PERU

On September 14, the Executive Branch, through Supreme Resolution No. 100-2021-PCM, appointed Julián Fernando Palacín as the new president of the National Institute for the Defence of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi in Spanish), in replacement of Hania Pérez de Cuellar. This appointment follows the expiration of the five-year term that Cuellar was required by law to serve. The new president is a lawyer and was a congressional candidate for Peru Libre (ruling party). He is already in office.

Palacín is a lawyer from the San Juan Bautista University, and has been an insurance expert at the law firm Julián Palacín Lawyers. However, he has no experience in public management, nor in matters related to Indecopi. Moreover, Palacín is the son of the Argentinean-Peruvian lawyer Julián Palacín Fernández, who was part of the technical team of Perú Libre during the campaign for the presidential run-off election.

During an interview when he was a candidate for Congress, Palacín expressed his position on state ownership. In this line, he stated that existing contract-laws cannot be changed or eliminated, however, he said that it is necessary to review and know those that have “monopolistic clauses or are harmful or abusive contracts”, with the aim of renegotiating them. He also said that there should be a “limit” on state advertising, because “people’s rights cannot be on the same line as the press’ freedom of expression”.