The crime of agreements restricting free competition in Peruvian criminal legislation

When the Peruvian Penal Code currently in force was enacted, the criminal legislator included in article 232 an economic crime that punished the abuse of a dominant market position and agreements in restriction of competition. This crime was repealed in 2008 as a consequence of the implementation of the free trade agreement between Peru and the United States of America, without criminal proceedings being initiated for its perpetration. As a result of the abuses in the market carried out by clinics and pharmacies during the pandemic, Article 232 of the Penal Code was put into effect again with some non-relevant adjustments. However, the lack of a clear delimitation with anti-competitive administrative infringements motivated its reform in June 2023, now specifying that the criminal sanction is limited only to anti-competitive agreements that have an absolute prohibition. My contribution to the collective book “Market Abuse” is an analysis of the current configuration of the crime of agreements restricting free competition, given that in Peru, there have been practices that restrict free competition, specifically in the financial market, such as collusive price agreements for contracting traffic accident insurance (SOAT). The idea is to determine whether, with the current legal formulation of the crime of agreements restricting free competition, it will finally be possible to abandon the symbolic nature that has characterised this crime and thereby reinforce the administrative prohibition with effective criminal sanctions.