The Regulation of Guatemala’s Competition Law was published in the Official Gazzette on December 29, 2025. The regulation develops the procedures, criteria, and obligations necessary for the effective implementation of the new competition regime. With its entry into force, the Superintendency of Competition now has a detailed procedural framework to investigate conduct, assess economic concentrations, and sanction anticompetitive practices.
For companies operating in the country, and for regional groups with exposure to the Guatemalan market, this regulation represents a structural shift in how regulatory risk, corporate transactions, and commercial strategies are assessed.
Below are the key points the business sector should consider:
Broad scope: no company is off the radar
The regulation confirms a cross-cutting application with no exceptions: it applies to all economic agents, regardless of size, sector, or legal form.
It also incorporates an effects-based criterion, meaning that transactions carried out outside Guatemala may be reviewed if they impact the local market. For multinational groups, this requires a regional, not merely local, compliance assessment.
Greater technical precision in anticompetitive practices
One of the most significant changes introduced by the regulation is the full operability of the pre-merger control regime for economic concentrations, directly affecting mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and corporate reorganizations. In doing so, the regulation precisely defines how and when a transaction must be reviewed by the competition authority.
What qualifies as an economic concentration?
The regulation adopts a broad concept. It is not limited to traditional mergers, but includes any act or series of acts that results in the acquisition of control or loss of independence among economic agents, such as:
- Mergers and absorptions.
- Acquisitions of shares or significant assets.
- Transfers of commercial establishments.
- Collaboration agreements or joint ventures that create an autonomous and lasting entity.
- Any transaction that, in practice, results in a change of effective control.
This significantly expands the universe of transactions that must be assessed from a competition standpoint.
How is control determined?
- The regulation clarifies that control may be:
- Direct or indirect.
- Sole or joint.
- De facto, meaning without the need for formal majority shareholding.
It is sufficient for a party to have the ability to exercise decisive influence over another company, whether through corporate rights, contractual arrangements, appointment of directors, or operational integration.
How are notification thresholds calculated?
To determine whether a transaction must be notified, the regulation sets out rules for calculating the thresholds established by law, taking into account:
- Sales or revenues generated in Guatemala.
- Assets located in the country.
- Revenues of economic groups, including multinational groups, where there is a local nexus.
- Audited financial statements from the most recent fiscal year.
In regional or international transactions, the focus is on the economic effects in Guatemala, not on where the transaction is closed.
What constitutes early implementation?
The regulation clearly prohibits any total or partial implementation of a transaction before obtaining authorization from the Superintendency of Competition. Indicators of early implementation include, among others:
- Transfer of shares or assets.
- Early exercise of voting rights or control.
- Coordination of prices or commercial policies.
- Operational or administrative integration between the parties.
These actions may be sanctioned even if the transaction is ultimately approved, increasing the risk of closing or advancing a transaction without a proper prior analysis.
