Biography: Competition

Rafael Valdés-Abascal obtained his law degree from the Universidad Panamericana Law School, where he holds chair as competition law professor and has been member of its Academic Council.

He began his practice in Santamarina y Steta SC, at the corporate law area, where he worked from 1987 to 1989. He joined the public sector in 1990 where he held office, among others, as Head of the Legal Counseling Office for the Chief of Staff of the Mexican President. Later, he served as executive secretary of the federal competition commission (FCC), having under his authority the general directions of Legal Affairs, Mergers and Acquisitions, Investigations, and Economic Studies. In 1996 he left the public sector to found Valdes Abascal y Brito Anderson SC.

Rafael Valdés-Abascal has undertaken an intensive practice on competition and antitrust counseling and litigation, being involved in several of the most important cases that have taken place since the creation of the FCC in 1993. He has rendered services to various domestic and foreign companies, most of which are within the top three in their corresponding fields, and has advised federal government agencies in the development of privatisations, deregulation projects and industrial reorganisations.

He has participated in the elaboration of the competition law and regulations currently in force, as well as in the development of the FCC's Merger Guidelines.

Mr Valdés-Abascal has been elected as coordinator of the Competition Law Committee of the National Corporate Bar Association for the period 2011-2012, and has been appointed by the FCC as Non Governmental Advisor for the International Competition Network.