The Competition Tribunal dismissed a lawsuit by Sociedad Comercial Gaete y Navarrete against Fisco de Chile and Dirección de Bienestar Social de la Armada, for alleged predatory and disloyal competition practices, that would have been carried out in the latter institution’s supermarket, in the city of Puerto Williams.
Regarding Fisco-Armada de Chile, the Tribunal considered that it lacked passive legal standing to be sued for the described matters, since Dirección de Bienestar de la Armada’s legal statute establishes the entity’s autonomy for managing and administrating its establishmens, and it was not proved that the directors of Armada de Chile represented the Dirección de Bienestar. This entity must respond for its own actions, having legal personality and an independent patrimony.
As for the Armada’s Dirección de Bienestar Social, the Tribunal dismissed the lawsuit because the presented evidence was deemed insufficient to convince the judges that Supermercado Naval serves all audiences, therefore not complying with Resolución 691 of the Comisión Resolutiva. There was no definitive proof regarding market structure and characteristics. Nevertheless, the Tribunal considered that Dirección de Bienestar’s administration of Puerto Williams’s Supermercado Naval can be subject of reproach in this Tribunal.