William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review
Abstract
The countries of the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) have great potential to produce clean and reliable energy. However, this potential has only been exploited to a limited extent. Network industries, such as the electricity sector, have special features that create unique challenges for both developed and developing countries seeking to adequately manage this important part of the economy. Although the member countries of the Andean Community have substantially reformed their energy industries in the past decades, this sector still requires further competition. So far, most of the efforts undertaken by these countries have neglected the possibility of enhancing competition in the energy market through deeper regional integration. This Article explores the benefits and challenges of pursuing regional energy market integration in the Andean Community by examining the current Andean legal regime and comparing its most important aspects with the regime implemented during the process of energy integration in the European Union. The aim of this analysis is to propose several changes to the Andean legal framework in order to improve the regional energy integration regime from a competition law perspective.