CHILE Law and Practice Contributed by: Claudio Lizana, Daniela León, Tomás Appelgren and María Jesús Gaete, Estudio Lizana
Furthermore, with respect to the procedure for seek - ing compensation for damages caused by anti-com - petitive conduct, the Chilean legal system does not provide for rules that mitigate the civil liability of immu - nity applicants, nor is there a limitation that exempts them from joint liability for such damages. 9.2 Contribution Having established the presence of joint and several liability for the payment of fines and damages, it is important to note that the Civil Code stipulates that a defendant who has paid either the full amount or a substantial portion of the debt is entitled to initiate a civil action seeking reimbursement from the other joint debtors for their respective shares. The prevail - ing legal doctrine suggests that the most appropriate method for determining each debtor’s contribution is to allocate it according to their respective degrees of fault and causal contribution to the damage. Injunctions or precautionary measures in competi - tion law are governed by Article 25 of DL 211, which provides that the TDLC, either on its own initiative or upon request from a party, and at any stage of the proceedings ‒ including prejudicial stages ‒ may order any precautionary measures deemed necessary to prevent the negative effects of the conduct brought to its attention and to safeguard the public interest. These measures are inherently provisional, remain - ing in effect only as long as there is a risk of adverse consequences if they are not upheld. As such, they may be amended or revoked at any stage of the pro - ceedings. Additionally, these measures must be pro - portional, restricted to what is strictly necessary to safeguard the interests involved. 10. Other Remedies 10.1 Injunctions To request a precautionary measure, the petitioner must submit a request to the court, providing argu - ments as to why the measure is essential to prevent the negative effects of the anti-competitive behaviour. For the request to be deemed admissible, the law pro - vides that it must include “evidence that establishes, at least a serious presumption of the right asserted,
or the facts alleged.”Moreover, when deemed neces - sary, the TDLC may require a bond to secure against any potential unjustified harm that the precautionary measure might cause. Upon submission of the precautionary measure request, the court may either reject or approve it “with notice”, meaning the measure will take effect after a period of three days, unless the opposing party files an objection within that time frame. If an objection is raised, a separate procedure, known as an “incident”, will be initiated to address the admissibility of the pre - cautionary measure. This incident will be processed separately from the main proceedings and will not suspend it. In exceptional cases, the TDLC may order the precau - tionary measures to be implemented without notice to the affected party, only if there are sufficient grounds for doing so. If the measure is granted under these cir - cumstances, the applicant is required to give notice to the affected party within five days of the court’s deci - sion; failure to do so will render the measures void. The TDLC may extend this period if deemed neces - sary for a reasonable cause. If the case warrants urgency, because the effects of the act being prevented would be very serious or irreversible, the court will resolve the precautionary measure request rather quickly (eg, the day after its submission). 10.2 Alternative Dispute Resolution Article 22 of DL 211 authorises the TDLC to invite the parties to seek a settlement once the deadline for responding to the complaint has elapsed. Further - more, the TDLC may initiate settlement proceedings as many times as it deems necessary throughout the litigation process. Additionally, the parties may agree to a settlement outside the proceedings and submit it to the court for its review and approval, thereby bring - ing the trial to an end. Under Chilean law, arbitration is permissible as long as it is not expressly prohibited by law and all the par - ties involved agree to it.
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