Chile’s environmental framework is built upon a) Article 19 N° 8 of our 1980’s Constitution; b) Law 19.300 called Environmental Framework Law; c) Law 20,417 which amended Law 19.300 and created the Superintendence of Environment; d) Presidential Decree N° 40, which contains specific regulations to interpret and execute Law 19,300; e) Law 20.600, that creates the Environmental Courts; f) Sectoral regulations with environmental aspects, such us Urban Planning and Construction Law, Sanitary Code, Protection of Native Forest Law, etc.

The Chilean Constitution guarantees the right to live in a pollution-free environment and requires the State to protect this right and see to the preservation of nature. To safeguard this right, specific restraints may be imposed on other rights, such as the right to exercise any business activity or to own property.

The Environmental Framework Law was originally enacted to tackle a system that had been most readily recognised by its abundance of scattered, fragmented and sector-specific regulations which had created, in time, environmental competencies freely apportioned among several entities. Amended by Law 20.417, it contains today our system of environmental liability, environmental quality standards, emission standards, prevention and decontamination plans, the Environmental Impact Evaluation System (called SEIA), and other environmental management instruments.

Law 20,417, that created the Superintedence of Environment, oversees environmental compliance and a significant portion of sector-specific regulation.

Law 20.600, created 3 special environmental courts which, distributed throughout Chile, entertain all matters involving environmental issues within its corresponding jurisdiction.

Sectoral regulations with environmental aspects are very relevant, in matters such as urban planning, sanitarian issues, native forest regulations, or even odour contamination.

There are three governmental bodies related with the application of environmental regulations in Chile:

First, the Environmental Ministry, which oversees the design and application of environmental policy and all of its corresponding complements. They also oversee all national protected areas (through the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service, which has not been created, though the Bill has been laying in Congress for more than 10 years), international treaty compliance, and climate change policy. Finally, they have all necessary power to compile, collect and analyse environmental information.

Second, the Environmental Evaluation Service (known as “SEA” for its Spanish acronym), whose main function is to manage the SEIA, leading projects to obtain their environmental permit, called Environmental Permit Resolution (or “RCA” for its Spanish acronym).

Third, the Environmental Superintendence (“SMA” for its Spanish acronym), which is a public service that executes, organises and coordinates follow-up and compliance of RCAs, as well as of prevention and decontamination plans, environmental quality and emissions regulations, management plans, and other environmental instruments established by law.

Finally, there are Environmental Courts that entertain all environmental affairs, such as environmental damage lawsuits, and SMA or RCA sponsor claims, among several others.

The main environmental permit in Chile is the RCA, which is granted after the approval of the Environmental Impact Study (“EIS”) or an Environmental Impact Declaration (“EID”), both different types of environmental assessments. The first one assumes significant environmental impact hence offers mitigation or compensation measures. The second one is an affidavit of sorts by which the sponsor declares that its project will fully comply with all environmental legislation.

Though the RCA is the environmental licence, all sector specific permits must be obtained before the corresponding authorities to execute and operate the project. Moreover, some of the more complex sectoral permits are also part of the environmental assessment, guaranteeing that all of the project’s main components are environmentally screened as part of the Project and not independently. These permits are called “PAS” for their Spanish acronym.

If the owner of a given project has already obtained an RCA, then the sectorial authority may not reject an application for a PAS on environmental grounds.

Yes, and though the procedure seems simple since transferor and transferee must only inform the transfer to the SEA, they could (and regularly are) both be subject to several information requirements, since the SEA must have the certainty that the current sponsor is not evading environmental liability and the new sponsor will have the ability to comply with the RCA.

RCA’s are granted by the Environmental Assessment Commission (“CEA” for its Spanish acronym). Any decisions made by the CEA may be challenged and appealed. If it is an EIS, the appeal will be filed before the Ministry Council. If it is an EID, the appeal will go to the Executive Director of the SEA. Any decision ruled by either of them, may be appealed finally before the Environmental Court. As a last resort or even in parallel, sponsors or stakeholders may submit an annulment action before the Supreme Court.

Though this is the regular channel of action, several other claims, contained in Law 19.880, of Administrative Procedures and Law 20.600, of Environmental Courts, may be filed against the decision made by the CEA, the most important one being the Void Request Declaration, with which third parties ask civil judges or an environmental court (depending on the action) to declare that the RCA is null and void.

As of December 2021, between Law 19,300 and Supreme Court precedent, any project subject to environmental concern can be required to submit an EIS or an EID. Indeed, the actual standard is a mix between a list of projects that must submit themselves to the SEIA, and some environmental criteria of impacts focused on the significance of them.

The list is contained in article 10 of Law 19,300 and names the following projects:

A) Hydraulic works
B) High-voltage power lines and substations.
C) Powerplants over 3MW.
D) Nuclear reactors and related facilities.
E) Mass transit facilities
F) Ports, shipping lanes, shipyards and maritime terminals.
G) Urban development projects for the tourism industry.
H) Industrial or real estate projects built in air-pollution saturated zones
I) Mining projects.
J) Oil, gas, ore and other similar pipelines.
K) Factories used in the metallurgy, chemical, textile industries and in the production of construction materials.
L) Agribusinesses, slaughterhouses, animal husbandry facilities, dairy farms and fattening facilities of industrial dimensions.
M) Timber production projects on fragile lands.
N) Intensive exploitation and harvesting projects and processing plants for biological resources.
Ñ) Production, storage, transportation, disposition or reutilization of toxic, explosive, radioactive, flammable, corrosive or reactive substances.
O) Sanitary Remediation projects
P) Execution of works, programs or activities in protected areas.
Q) Massive application of chemical products in urban areas or rural areas close to populated zones.
R) Projects that use genetically modified organisms with production purposes in non-confined areas.
S) Any project that could harm a wetland or any of its components.

All the activities above must go through the SEIA, and if it generates one or more of the effects listed in Article 11 of Law 19,300, then the sponsor must file an EIS. The effects listed in article 11 are the following:

A) Risk to human health, due to the quantity and quality of waste produced.
B) Negative impact effects on the quantity and quality of renewable natural resources, including soil, water and air.
C) Resettlement of human populations or significant alteration to their lifestyles and customs.
D) Adverse effects to the environmental value of the territory of the intended activity as well as to the protected settlements, resources and areas, priority conservation areas, protected wetlands and glaciers in or adjoining it.
E) Significant disturbance, in terms of magnitude or duration, to the landscape or tourism value of any area.
F) Alteration of monuments or sites of an anthropological, archaeological, historical or generally cultural value.

The decision of the SEA in connection with the granting of the RCA may be challenged by the sponsor or third parties as explained in 5 above.

Environmental damage is defined by the law as any significant loss, reduction, detriment or impairment produced to the environment or to any of its components.

Liability for environmental damage in Chile is “subjective”. Therefore, a plaintiff seeking the reparation of the damaged environment must demonstrate (a) the existence of damage; (b) that the damage was caused by the defendant, and (c) that the defendant acted negligently or fraudulently in causing the damage.

However, the law also establishes that a person who causes the environmental damage is legally presumed to be liable if there is a final ruling declaring a noncompliance of environmental quality standards, emissions standards, prevention or decontamination plans, special regulations for environmental emergencies, or rules on the protection, preservation or conservation of the environment. Nowadays, the interpretation of this legal presumption is extensive.

On the other hand, there are some cases of strict liability, like the contamination with pesticides under Decree Law 3,557, or damages to the sea in the case of oil spilling under Decree Law 2,222.

A person who is held liable for environmental damage may be compelled by environmental courts to repair the environment, and can also be required to compensate any monetary damage arising from the environmental damage by civil courts. In addition, that person may face administrative fines imposed by the SMA if the damage entailed the violation of any specific environmental law or existing RCA.

Finally, in August 2023, the New Law on Economic Crimes and Offenses against the Environment came into force, which establishes a particular and differentiated statute that allows determining the criminal liability of legal entities, and which is specifically directed at their legal representatives. Specifically, it creates several (four) categories of white collar crimes, defining the applicability of the penalties that the rest of the law develops. Crimes against the Environment are considered economic crimes, since they are committed in the exercise of a position, function or position within a company or for the benefit of it.

The statute of limitations for the liability arising from environmental damage is 5 years from the moment in which the damage becomes evident.

If the project has an RCA, both aspects will have been assessed and considered by it, and the SMA can inquire and ask for all pertinent information. Indeed, baseline studies included in the EIS or the EID must contain a detailed analysis of the area that may be affected by the project or activity. In this context, alleged contaminated soil or water will be subject to an SMA investigation, and the sponsor will have to comply with the SMA’s requirements to inform, mitigate and repair whatever damage is found, while the final ruling is not issued.

If the project has no RCA and doesn´t need one, there is no general legal rule establishing the obligation to investigate land for potential soil and groundwater contamination, nor a positive obligation to provide investigative reports. However, sectoral regulations should be considered, such as the Water Code.

As stated in the previous answer, it will depend on whether the project has an RCA or not. It is relevant to consider that in Chile there is no such thing as a Soil Protection Law. Just very recently a special group was formed to discuss and produce a bill regarding soil protection and remediation, to submit it to Congress.

The legal action for reparation of the environmental damage may be filed by any affected party (including a new owner), the correspondent town hall or the Government through the Department of Justice.

In addition, within the same action, the interested party may require monetary compensation for said damages.

However, in the case of a purchase of a piece of land with historical contamination, the new owner will not be able to file this action if the buyer purchased the land knowing that it was contaminated.

In connection with liquid waste, there are 3 main bodies of law:

A) The disposal of industrial liquid waste into the public sewage system is regulated by Presidential Decree N° 609/98 of the Ministry of Public Works. This decree regulates the monitoring process and the maximum concentrations of polluting substances permitted in the discharge of industrial liquid waste into sewage infrastructure.

B) The disposal of industrial liquid waste into superficial water sources, including oceans, lakes, channels, rivers, lagoons, aqueducts, etc is regulated by Presidential Decree N° 90/00 of the Ministry of the Presidency’s General Secretariat. This regulation controls the monitoring process and the maximum concentrations of polluting substances permitted in industrial liquid waste discharged into inner and maritime waters or any other surface water sources.

C) Finally, the discharge of industrial liquid wastes into groundwater through an infiltration system is regulated by DS 46/02 of the Presidency General Secretariat Ministry, which also contemplates a monitoring process and the maximum concentrations of polluting substances permitted in the emission of industrial liquid waste in underground waters.

These regulations establish effluent standards that all industries that produce liquid wastes must comply with. For this purpose, industries must have clean production mechanisms, which may even involve operating a liquid waste treatment plant. Under Law 19,300, the construction and operation of an industrial liquid waste treatment plant must go through the SEIA.

In connection with solid waste:

A) Presidential Decree N° 148/03 of the Ministry of Health contains the Regulations for the Management of Hazardous Waste. This decree establishes the minimum health and safety conditions to which the production, possession, storage, transportation, treatment, reuse, recycling, final disposal and other forms of disposal of hazardous waste is subject of.

B) Presidential Decree N° 4/2009 of the Ministry of Health contains the Regulations for the Management of Sludge Generated in Sewage Treatment Plants, which regulates the handling of sludge from wastewater treatment plants. It establishes the sanitary classification of sludge and the minimum sanitary requirements for its handling, as well as the restrictions, requirements and technical for the application of sludge to certain soils.

C) Presidential Decree N° 1/2013 of the Ministry of the Environment, which contains the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register Regulations, must also be taken into account. According to this decree by March 30 of each year, all companies managing hazardous waste must report all movements of said waste to the National System of Waste Declaration, including its origin, type, quantity, destination, and reference of transportation.

D) Finally, Law 20.920, that regulates waste management, extended producer responsibility (EPR), and promotion of recycling, is the newest and most important legal body for solid waste, where producers will have to organise themselves in an individual or collective management system for the waste they produce.

If the disposal is made in an authorised place, the producer effectively transfers liability. However, if the producer disposes its waste at an unauthorised location, or if it lies about any of the waste’s features, it may be held liable for the infringement committed and for any environmental damage.

Law 20,920 that regulates EPR imposes on producers and importers of certain “priority products”, the obligation to recover a percentage of these products at the end of their lifespan; and to organise and finance the management of waste derived from their products that have already been used.

There are six priority products: lubricating oils, electrical and electronic devices, batteries, packaging and tires.

To date, the following regulations are in force:

• Goals for waste collection and recovery of packaging and wrapping (SD No 8/20);
• The Recycling Fund (SD No 7/17);
• Procedure for Setting Recycling Goals for Priority Products (SD No 8/17); and
• Goals for waste collection and recovery of tyres (SD No 8/19)

Pursuant to Presidential Decree 656/00 of the Ministry of Public Health, the owners or users of any building, equipment, facility or machinery that have friable asbestos need an authorization by the Health Authority before conducting any activity in connection with those facilities, such as demolishing, dismantling or modifying them.

In order to get this authorization, the owner of the building, equipment, facility or machinery must present a work plan which must include security and mitigation measures that will be implemented to protect the health of the employees and the surrounding population.

If friable asbestos is found in any work, any activity must be suspended until the Health Authority grants an authorization.

Facilities or buildings where non-friable asbestos could be found, will require a working plan to be approved by the Health Authority, before beginning operation.

In general terms, Presidential Decree N° 656/00 imposes a ban on production, importation, distribution, sale and use of crocidolite asbestos (blue asbestos) and of any product containing it. The production, importation, distribution and sale of any type of asbestos-containing construction materials are also prohibited.

However, it must be considered that in the manufacturing of elements, other than construction materials, if asbestos cannot be replaced with other components in a technically or financially viable way, the use of asbestos is permitted. To this end, the aforementioned Presidential Decree established several regulations that describe an adequate handling of this substance.

Finally, Presidential Decree N° 594/99 of the Ministry of Public Health prohibits the use of asbestos in the workplace.

Regarding other deleterious materials such as mercury, Chile does not have a specific regulation, though several policies have been set in place following the Minamata Convention (which fully entered into force on November 25, 2018 by Presidential Decree 269). Indeed, there are several emissions standards applicable to mercury (for example, D.S N° 28/2013 of the Ministry of Environment, D.S N° 13/2011 of the Ministry of the Environment) and sectorial regulations such us Presidential Decree N° 148/2003 of the Ministry of Health or Presidential Decree N° 594/2000 of the same Ministry, among others.

The Ministry of Public Health is implementing the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) considering types of risks and categories established in Annex IV of CLP.  Currently Title XII of Presidential Decree 43/15 of the Ministry of Public Health allows the use of the GHS system in the labelling of hazardous substances, as long as they also include the hazard pictogram under Chilean Standard NCh 2190 Of. 2003 that was enacted by Decree 43/04 of the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications.

Regarding the classification of hazardous substances, the Chilean Standard NCh 382 Of. 2004 (equivalent to the DOT classification) contains a vast list of materials and substances, all classified in classes and divisions, following international standards.

In connection with classification of hazardous materials, the Chilean Standards NCh 2120/1 to NCh 2120/9 Of 2004 establish definitions and calculation methodologies. These regulations provide that the United Nations 4-digit identification system must be included. They also include Kemler codes.

Finally, Resolution N° 408/16 of the Ministry of Public Health contains a list of substances that are hazardous for health and substances that are subject to importation controls.  This list includes explosive substances, liquids and gases, substances that affect the ozone layer, radioactive substances, and pesticides.

Chile passed an Energy Efficiency Law during the first week of 2021, which aims at large consumers such as big mining, big infrastructure and the wood industry, so as to reduce energy consumption 10% by 2030, and 12% by 2035, for an accumulated total of 28,6 million tons of CO2.

This new legislation give energy efficiency an official framework and an institutional place in energy and sustainable policy in Chile. The first 5-year plan covers the following objectives:

1.- Reduce energy consumption in big consumers by 4%

2.- Energy efficiency measures along state property and employees.

3.- Creation and regulation of an Energy Management System (or SGE) to increase data collection on energy consumption and other energy indicators.

4.- Housing will require an Energy Certification prior to its final reception

5.- Creation of efficiency standards for electric vehicles and promotion of construction and interconnection of charging stations.

6.- Explicit legal recognition of hydrogen fuel as a commercially tradable fuel, giving the Ministry of Energy the power to regulate it and promote it as an energy resource.

Chile is an active party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the Paris Agreement.

There are many mechanisms in place in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as prevention and decontaminations plans for latent or saturated areas, according to which it is not possible to execute new contaminating economic activities, unless new emissions are offset with 1.5 times the existing ones.

On the other hand, it has been set as a national goal that by year 2025, at least 20% of the energy injected to the national grid will be produced by “ERNC” or non-conventional renewable energy power plants, like wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, mini-hydro and tidal.

The General Law on Electricity Services provides that all power companies must demonstrate before the Grid Coordinator every year that a certain percentage of the energy withdrawn from the grid by its customers was injected by ERNC power plants, which has ultimately created a market of ERNC energy.  According to the information provided by the ACERA (a local NGO), during 2019, ERNC power plants amounted to 23,3% of the installed capacity of energy in Chile, and injected 19,4% of the energy generated, equivalent to 48% of the regulated demand of energy.

Finally, Law N° 21.455 regulates climate change by targeting carbon neutrality by 2050 and enabling several sectoral management plans for climate change mitigation and adaptation, among other policies. One of its main innovations will be the greenhouse gas emissions standards and emission reduction certificate to comply with them.

Chile has established clear objectives with a strong multisectoral approach to get “net zero” or low-carbon target. Regarding coal-fired thermoelectric plants, the goal is to withdraw all plants by 2040.  During the year 2021, the Piñera administration announced the retirement of 4 plants by 2025, accelerating the decarbonization plan of the energy matrix. These plants are located in the so-called “sacrifice zones”: densely populated and environmentally neglected areas with environmental decontamination plans (namely, Mejillones and Puchuncaví districts).

As we stated in question 9.1, Law 21.455 establishes, among other matters, a carbon neutrality target for the year 2050. To achieve this objective, the bill establishes 5 Climate Change Management Instruments: Long-Term Climate Strategy, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) from Paris Agreement compromises, Mitigation Plans, Adaptation Plans and Regional Action Plans.

The Chilean government has taken measures to consolidate its energy matrix from clean sources. The National Green Hydrogen Strategy is worth highlighting. At the end of 2021, the Ministry of Energy awarded US $ 50 million for green hydrogen projects to 6 companies. These projects expect to produce more than 45,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, which will reduce more than 600,000 tons of CO2 annually by 2025.

Law 19,300 defines and promotes Sustainable Development. However, the Law has non-mandatory regulations for products or companies. Indeed, it is a system based on voluntary certifications, such as the: a) Environmental Certification of a project according to article 18ter; b) The design and construction of sustainable housing (CVS) and c) Other environmental certifications established by trade associations (using Chilean technical norms and ISO 14001 regulations).

Regarding mandatory regulations, Law 20,920 establishes the recycling of some products and extends liabilities to producers. This law creates a new legal framework for waste management, ‘eco-design’ and recycling of electronics pieces, used oils, exhausted tyres, batteries and packages. This legal framework introduces the Circular Economy concept into Chile, integrating economic activity with sustainable practices.

Additionally, Law 21,100 establishes a general prohibition for supermarkets and retail stores to deliver their products in plastic bags, except to prevent food waste.

It is also worth mentioning Law 21,368, which regulates the use of disposable plastic bottles and has a certification procedure to prove that a plastic product meets the requirements of this law. This law is not yet fully in force.

Finally, in accordance to Decree with Force of Law N° 3/2021, whichever the allegations of false or misleading advertising of a product, whether they refer to the sustainability of a certain product when it does not have it, or whether they wanted to reinforce some sustainable aspects of a product to hide other practices of the same company that are not, they will be considered false or misleading advertising respectively, and specifically sanctioned with a maximum fine of $150,000, if so determined by the Local Judge, and depending on whether they caused damage to the environment, to the quality of life of the people the product was intended for, or if it was or not a recyclable or reusable product.

Chilean antitrust institutional framework, composed of D.L. 211 (modified by Law 20,945), and Laws 19,911(antitrust courts), does not include, nor has it been modified to date to include an exception to the definition or elements of the collusion or cartel conducts.

In this sense, any type of corporate-led sustainability alliance (CSA) between two players in a market, whether agreed explicitly or not, may be reviewed by the National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (Fiscalía Nacional Económica in spanish) and be deemed illegal if it fits with any of the elements with which the Law defines any type of collusion.

All the above, without considering any kind of benefit, exception or support that any CSA could receive from the Executive Branch, though that is not likely to happen, considering the current priorities of the Government in office.

The largest number of court judgements have their origin in RCA´s environmental breaches or projects that have eluded the Environmental Impact Assessment System. In some judgments, climate change has been seen as a risk factor or a force majeure event but that does not prompt any responsibility on the parties, since climate change is not considered a variable of environmental management instruments within the Environmental Impact Assessment System.

However, it is worth highlighting the judgement of the Second Environmental Court (R-141-2017) which, on its own initiative, requires the incorporation of climate change scenarios in the evaluation of additional Mitigation Measures imposed by the RCA on the extraction of water from an aquifer located in the Pampa Lagunillas sector. The Court cites the country’s commitments on the matter -the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement- along with international consensus regarding the implication of climate change in the assessment of underground water resources.

In January of 2020, the Chilean Ministry of the Environment submitted to the National Congress the Climate Change Framework Bill (Bill Number (or “Boletín”) N° 13.191-12), which was finally passed on May 30th of 2022. Law 21.455 was published on June 13th of 2022, and establishes a legal framework to face the challenges presented by climate change, in order to achieve and preserve carbon neutrality by 2050.

To achieve said objective, Law 21,455 creates several management instruments at the national, regional and local levels; adjusts the environmental institutional framework to the climate change new provisions by assigning specific functions and responsibilities to each of its collaborating bodies, starting with the Ministry of the Environment, which becomes the national authority in this matter.

In January 2023, the Environmental Assessment Service published a new guideline, on how to consider climate change on the EIS.

Additionally, the Law establishes guidelines and financial mechanisms to deal with climate change and creates a National Information Access System, including Citizen Participation on Climate Change policy, managed and coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment.

The Law also mandates the Ministry of Public Works to design Strategic Plans for Water Resources in river basins, in order to contribute to water management plans, identify surface and groundwater water gaps, and ascertain its water balance and respective projections. Each river basin in the country must have a Strategic Water Resources Plan, which will be available to the public, reviewed every five years and updated every ten.

Any person – whether a natural or a legal entity – wilfully or negligently causing environmental damage is liable both to restore the damaged environment and to compensate those affected by that dam­age. Several laws have been enacted in the last few years and have reshaped our understanding of corporate governance:

1.- As for civil liability related to environmental damage, it can be transferred to the adminis­trators or representatives of a company unless their lack of participation in, or their opposition to, the act constituting the breach is proven.

2.- On the other hand, criminal environmental liability of legal entities and their directors, officers and employees has been completely overhauled and complemented in the past 15 years, particularly by Law No 20,393 that allows corporations to be criminally liable, and Law No 21,595 that establishes several environmental offences that trigger particularly harsh punish­ments if committed by officers and directors.

A first group of offences relates to projects that:

– have generated a particular type of pollution:

(a) discharged polluting substances into the   ocean or rivers;

(b) extracted water from the ocean or rivers (surface or groundwater);

(c) discharged polluting substances in the ground or into the subsoil;

(d) discharged earth or other materials into wetlands;

(e) extracted components from the ground or the subsoil;

(f) released polluting substances into the air; and

– have also been previously sanctioned for an administrative or sectoral non-compliance:

(a)    should have been environmentally assessed and knowingly did not;

(b) an RCA sponsor has been sanctioned twice for severe or very severe non-com­pliances in the last 10 years;

(c) a water rights owner has made wrongful use of his right.

A second group of offences relates to the sever­ity of the harm that has been generated to the environment or to one of its particularly protected components, such as national protected areas, internationally protected wetlands, and glaciers. Severity is defined according to the following:

(a) spatial extent;

(b) duration of the exposure;

(c) repairability or recovery capabilities;

(d) several species are involved in the event;

(e) species involved in the event are threatened or heavily threatened;

(f) event endangers human health; and

(g) event significantly affects ecosystem ser­vices.

A third group of offences relates to particular conducts within administrative processes:

(a) malicious submitting of false information within the SEIA process; and

(b) obstruction of the SMA’s inspection activities.

Punishments for convictions of any of these offences can mean:

(a) terms of imprisonment between 61 days and 10 years; and

(b) fines between 24,000 and 120,000 UTMs (1 UTM (Unidad Tributaria Mensual) is equivalent to USD80).

Furthermore, in relation to obligations arising from a mine closure plan, Law No 20,551 pro­vides that the mining company or the mining entrepreneur is responsible for compliance with the closure plan, whether that plan is executed directly or by a third party. If the requirements of the mine closure plan are infringed, the legal representatives of the mining company, and whoever is responsible for the breach, will be sanctioned with a fine ranging from 100 to 1,000 Monthly Tax Units (approximately USD7,000– 70,000).

In Chile, shareholders or parent companies are not currently liable for breaches of environmental law. As stated in 7.1 Liability for Environmental Damage or Breaches of Environmental Law, the party liable before environmental authorities is the project owner. However, with the enactment of Law No 21,595, parent companies’ profits will be taken into consideration when determining whether the alleged perpetrator is in fact a large or small company.

Banks are generally not liable, though they could forfeit a specific certification that requires environmental compliance of their lendees.

Other entities such as environmental consultants, or construction firms, can now be considered liable under Law 21,595 depending on the scope of the advice given.

There are no legal restrictions in terms of what a party can assume when signing a contract or coming to an asset sale/shale sale agreement, though wrongful intent cannot be condoned. The general rule, however, is that that the buyer will not assume any liability whatsoever for a certain amount of years. This is notwithstanding legal obligations of both parties to inform the transaction to the environmental authority (SEA) and/or to sectoral authorities.

There are no specific legal duties to disclose environmental information in the sale of any asset and though environmental due diligence is commonplace in Chile, there is no standard of compliance so it is left to the parties’ lawyers. General rules on contract law apply though, under which a seller is responsible for latent defects, unless the buyer knew or should have known the defects.

Chile does not have environmental insurance policies available, but some sponsors find a way to insure their most important assets by agreeing to specific clauses in regular insurance policies.

There are 3 main public registers of environmental information: a) the National System of Environmental Information or SINIA, which includes general information about legislation and environmental variables; b) the electronic environmental impact assessment system or e-seia, that contains the complete registers of every environmentally assessed project and c) the National System of Environmental Inspections or SNIFA, which contains the details of every inspection, sanctioning procedures and fine imposed by the Superintendence of Environment,  as well as general environmental information produced by them.

All three registers are online, and though some details of high-profile sanctioning procedure might be considered confidential, Chile holds its transparency standards in high regard.

According to Chilean law, all documents issued by or submitted to any authority are public. This includes all documentation in connection with environmental matters. Any person may request a copy of such documents to the authority and, save some legal exceptions, the authority must provide the copy within 20 business days.

Congress has enacted two new laws that have modified important institutions of the environmental framework legislation.

The first one is Law N° 21.595 about Economic Crimes and Offenses against the Environment, enacted on August 17th, 2023. As we previously stated, this law establishes a particular and differentiated statute that allows determining the criminal liability of legal entities, and which is specifically directed at their legal representatives. Specifically, it creates several (four) categories of white-collar crimes, defining the applicability of the penalties that the rest of the law develops. Crimes against the Environment are considered economic crimes, since they are committed in the exercise of a position, function or position within a company or for the benefit of it.

The second one is Law 21.600, enacted on September 6th, 2023, that creates the new Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service and its corresponding National System of Protected Areas. Its mission will be to preserve and protect the country’s environmental wealth, through the restoration, preservation and sustainable use of genes, species and ecosystems.