GUATEMALA Law and Practice Contributed by: Claudia Pereira, Carlos Ortega and Juan Pablo Gramajo, Mayora & Mayora, S.C
1. Legislation and Enforcing Authorities 1.1 Merger Control Legislation
1.3 Enforcement Authorities The Superintendence of Competition will enforce the merger control rules from the Competition Act. The Act calls for co-ordination and co- operation with sector-specific authorities, such as those in the banking, telecoms or Electricity sectors, through methods and mechanisms that are yet to be enacted.
The Guatemalan Congress enacted the Compe - tition Act (Decree 32-2024) at the end of 2024. It is the first legislation of its kind in Guatemala. Its provisions on the Competition Authority (Super - intendence of Competition) entered into effect on 1 January 2025, with the purpose of appoint - ing the first officials during 2025. The Act’s sub - stantive provisions, including those on merger control, will come into effect in December 2026. An administrative regulation further developing the Act must be issued by 1 January 2026. The Superintendence will also be able to issue fur - ther rules and guidance on all matters under its purview. However, as of May 2025, only the Act has been enacted. Therefore, the content of this chapter is based solely on the Act. 1.2 Legislation Relating to Particular Sectors Other relevant legislation includes the Foreign Investment Act (Decree 9-98) and the Act to Foster Investment of Foreign Capital (Decree 46-2022). Some sector-specific legislation con - tains certain basic rules on competition and/ or mergers and acquisitions, such as the Gen - eral Telecommunications Act (Decree 94-96), the General Electricity Act (Decree 93-96), and the Banks and Financial Groups Act (Decree 19-2002). However, only the Bank and Financial Groups Act contains provisions on merger control, fur - ther developed by regulations issued by the Monetary Board (the Central Bank Authority). Such regulations are not designed from a com - petition law perspective, but are instead rooted in financial and banking law.
2. Jurisdiction 2.1 Notification
Notification is compulsory for all operations exceeding the thresholds established by the Competition Act, which also provides the fol - lowing exceptions: • financial sector mergers whose purpose is to prevent systemic risks arising from the risk of insolvency or bankruptcy; • corporate restructuring within a same eco - nomic group; • increase of participation by an already con - trolling owner; • acquisitions by investment firms; • acquisitions in stock exchange markets below 10%; • acquisitions by investment funds without investments in companies or assets partici - pating or used in the same relevant market; and • concentrations in disputed or contestable markets, as defined by law. 2.2 Failure to Notify The Competition Act allows the Superintendence to impose fines as penalties for failing to notify and in other related cases categorised as “irreg - ular concentrations”. However, it does not state the amounts of the fines that may be imposed. The Act also allows penalties to be made pub -
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