/ Sernac Issues Interpretative Circular Letter on Compliance Plans

On February 14, 2020, after a process of analyzing the suggestions and comments made by various players, including trade associations, law firms, consumer associations, among others, the National Consumer Service (Sernac) published the final version of the Interpretative Circular Letter on Compliance Plans.

One of the most widely discussed topics was the way in which Sernac will ensure its impartiality in approving the Compliance Plans, given that, in accordance with the Law, in addition to approving them, this service must monitor their implementation, which will give rise to an obvious conflict of powers. Therefore, in order to ensure the impartiality required for this type of process, the Ministry of Economy will in the coming weeks issue regulations governing the procedure for approving Compliance Plans, and independent third parties (certifiers) will have access to the information provided by suppliers, with Sernac having sole responsibility for monitoring.

Sernac also clarified that the plan contained in Article 24 is of a preventive nature, i.e. it operates ex ante with respect to a possible contingency in this area. In other words, by developing and implementing it, the supplier will be able to establish preventive, detection and corrective measures in relation to the risks identified in the Compliance Plan, thus serving as a mitigating factor against possible fines, which were substantially increased by Law No. 21,081.

As for the one provided for in Article 54 P, it is noted that it corresponds to a plan of a corrective nature, ex post to a Collective Voluntary Procedure, which will be focused and will have as a consequence the correction of those conducts of infraction to the Consumer Protection Act that gave rise to the Collective Voluntary Procedure, implementing and strengthening the agreement reached in this context.

Link of comments interpretative circular letter: https://www.sernac.cl/portal/604/articles-58247_archivo_01.pdf

Manuel Sotelo

Associate

Alessandri