CHILE Law and Practice Contributed by: Claudio Lizana, Daniela León, Tomás Appelgren and María Jesús Gaete, Estudio Lizana
There are no filings required for foreign direct investments. In connection with reporting obli - gations to the Central Bank, please see 1.2 Leg- islation Relating to Particular Sectors . Finally, Chile does not have a specific regula - tion addressing foreign subsidies. However, its legal framework ensures that foreign investors are treated equitably and transparently. 4.7 Special Consideration for Joint Ventures Pursuant to the Guidelines on Horizontal Merg - ers, for joint ventures, the FNE focuses on assessing potential co-ordinated effects, as these associations create or strengthen struc - tural links between the parent companies. This potentially increases their ability to co-ordinate competitive behaviour, both within the joint ven - ture’s market and in other markets, especially if their activities overlap. If any party participates in the same market as the joint venture or if the joint venture consoli - dates the parties’ activities in the same market, the FNE will also examine potential unilateral effects. This involves considering how each party’s competitive incentives are altered, given that any consumer switching would be partially recaptured through their participation in the joint venture, and assessing the degree of influence each party has over the joint venture’s competi - tive behaviour. 5. Decision: Prohibitions and Remedies 5.1 Authorities’ Ability to Prohibit or Interfere With Transactions During the investigation, the FNE may approach the parties in order to discuss potential remedies
or for the parties to amend those they already offered. Furthermore, once the investigation has con - cluded (and if the remedies offered are consid - ered insufficient, when applicable), the FNE is entitled to block the transaction. For this pur - pose, the FNE will issue a well-founded resolu - tion supported by a report detailing the elements considered, the findings of the investigations, as well as its conclusions, explaining why the transaction has the ability to substantially reduce competition. As mentioned above, if the FNE blocks a trans - action, the parties have the right to file a special review appeal with the TDLC. In this instance, the TDLC, through a reasoned judgment and after listening to the parties’ arguments, will decide whether to clear or block the transaction. Although DL 211 does not establish appeals against this judgment, there is a precedent in which a prohibition decision was reviewed and reversed by the Supreme Court through the fil - ing of a complaint appeal (see 1.3 Enforcement Authorities ). 5.2 Parties’ Ability to Negotiate The FNE must communicate to the parties the anticompetitive risks arising from the transaction based on the background of the investigation, before deciding to extend the investigation to Phase II and also before issuing a prohibition decision. The parties will then have the right to offer remedies to mitigate those risks. Remedies Remedies The parties may offer structural remedies (divest - ment), either by the sale of assets to a suitable buyer or by removing links between competitors.
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