The Secretary of Commerce
fined Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes for more than $389 million.
It is due to the lack of compliance with
previous
sanctions and fines
, within the framework of an investigation for abuse of a dominant position.
All this occurs in the midst of the Government's offensive due to the shortages in Fair Prices and the evident nervousness caused by the escalation of inflation.
The resolution of the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC), which reports to the Secretary of Commerce Matías Tombolini, points out that the brewery is not complying with the corrective measures previously imposed and therefore new sanctions were filed.
In August 2021, the then Ministry of Domestic Trade fined the brewery
$150 million for abuse of
exclusive dominant position.
Although the company appealed the sanction, the Competition Defense resolution
stipulates that the ordered measures can be appealed with non-suspensive effect
, which means that the company must comply with the rule until the competent court resolves the appeal.
From the CNDC, they specified that it was found that
"the brewery company was not actually complying with the corrective measures."
These are behaviors that lead to the exit of competitors from the market and the blocking of new players, weakening competition, which gives rise to an
"anti-competitive closure of the market".
Consequently, the Secretary of Commerce, at the request of the CNDC, imposed a penalty of 11,467 mobile units per day from September 9, 2021 inclusive to April 6, 2022 inclusive, which totals a fine of 2,396,603 mobile units.
This equates to $389,567,817.65.
To determine the amount of the penalty, the value of the "mobile units" is taken into account, whose objective is to prevent the fine imposed from being liquefied by the passage of time.
The Ministry of Commerce updated this year the value of the mobile unit to $162.55.
Controls for Fair Prices
In recent weeks and in the midst of a rise in prices, the Ministry of Commerce multiplied inspections and
applied 770 fines for $806 million
for alleged breaches of the Fair Prices program.
These controls led to the closure of some supermarket branches due to
"missing merchandise and stock"
.
The escalation of the inflation that January escalated to 6%, which contrasts with the 5.1% of December and the 4.9% of the previous month;
and that an even higher number is foreseen for March caused an intensification of the Government's surveillance of large supermarkets, the most representative channel of Fair Prices.
According to Comercio, in the different inspections
"infractions related to lack of merchandise and stock were registered"
, especially in
"perfumery, personal care, cleaning, oils, tuna, flour, grass and noodles".
Weeks ago, Tombolini posted a video on his Twitter account with images of the different operations carried out.
"The State has been doing its part, that's why those who don't comply get a sanction. Prizes and punishments, that's what an agreement is about," Tombolini tweeted, referring to the operation at the Jumbo branch.
NS
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