The Colombian government recently sanctioned Law 689 amending the public services law. This law came into effect on October 28 2001.
The new law provides that state entities that provide a public service are no longer required to contract under the State Contracting Statute (Law 80/1993). This will simplify the contracting process for the remaining state owned public service companies, since under the new law they will be able to contract freely with third parties under the common commercial regulations.
The Superintendency of Public Services is now vested with the power to investigate all restrictive commercial and antitrust practices. The superintendency is also responsible for the creation and implementation of a centralized information system for public services entities.
With its new powers the Superintendency of Public Services faces new and interesting challenges over the effective protection of the interests and rights of public services users.
For further information on this topic please contact Rodrigo Lozano at Posse, Herrera & Ruiz by telephone (+57 1 312 3124) or by fax (+57 1 3130259) or by email ([email protected]).