Expedited Summary Proceeding is Amended

On September 3, 2021, the Argentine Securities and Exchange Commission (“CNV,” after its acronym in Spanish) issued General Resolution No. 904 (the “Resolution”) approving a new regulation to amend its Expedited Summary Proceeding. The amendment affects, among other aspects, when the proceeding applies as well as its scope and limits. 

The amendment was preceded by Resolution No. 892, which had submitted the preliminary General Resolution to public consultation.

The CNV issued the new Resolution with the purpose of making a comprehensive amendment of the provisions governing the expedited procedure so as to establish a complete, viable and potentially effective procedure to every applicable case.

The Resolution mainly establishes the following:

-    the inclusion of a “Grid of Infringing Conducts subject to Abbreviated Summary Proceeding” (the “Grid”), which lists the possible infringing conducts that, based on the conditions and scope established in the Resolution, may be processed under the expedited proceeding;
-    the infringing conducts included in the Grid will be analyzed, in all cases, under the scope of the broad and general duties required of any person who, in any capacity, intervenes in the public offering, such as the duties of responsibility, loyalty, diligence and transparency;
-    excluding from the Resolution cases in which: (i) the offender had allegedly obtained some economic benefit based on the irregular conduct; (ii) economic damage had been caused to investors or to the market; (iii) the company under investigation has prior standing sanctions for infringing conducts contemplated in the Grid; (iv) the charges filed, which result in the summary proceeding, involve over seven infringing conducts; and (v) there are pending court cases in criminal proceedings that involve the facts under investigation;
-    the sanctions imposed within the framework of the expedited proceeding may only consist of a warning and/or fine; and, in the latter case, a maximum amount of two million pesos applies.

With respect to the preliminary hearing applicable to the proceeding, all the summoned parties, the investigating officer and whoever the latter may designate for such purpose must participate. At the preliminary hearing, the defendants may submit all the defenses they consider pertinent and there are two alternatives for its conclusion:

(i)    Acknowledgement: If all the summoned parties expressly acknowledge the infringing conducts and their liability, the hearing is concluded, thus closing the casefile. 

The conclusive resolution that orders the application of sanctions must be issued within thirty business days from the date of the preliminary hearing and notified to the summoned parties, the markets and/or any other pertinent organization, for the purpose of its publication in their respective information systems. The Commission will also publish the acknowledgment on its website.

(ii)    Lack of acknowledgment: If there is no express acknowledgment by the summoned parties of the alleged breaches and their liability, the expedited procedure will be terminated and the summary proceeding will continue.  

Finally, the Resolution reviews and updates provisions related to the summary proceeding.