Free competition in the post-pandemic digital era: The impact on SMEs

This study was conducted in the framework of the United Nations Development Account project “Global Initiative towards Post-COVID-19 Resurgence of the Micro-, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Sector” (under the “Access to markets” cluster), which aims to analyse the actions of competition authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and facilitate their recovery. This document analyses the role of competition policy in the digital economy, with an emphasis on the relation between business strategies, technological innovation and market concentration; as well as the suitability of the current legal and institutional frameworks for competition in Latin American countries for facing the current challenges. It also describes some of the practices used by large technology firms and the way these strategies condition market access for SMEs. It aims to demonstrate need for compatibility between industrial and competition policies and for greater coordination among the agencies responsible for data protection and competition policy and among the different government agencies.