Peruvian judge rules Chancay port must obey national regulations

A Peruvian judge has sided with the state, rejecting a legal challenge by Chinese state-owned shipping giant Cosco over the regulation of the newly built Chancay port. The court's decision asserts Peru's authority to oversee tariffs, services, and exclusivity agreements within the $1.3 billion facility.

Cosco had filed a lawsuit, arguing that Peru's National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Intellectual Property (Indecopi) was overstepping its bounds. The company claimed that Indecopi's actions threatened its constitutional rights and disrupted the established terms under which it developed the port, intended to be South America's primary gateway to China.

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the judge concluded that Indecopi's actions are part of the regular exercise of the functions that the law assigns to it to prevent possible market failures and protect users and are not a violation of freedom of enterprise, free contracting or due process.

However, the Chancay Civil Court found Cosco's claims unfounded. The judge ruled that Indecopi's review of competition within the port falls under its regular functions. These functions aim to prevent market failures and safeguard consumers, and do not constitute an infringement on freedom of enterprise, contract, or due process. The court affirmed that Indecopi's actions were within the legal framework, dismissing Cosco's arguments of power abuse or lack of legal basis.

The Chancay port, with a capacity to handle one million containers annually, is 60% owned by Cosco and 40% by Peruvian mining company Volcan. The ruling clarifies a point of contention regarding the port's operational sovereignty, as Cosco had sought autonomy while regulatory bodies asserted their oversight.

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reviewing the conditions of competition within the terminal 'does not constitute a patrimonial dispossession nor a unilateral mutation of contracts', but is part of the functions that the law assigns to the agency.