Chile: Businesses warn of risk to competition from new Recycling Law

A controversial new Law for Waste Management – known locally as the REP – has come under fire from various businesses concerned over what they perceive as a threat to competitiveness, and have solicited the intervention of the country’s dual competition authorities, the TDLC and the FNE.

The Council of Ministers for Sustainability has approved all three new regulations, which will serve as guidelines for implementing the new laws. The regulation would bring Chile in line with OCDE standards in matters of waste management, reducing waste production and increasing the rate of recycling. However, the consultation period saw several complaints and objections from business and labor groups, concerned over the risks to free competition implied by the initiative.

The regulations would force producers to present a detailed waste treatment and collection plan through an individual or collective management system. Plans should, by law, detail how the companies will finance this operation, as well as the products to be recycled. Several companies have expressed concerns over the nature of this information, which may be confidential and harmful if leaked to their competitors. “The estimates of products to be placed into the market are confidential, sensitive information for companies from a competitive point of view”, said Embotelladora Andina.

Full Content: Pulso

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