CMPC and SCA accused of running a cartel: Chile's economic prosecutions office (Fiscalía Nacional Económica) accused the powerful CMPC group (controlled by the Matte family) and Swedish-owned SCA of operating a price cartel in the country's paper products market for over 10 years. In a complaint filed with the competition tribunal (Tribunal de Defensa de la Libre Competencia – TDLC), the FNE said the two companies colluded on fixing quotas and prices on toilet paper, paper towels, paper serviettes, facial tissues, and cosmetic tissues. The two companies have combined sales in Chile of around US$400m per annum and control 90%…

In mid-October 2015, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a report on Mexico’s pension system1 that had been commissioned by the Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro (CONSAR – the relevant regulator). In general, Mexico’s shift from an unfunded defined benefit2 (DB) system to a properly funded defined contribution system (DC) is going well. However, the OECD has identified a number of areas for improvement. Prior to the mid-1990s, Mexico’s DB pension system was funded on a pay-as-you-go basis by the government. Following a reform of the Social Security Law in 1995, individual DC…

The Mexican Supreme Court (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación – SCJN) has delivered a setback to Monsanto, the US agro-industrial corporation, by issuing a temporary injunction preventing the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) soya in the states of Campeche and Yucatán. It is a story that involves bees, honey, and the European Union. The SCJN injunction, issued on 11 November, suspends Monsanto’s permit to cultivate GM soya in an area of 235,500 hectares across the states of Campeche and Yucatán. The current permit dates back to May 2012 when it was issued by the previous Mexican government. It…