COFECE Anticompetitive Practices Complaint Mexico (Denuncia COFECE)

A COFECE Anticompetitive Practices Complaint Mexico (Denuncia ante la Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica) is a formal administrative complaint filed with the Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica (COFECE) — the autonomous constitutional body responsible for promoting, protecting, and enforcing free market competition in Mexico — alleging violations of the Ley Federal de Competencia Económica (LFCE), published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 23 May 2014. The complaint is governed by Articles 94 through 95 of the LFCE, which establish the formal requirements for complaints (denuncias) and the investigative authority of COFECE. The denuncia is distinct from a judicial commercial lawsuit — it initiates an administrative proceeding before COFECE rather than a court, and COFECE itself may impose fines and remedies without judicial confirmation for most violations.

The COFECE was created by constitutional reform in 2013 (Decreto publicado en el DOF el 11 de junio de 2013) amending Article 28 of the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, which elevated economic competition from a statutory to a constitutional right in Mexico. Article 28 Constitucional prohibits monopolies, monopolistic practices, and concentrations that harm competition, and mandates COFECE's existence as an autonomous constitutional body with full investigative powers, including dawn raids (visitas de verificación), judicial warrants for searches, and subpoena authority over company records and witness testimony.

The LFCE distinguishes between two main categories of anticompetitive conduct. Prácticas monopólicas absolutas (absolute monopolistic practices) under Article 53 LFCE are the most serious category — cartel agreements between competitors (prácticas colusorias horizontales) including: price-fixing (fijación o manipulación de precios); market or customer allocation (segmentación de mercados o de clientes); output restriction agreements (limitación de la producción); bid rigging in public or private tenders (manipulación de licitaciones y concursos); and collective boycotts. These absolute practices are per se illegal — COFECE does not balance benefits against harms and intent is irrelevant; proof of the agreement's existence is sufficient for liability. Sanctions for absolute practices include fines of up to 10% of the company's annual income, dissolution or division of the participating entities, and criminal prosecution of individual executives under Article 254-Bis of the Código Penal Federal (CPF).

Prácticas monopólicas relativas (relative monopolistic practices) under Article 54 LFCE are vertical or unilateral conducts — predatory pricing (precios predatorios), exclusive dealing arrangements (exclusividades), tying contracts (ventas atadas), discriminatory pricing among competing buyers (discriminación de precios), and margin squeezing — that are only illegal if the accused company has substantial market power (poder sustancial de mercado) AND the practice displaces competitors or causes harm to competition without offsetting efficiency benefits. COFECE must conduct market analysis and apply a rule-of-reason evaluation for relative practices.

Concentraciones (mergers and acquisitions) above specified notification thresholds under Articles 86 through 93 LFCE require prior COFECE notification — parties that complete notifiable transactions without COFECE clearance face fines and potential unwinding orders. Abusive concentrations that substantially lessen competition may be blocked or conditioned by COFECE.

COFECE also has exclusive jurisdiction over broadcasting and telecommunications competition matters under Article 28 Constitucional, exercised jointly with the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT) for the telecom sector — complaints about anticompetitive conduct in those sectors may be filed with either authority depending on the specific conduct.

The Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor (PROFECO) handles individual consumer protection complaints; the COFECE handles market-level competition matters. A business harmed by anticompetitive conduct should distinguish whether their complaint is a consumer protection matter (PROFECO) or a competition matter (COFECE) before filing.

A COFECE Anticompetitive Practices Complaint Mexico is needed when a business, trade association, public institution, or informed individual has credible evidence that market participants are engaging in conduct that violates the Ley Federal de Competencia Económica — specifically practices that restrict, harm, or impede free competition and free market access in Mexico.

The denuncia ante COFECE is appropriate when a company discovers evidence that its competitors are coordinating on prices — whether through direct meetings, trade association communications, or platform-mediated algorithmic coordination — resulting in prices above what competitive markets would produce. Price-fixing cartels (cárteles de precios) are absolute monopolistic practices under Article 53 LFCE requiring no proof of market harm — the agreement itself is the violation.

The complaint is needed when a business participating in public or private tender processes (licitaciones y concursos) detects patterns of bid rigging — competitors submitting artificially inflated losing bids, rotating wins, or coordinating exclusion of legitimate competitors from the process. Bid rigging (manipulación de licitaciones) is a per se absolute monopolistic practice under Article 53 LFCE and also constitutes federal criminal fraud under Article 254-Bis CPF.

The denuncia is appropriate when a company with substantial market power is using its dominance to impose anticompetitive conditions — exclusive dealing requirements that foreclose competitors from key distribution channels, tying arrangements that bundle essential products with secondary products the buyer does not need, or predatory pricing strategies designed to eliminate a smaller competitor below cost before raising prices once the competitor exits.

A formal COFECE complaint is needed when a supplier imposes territorial or customer restrictions through exclusive distribution agreements (acuerdos de distribución exclusiva) that go beyond what is commercially justified and systematically foreclose competitors from market access in violation of Article 54 LFCE.

The complaint is also required when a dominant company in a regulated sector — telecommunications, energy, financial services — abuses its market position through excessive pricing, refusal to deal with competitors needing access to essential facilities (instalaciones esenciales), or other exclusionary conduct that cannot be addressed through individual commercial litigation.

Economists, consultants, and business analysts who discover evidence of anticompetitive conduct in the course of their professional work have standing to file complaints — COFECE accepts complaints from any natural or legal person under Article 94 LFCE and treats complainant identity as confidential where requested.

A valid COFECE Anticompetitive Practices Complaint Mexico under LFCE Articles 94–95 must contain the following essential elements to be formally admitted and investigated by COFECE.

Complainant Identification and Standing: Full legal name, RFC, domicilio fiscal, and contact information of the denunciante (complainant). For legal entities, identification of the legal representative with RFC and poder notarial. Under Article 94 LFCE, any natural or legal person (persona física o moral) may file a complaint — a specific competitive injury to the complainant is not required for absolute monopolistic practice complaints, though it strengthens relative practice and abuso de posición dominante cases. Requests for confidential treatment of complainant identity should be stated explicitly and COFECE will respect confidentiality under its rules.

Identification of Investigated Party: Full legal name, RFC, Registro Público de Comercio data, and domicilio of the denunciado (accused party or parties). For cartel complaints, identify all known members of the alleged cartel. For dominant position abuse, identify the market power holder and describe their market position.

Relevant Market Definition (Mercado Relevante): Description of the relevant product or service market (mercado del producto o servicio) and the relevant geographic market (mercado geográfico relevante) affected by the alleged conduct — following the methodology in Article 58 LFCE and COFECE's market definition guidelines. The complaint should identify the market with sufficient specificity to enable COFECE investigators to scope their inquiry.

Description of the Alleged Violation: Detailed narrative of the anticompetitive conduct — nature of the practice, how it was discovered, timeframe, participating parties, and mechanism of harm. For absolute practices (cartel): describe the agreement, coordination mechanism, price-setting meetings, or bid-rigging process. For relative practices: describe the dominant firm's conduct, the foreclosure effect on competitors, and evidence of substantial market power.

Legal Classification: Identify the specific LFCE provision violated — Article 53 for absolute monopolistic practices (with specific fraction applicable to the conduct); Article 54 fractions I through VII for relative monopolistic practices; or Article 86 for unreported concentrations. Cross-reference to Article 28 Constitucional where relevant.

Evidence Attached (Pruebas): Documentary evidence supporting the complaint — business records, contracts containing anticompetitive clauses, communications showing coordination (emails, WhatsApp messages, meeting minutes), pricing data showing simultaneous unjustified price movements, tender records showing patterns of bid suppression, market share data, expert economic analysis, or witness accounts. Under Article 95 LFCE, COFECE investigators have the authority to request additional evidence and conduct their own economic analysis — the complaint need not be exhaustive but should present sufficient prima facie evidence to warrant opening an investigation.

Requested Relief: Specific request for COFECE to: (i) initiate a formal investigation (procedimiento de investigación); (ii) issue interim measures (medidas cautelares) under LFCE Article 79 if there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm to competition while investigation proceeds; (iii) refer conduct with criminal elements to the Fiscalía General de la República (FGR) for investigation under Article 254-Bis CPF; and (iv) apply sanctions under LFCE Articles 127–131 upon conclusion of proceedings.

Confidentiality Request: Where the complainant has access to confidential business information about the denunciado's practices (e.g., as a former employee, trading partner, or industry participant), request for protection of confidential information status (información confidencial) for supporting documents under LFCE Article 98.

Forms-legal.com provides this COFECE Anticompetitive Practices Complaint Mexico template as a reference guide. COFECE investigations are complex administrative proceedings conducted by specialised economists and lawyers — complainants with significant evidence of anticompetitive conduct should consider retaining an attorney or economist with expertise in Mexican competition law to prepare the denuncia and manage the investigation process. COFECE also operates a leniency programme (programa de inmunidad) under Article 103 LFCE for cartel members who cooperate with investigations — the first party to disclose a cartel may obtain full immunity from fines.