economic concentra - tion does not adversely affect the market. In this regard, the authority will assess the mar - ket share of the participating agents within the relevant market in relation to their competitors and customers, the likelihood that the concen - tration may restrict free competition, or whether it may facilitate unilateral price increases without current or potential competitors being able to effectively counteract such market power.
6. Competition Law 6.1 Merger Control Notification
Under the Consumer Protection and Compe - tition Defense Law, mergers and acquisitions must be notified in cases that qualify as an eco - nomic concentration. To be considered as such, the merger or acquisition must occur between suppliers or potential suppliers, customers or potential customers, or other economic agents that are actual or potential competitors. When assessing the impact, consideration may be given to whether the merger or acquisition promotes or includes, as part of its objectives, the increase in production or distribution of goods and/or services in the local or global mar - ket, stimulates technical or economic progress, or fosters the competitive development of an industry or sector. In such cases, the benefits must be verifiable. Economic concentrations whose effects are or may be detrimental to free economic competi - tion in the country are prohibited. However, the notification system in Panama is voluntary and not mandatory to complete a transaction. Nevertheless, if an economic con - centration has not been the subject of prior veri - fication, the Authority might initiate an investiga - tion within three years following the closing date of the transaction. 6.2 Merger Control Procedure In Panama, there is no specific statutory dead - line for the notification of mergers and acquisi -
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