External Circular No. 100-000012 of August 9, 2021

Surveillance of the implementation and compliance of the PTEE by the Superintendence of Companies

The Superintendence of Companies (the “Superintendence”) enacted the External Circular No. 100-000012 of August 9, 2021 (the “Circular”) by means of which it was established how it will conduct the functions to surveil the implementation and compliance of the Business Ethics and Transparency Programs (“PTEE” per its Spanish acronym), established in External Circular 100-000003, 2016 (modified by Resolution No. 100-006261 of October 2, 2020) and External Circular No. 100-000011 of August 9, 2021. The purpose of the PTEE is to prevent risks regarding international bribery and corruption with respect to employees, contractors, managers and associates of a company.

The functions established in the Circular to surveil the implementation and compliance the PTEE are:

1. Pedagogy: Consists in (i) trainings regarding the main concepts of PTEE, (ii) establishing a link in the web page of the entity with content regarding PTEE, (iii) creating alliances with public entities and private companies to promote PTEE, (iv) trainings regarding the Report 52 of PTEE and (v) creating an online course regarding PTEE.
2. Legal compliance: Consists in assuring a compliance of the law and rules regarding PTEE to guarantee a correct functioning of the aforementioned program. In this regard the Superintendence will conduct visits to the premises of the companies and/or make requests to the companies. In case the Superintendence identifies (i) a minor and first time breach it will order the company to solve the situation within a specific timing and (ii) a material or reiterated breach it will begin administrative investigation and impose fines of up to 200 minimum legal monthly wages.
3. Timely and prompt action: The Superintendence will establish annual verifications or technological tools (e.g., the Report 52 of PTEE) in order to identify situations that could derived in a risk of breach.

In the following link you will find the External Circular No. 100-000012 of August 9, 2021.

Author: Raúl Vargas I [email protected] I Corporate Law