Santiago, January 28, 2026 — Chile’s Fiscalía Nacional Económica (FNE) saw a marked increase in the use of pre-notification consultations in 2025, alongside faster merger review timelines, as companies increasingly turned to the authority’s informal guidance mechanisms to gain legal certainty ahead of filing.
According to annual statistics released by the FNE’s Mergers Division, the authority concluded 30 merger investigations during the year, while also reporting a rise in complex pre-notification queries under the regime introduced in 2021. The data point to growing reliance on early engagement with the authority as a tool to streamline merger control and reduce procedural risk.
Pre-notification and media ownership reviews
The 2025 report also highlights increased use of the FNE’s pre-notification consultation mechanism, in place since 2021. The authority recorded a rise in complex pre-notification queries, which totalled 17 during the year.
Average response times for such consultations stood at nine days, increasing to 13 days where parties requested a formal written opinion on the legal nature of a transaction. Questions relating to transaction qualification remained the most frequently raised issue, mirroring trends observed in 2024.
Total Mergers Caseload
The authority received 33 merger notifications during the year and completed 30 investigations. Of these, 28 stemmed from mandatory notifications, while two were initiated ex officio.
All notified transactions were resolved at Phase 1. Twenty-seven were cleared unconditionally, while one was cleared with conditions, requiring the implementation of mitigation measures. No transactions were blocked.
The average review period for transactions cleared unconditionally was 27 days, well below the statutory 30-day limit for Phase 1 investigations. Excluding agreed suspensions, the average duration fell further to 24 days.
By contrast, the single transaction cleared with conditions took 152 days to conclude, reflecting suspensions agreed between the parties and the authority, as well as procedural pauses triggered by the submission and assessment of mitigation commitments.
Simplified procedure gains traction
The data also show continued efficiency gains under Chile’s simplified notification regime. Among the 28 notified investigations concluded in 2025, average review times fell compared with 2024 for transactions submitted through the simplified procedure without overlaps, dropping from 23 days to 17 days.
Review timelines for transactions notified under the simplified procedure with overlaps remained stable at an average of 28 days.
FNE National Economic Prosecutor Jorge Grunberg said the figures reflect the authority’s commitment to maintaining a collaborative, expedited, and transparent merger control system aligned with international best practice.
“Since the merger control regime entered into force in June 2017, we have continuously improved our processes to enhance efficiency and predictability, protecting competition in Chilean markets without hindering economic dynamism,” Grunberg said.
Separately, the report details activity under Chile’s media ownership review regime. Requests for opinions under the Press Law — required for changes in ownership of state-concessioned media outlets — increased from 46 to 52 in 2025, with the FNE issuing 47 opinions during the year.
