MLV en GC Summit Chile 2023

2.50pm – 3.40pm New challenges in arbitration and in class actions under consumers protection laws

This session will address the issue of how diversity (gender, race, social upbringing, etc.) has a relevant incidence during the arbitral procedure, starting from the origins of the dispute, through the contractual stage and the decision of the parties to recure to an arbitrator, and up to the later stages of the proceeding, that is, to the moment the arbitral award is rendered. For such purpose, we will engage with the main benefits for the parties associated with the inclusion of diversity mechanisms in the designation of the arbitral tribunal, along with the tools that can be adopted to promote more significant and better diversity in arbitration at a national level.

Secondly, speakers will attempt to answer the question related to the mechanisms by which a provider of goods or services can validly obtain the consent of its consumers for the purpose of modifying the original terms and conditions under which those goods or services were initially purchased or hired. Specifically, we will ask how to reasonably harmonize the natural mutability of contractual relations (due to market reasons) with the provisions of the Consumers Protection Act in cases of large-scale services in which the contractual provisions have been set almost entirely by the provider.

• Cristóbal Jimeno Chadwick, partner, Gutiérrez, Waugh, Jimeno & Asenjo.
• Alfredo Waugh Correa, partner, Gutiérrez, Waugh, Jimeno & Asenjo.
• Macarena Letelier Velasco, executive director, Santiago Arbitration and Mediation Centre (CAM Santiago).
• Dafne González, legal affairs manager, Falabella.

3.40pm – 3.55pm Coffee Break