Through market studies competition authorities can help markets work better especially when obstacles and distortions to competition are not caused by competition law violations. Competition authorities often use such mechanisms to inform governments about unnecessary obstacles to competition and provide recommendations on how to address them.

The OECD is currently working with Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and Peru to provide them with assistance in their methodology for undertaking market studies.

Why are market studies important?

Market studies provide competition authorities with an in-depth understanding of how sectors and markets work. They are conducted whenever concerns on the functioning of a market arise, that can be caused by factors such as firm behaviour, market structure or consumer conduct amongst others.

The outcome of a market study is an assessment of whether the market is working satisfactorily or not, with a description of issues found and recommendations offering possible solutions.

Market studies can serve as an advocacy tool for competition agencies, as recommendations could include proposals to deregulate a market, to reform its institutions, to introduce some form of business self-regulation, or to improve information dissemination amongst consumers or suppliers. Finally, when anticompetitive behaviour can be the reason for the problem identified, a market study can also lead to the opening of an antitrust investigation.  

The Project with 6 Latin American countries

In June 2014, the OECD and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office launched a project to provide support to Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and Peru in their use of market studies as an important competition tool.

The objective was to run an in-depth analysis of methodologies in place, analyse best practices in some OECD countries and provide these  countries with advice on how to improve their current legal framework and practices.

Nine agencies in the selected countries are responsible for undertaking market studies. Through a detailed questionnaire and missions to these countries, the OECD collected information on their legal powers, the process for selecting markets to study, the methodology used, the results obtained and how these are evaluated. An in-depth analysis of this information, led to the identification areas for improvement.

In parallel, the OECD studied the institutional and legal set-up and the good practices adopted in experienced OECD jurisdictions. This information was used to suggest how the use of market studies could be strengthened in the six countries.

9 agencies from 6 LA countries participated in the project

CHILE	‌‌‌	COLOMBIA	‌‌
COSTA RICA	‌‌ ‌ ‌‌	MEXICO	‌   ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
PANAMA	‌	PERU	‌ ‌

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Outcomes: a report and a capacity building event

This project led to two main outcomes:

» Download the event's agenda

 DOCUMENTS AND LINKS

Competition in Latin America

Competition Assessment Toolkit

OECD Recommendation on Competition Assessment

Pro-competitive Policy Reforms

Liberalisation and competition intervention in regulated sectors

OECD Competition Main Page