Thermotek and Impac were fined for colluding in price fixing, as were five of their executives; the investigation and trial took more than four years.
Mexico's Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) has fined Pinturas Thermicas del Norte, SA de CV (Grupo Thermotek) and Polímeros Adhesivos y Derivados, SA de CV (Impac), as well as five of their executives, 237 million pesos (approximately US$12.1 million) for colluding to set the prices of their products, the antitrust agency reported Thursday.
"The sanction was the result of a procedure that revealed an agreement between executives and companies to manipulate prices of waterproofing products throughout the national territory and to the detriment of consumers, at least between January 30, 2008 and April 7, 2017," Cofece explained in a press release.
The proven illegal conduct corresponds to absolute monopolistic practices, which consist of agreements between competitors to set prices, to share markets or to limit the supply or demand of a good or service.
Cofece explained that, in order to achieve their objectives, Thermotek and Impac executives and representatives “held meetings and various communications to coordinate prices, locations and products, as well as to monitor compliance with these illegal agreements.”
According to the current legal framework, sanctioned economic agents can appeal the ruling of the Cofece plenary session through an indirect amparo trial and the corresponding fine or fines will only be enforced until the trial that is brought, if applicable, is resolved.
Four years of journey
The Cofece investigation, initiated ex officio, and the trial procedure that led to the ruling announced today by the plenary took at least four years.
It was on September 29, 2020, when the Cofece Investigative Authority published the investigation notice of the case in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), which was identified with the file number IO-002-2019. Almost two and a half years later, on February 21, 2023, the investigation concluded.
Later, on June 29 of that year, Cofece reported that it had summoned companies and individuals for possible illegal agreements in the waterproofing market, which triggered the start of the procedure followed in the form of a corresponding trial, which would have culminated these days.
“According to the 2020 National Housing Survey (ENVI), 44.2% of homes had moisture due to water infiltration, and this turned out to be the main structural problem in homes in Mexico, which is why waterproofing becomes necessary for the maintenance of the more than 35 million homes in our country,” Cofece commented in June 2023.
Commission, in suspense
It should be remembered that these days the discussion in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies is still pending on the constitutional reform opinion promoted by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that contemplates the disappearance of Cofece and six other autonomous bodies of the Mexican State, such as the Federal Telecommunications Institute.
According to the document, approved by the House of Representatives on August 23, the anti-monopoly body and its constitutional autonomy achieved in 2013 would come to an end and its functions would be reassigned to the Ministry of Economy, although it is still unknown under what hierarchy and institutional arrangement.
