On April 8, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled on the appeals filed by the National Economic Prosecutor (“FNE”), Cencosud S.A. (“Cencosud”), SMU S.A. (“SMU”), Walmart Chile S.A. (“Walmart”) the National Corporation of Consumers and Users of Chile (“Conadecus”) and the Organization of Consumers and Users of Chile (“Odecu”), against the judgement pronounced by the Court of Defense of Antirust ( “TDLC”) in February 2019.

The Supreme Court ruling rejects the resources of the supermarkets and accepts the FNE’s claim, increasing the fines originally imposed from 5,766 UTA to Cencosud, 3,458 UTA to SMU and 4,743 UTA to Walmart to 11,532 UTA, 6,876 UTA and 11,160 UTA respectively . The Supreme Court stated that the damage caused by the collusive acts was worthy of a substantial increase in the fines imposed by the TDLC.

Likewise, the Supreme Court reiterates the obligation for the three supermarkets to implement compliance programs on antitrust regulations that are complete, real, serious and effective. In the judgment of the sentencer, the verification of collusion for a period of at least 4 years shows that the guidelines imposed by Cencosud, SMU and Walmart in their compliance programs and codes of ethics were not suitable or effective in complying with the preventive purpose expected of these programs, which reveals the need to improve said programs and, at the same time, sanction their lack of effectiveness.

Finally, the Supreme Court accepted the appeals of Conadecus and Odecu only insofar as it provides for the FNE to investigate the existence of conduct contrary to free competition in other markets or other products, since the history of the administrative investigation involves additional products, such as wines, dairy products, carbonated drinks and other types of meat.

To review the complete sentence, enter the Supermarkets Sentence.

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