[News] Chicken collusion: Sernac announces agreement with SMU and clients will be compensated

[FNX Magokiler]

A universe of about 188 thousand people who are beneficiaries of the Basic Solidarity Disability Pension will receive compensation of around $13,600 in April of next year. The legal actions filed against Cencosud and Walmart continue. [UPDATED]

The National Consumer Service (Sernac), together with the consumer association Conadecus, reached a judicial agreement with the SMU supermarket chain (Unimarc, Mayorista 10, Alvi) for the chicken collusion.

In this way, a universe of about 188 thousand people who are beneficiaries of the Basic Solidarity Disability Pension will receive compensation of around $13,600, in April of next year.

The conciliation reached established a series of commitments. One of them is that the supermarket chain pays compensation of 3,438 Annual Tax Units (UTA), whose value is equivalent to $2,607,337,944.

“Considering the impossibility of determining the total number of consumers affected by the collusion, the parties agreed to benefit with compensation the people who receive the Basic Solidarity Disability Pension, which represents a group of hypervulnerable consumers,” Sernac explained.

This group of people represent a universe of around 187,578. The number of beneficiaries and the exact sum could vary depending on the number of pensioners who register in the month in which the payment is made.

The agreement was approved by the Court for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC) by resolution of November 13, 2023.

 

 

SMU will transfer the resources within 180 days from this date, so the payment to the benefited consumers should be finalized. approximately next April.

“In the event that, for any reason, after the payment has been made and the period established by this agreement has elapsed, if there are funds not transferred and/or claimed by the beneficiary consumers, they will be delivered to a Competitive Fund in accordance with the provisions of the Consumer Law, an initiative that allows the financing of initiatives carried out by consumer associations,” Sernac added.

This conciliation agreement reached considers only the company SMU, so the legal actions filed for this same issue against Cencosud and Walmart are still being processed.

SMU Statement
The SMU supermarket chain issued a statement, confirming that they have “reached an agreement with the National Consumer Service (Sernac) and the National Corporation of Consumers and Users (Conadecus) in the class action lawsuit initiated by these two organizations.” .

“From the beginning, the company actively participated in the trial, with the objective of reaching an agreement with Sernac and Conadecus to be able to provide compensation that benefits consumers. Given the company's conservative policy in its finances, the Board of Directors decided to end a process that had been open for a long time, being the first of the supermarket chains to achieve this agreement," they close.

 

https://www.elmostrador.cl/mercados/2023/11/28/colusion-de-los-pollos-sernac-anuncia-acuerdo-con-smu-y-clientes-seran-compensados/