Fair trade

Competition policy is part of the economic policy of our country.

As a small open island economy, we experience several distortions in our markets that are not beneficial for the companies nor for the consumers. These distortions may lead to ineffective markets, higher prices and limited innovation and quality. The competition policy aims at creating a level playing field by means of the competition law (Landsverordening inzake concurrentie). With the level playing field companies can compete in a healthy way. Within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, three countries have competition legislation in place: the Netherlands, Curaçao and recently Aruba. The Fair Trade Authority Curaçao (FTAC) enforces compliance of the law. The FTAC is charged with the supervision and enforcement of the provisions in the law.

Main provisions in Ordinance on Competition (Landsverordening inzake concurrentie):

• Cartels: behavior prohibited between competitors include agreements regarding prices, tenders, boycotting other (new) competitors and dividing market shares.
• Dominant positions: it is prohibited for companies to abuse their dominant position
• Mergers: mandatory notification of proposed mergers, evaluation after 5 years
• Advocacy: advising the government regarding the effect of existing and new policies on competition as well as informing the private sector about the competition law

In general, the economic policy aims to create the right conditions for companies and effective competition policy aids in prevention and/or ending unfair conduct of market participants. Competition enforcement should be placed at arm’s length from the administration as to guarantee its independence regarding investigating infractions of the law, decision making and sanctioning.

Competition law was introduced in Curaçao in 2016 and the provisions of the law came into effect in 2017. From the beginning FTAC has invested in advocacy and informing the business sectors through it representatives, workshops and meetings. More recently, some companies were fined due to violation of the competition law.