The Alteration of Prices as Fraud. Commentaries About the Historical Origins of Article 285 of the Chilean Penal Code and Its Interpretation

By Andrés Salazar (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

This article aims to provide an alternative view on the debate regarding the content and scope of article 285 of the Penal Code. Three theses are held fundamentally: The Chilean Penal Code considers the mere price manipulation as a kind of fraud and this characterization has a relevant historical basis. Secondly, that the exclusion of coalitions from the national text (with respect to its source, the Spanish Penal Code) has a political basis consistent with the social concerns and legislative debates that took place in the late nineteenth century in our country. Finally, it is concluded that while it is true that the offense in question is not one directly focused on protecting what we understand by free competition, given the qualities of the conducts selected by the legislator it is considered that certain collusive practices (those having transcendence in prices fixation in a given market) can also be reached by this offense.

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