Violation of trade secrets

The offenses of violation of trade secrets protect trade secrets, understood as information that constitutes a patrimonial asset or that generates an objective expectation of profit. That is, information related to the business activity that is unknown to the rest of the competitors (e.g., customer lists, chemical formulas, blueprints, etc.). Specifically, the following types of crimes are punishable:

1. On the one hand, the crime of industrial espionage (art. 278 of the Penal Code), which punishes the subject who, in order to discover a company secret, takes possession of data or documents, intercepts communications or uses listening or recording devices. The penalty associated with this offense is imprisonment for 2 to 4 years and a fine of 12 to 24 months, but if the secrets discovered are subsequently disseminated, the prison sentence is increased to 3 to 5 years.
2. On the other hand, the crime of unfair disposal of a trade secret punishes the dissemination or disclosure of a trade secret by a person under a duty of confidentiality, with a prison sentence of 2 to 4 years and a fine of 12 to 24 months (art. 279 of the Penal Code). However, if the secret is used for personal gain, the indicated penalty is imposed in its lower half.
3. Finally, Article 280 of the Criminal Code punishes, with a prison sentence of 1 to 3 years and a fine of 12 to 24 months, the person who carries out any of the behaviors described above, knowing the illicit origin of the secret and without having participated in its discovery.

Crime of raw material theft

It is punishable by a prison sentence of 1 to 5 years and a fine of 12 to 24 months, the withdrawal from the market of raw materials or products of basic necessity with the intention of depriving a sector of the market of supplies, forcing a price alteration or seriously harming consumers (art. 281 of the Penal Code).

Advertising crime

Article 282 of the Penal Code typifies the advertising crime, which punishes with prison sentences of 6 months to 1 year or a fine of 12 to 24 months, manufacturers or traders who make false allegations or state uncertain characteristics in their offers or advertising of products or services, provided that they may cause serious and manifest damage to consumers.

Fraudulent automatic billing offense

Article 283 of the Penal Code punishes the person who bills higher amounts for products or services whose price is measured by means of automatic devices, altering or manipulating such devices, provided that this is done to the detriment of the consumer. This offense carries a prison sentence of 6 months to 1 year and a fine of 6 to 18 months.

Market abuse offenses

Market abuse offenses punish the following criminal modalities:

1. The crime of price manipulation, regulated in art. 284 of the Criminal Code, which consists of using violence, threats, deception or any other mechanism to alter the prices resulting from the free market. Likewise, price alteration conducts in the financial markets (for example, the banking market) are punished, specifically, the dissemination of news with false economic data to alter the quoted price of a financial instrument or manipulate a reference index, as well as the alteration of such price by means of real or fictitious acts of negotiation.
2. The crime of insider trading, provided for in art. 285 of the Criminal Code, which punishes the acquisition or transfer of a financial instrument (e.g. shares), using privileged information to which one has had reserved access, or the recommendation to a third party to use such privileged information.
3. The crime of disclosure of privileged information, Article 285 bis of the Criminal Code, which punishes the possession of privileged information and its disclosure outside the normal exercise of their work or functions, provided that the integrity of the market or investor confidence is put at risk.

Criminal liability of legal persons

Legal persons may be punished for the commission of a crime against the market and consumers, in which case the penalty to be imposed shall be:

1. A fine of 2 to 5 years or three to five times the profit obtained, if the crime committed by the natural person is punishable by more than 2 years of imprisonment.
2. Fine from 6 months to 2 years or from 6 months to 2 years or twice the amount of the benefit obtained, in the other cases.

Likewise, the Judge may impose the penalties of dissolution, suspension of activities, closure of premises, prohibition to carry out activities in the future, special disqualification to obtain subsidies and public aid and judicial intervention.