Colombia: Colombia's Superintendent of Industry and Commerce (SIC) is expected to issue a final ruling on its on-going competition investigation into the local cement industry. SIC intends to announce its findings by the middle of 2015 according to comments SIC head Pablo Felipe Robledo del Castillo made to local press. Meanwhile, Robledo also said he plans to present a bill on 16 March 2015 that would strengthen the sanctions for anticompetitive practices in Colombia.
"This rule will allow us to increase the sanctions above the nominal amount of US$25m, the current maximum, by adding percentages of a company's revenues or equity, in order to bolster the penalties," said Robledo.
SIC announced in late 2013 that it was investigating whether executives at Colombian cement companies had colluded to inflate cement prices in country since as early as 2010. The investigation targeted 14 current and former top directors at five firms, including Cementos Argos, Cemex and Holcim.