On June 14, 2023, the National Congress approved the bill that creates the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service and the National System of Protected Areas (the "Bill"). The purpose of the Bill is the conservation of biological diversity and the protection of the national natural heritage through the preservation, restoration and sustainable use of genes, species, and ecosystems ...
On September 17, 2022, Exempt Decree No. 63 of the Ministry of Health was published in the Official Gazette, approving Technical Standard No. 226 of the Ministry of Health, which set forth the obligation to implement a data registration system that allows the traceability of medical devices when they are received by institutional healthcare providers ...
On May 15, 2023, the Chilean Congress approved the Bill that Systematizes Economic Crimes and Attacks against the Environment (the "Bill"). Therefore, the Bill was sent to the President for its enactment into law, although it is subject to the preventive control that must be carried out by the Constitutional Court. During this period, the Executive has a deadline to exercise veto power over the bill prior to its enactment into law ...
The Ministry of Economy published the new proposal to update the Regulation on consumer information on mortgage loans (Decree No. 42 of 2012), which improves consumer understanding of financial information and promotes the comparison of products offered by financial institutions ...
On May 30, 2023, the Expert Commission concluded the vote on the preliminary draft of the New Constitution, sending it to the Constitutional Council for discussion. After having reached cross-party agreements on most of the proposed amendments to the first draft, the Expert Commission approved in Plenary Session the text of the preliminary draft, which consists of 14 permanent Chapters, with their respective transitory provisions. The structure of the draft would be the following: Chapter I ...
The latest reforms to Law No. 19,496 Consumer Protection Act, introduced mainly by the "Pro-Consumer" Law and the E-Commerce Regulation, will force companies to be more vigilant in the 2023 version of CyberDay. During the event, which will be held from May 29th to 31st, the National Consumer Service ("SERNAC") will be supervising that companies comply with their e-commerce obligations ...
On May 9th, 2023, Law No.21,565 of the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity was published in the Official Gazette, which establishes a regime of protection and integral reparation for victims of femicide and femicide suicide and their families. The objective of this law is the creation and strengthening of effective and necessary actions by the State for the attention and integral reparation of the damage of the victims of femicide and femicide suicide ...
On May 15, 2023, the Chilean Congress approved the Bill that systematizes Economic Crimes and Attempts against the Environment (the "Bill"). Thus, the Bill was sent to the President of the Republic for its enactment into law, subject to the preventive control to be carried out by the Constitutional Court ...
The Financial Market Commission ("FMC") has announced a process of consulting roundtables for the implementation of Law No. 21.521, known as the "Fintech Law" (Fintech in Spanish). Last May 15, an informative webinar was held where the CMF informed about the general guidelines for the operation of the consulting roundtables that will address aspects of the implementation of the Fintech Law. The FMC authority to carry out this process comes from Article 20 of Law No ...
On May 9, 2023, a new law was enacted, which aims to improve the prosecution of drug trafficking and organized crime, regulate the destination of assets seized in such offenses and strengthen rehabilitation and social reintegration institutions (the “New Law”). Among the main changes introduced by the New Law regarding the prosecution of drug trafficking are: (i) the increase of penalties for the offenses established in Law No ...
On May 7th, 2023, it was held the election of the members of the Constitutional Council, the body in charge of preparing the Proposal for a New Constitution based on a preliminary draft that is currently being prepared by the Expert Commission. According to the election results, the Constitutional Council will be composed of 51 members, politically distributed as follows: 23 elected members representing the Partido Republicano (right-wing political party) ...
On April 26th, 2022, the Senate unanimously approved in particular (first constitutional procedure) the Bill that establishes a Framework Law on Cybersecurity and Critical Information Infrastructure. As a result, the legislative proposal passed to the second constitutional procedure waiting to be discussed by the Chamber of Deputies ...
On April 24, 2023, the Chamber of Representatives received bulletin No. 15864-13, containing the bill that proposes the adjustment of the minimum monthly income (i.e. minimum salary), which immediately passed to the Labor and Social Security and the Finance Committees of said Chamber. Currently, the bill of law has an urgency status for immediate discussion ...
On April 19th 2023, Law No. 21.553 which regulates paid passenger transportation applications and the services provided through them was published in the Official Gazette. The Law includes important provisions regarding the protection of consumers of passenger transportation services, making the sphere of protection of Law No. 19.496 - Consumer Protection Act ("CPA”), applicable to the contracts entered by passengers with the platforms of transportation application companies ("TAC") ...
On April 20th, 2023, President Gabriel Boric announced the guidelines of the National Lithium Strategy, through which the Government seeks to promote the lithium exploitation by the Chilean State (by means of State-owned companies or in association with private entities), to generate value-added lithium products and investment in technology and research ...
On April 18, 2023, the Financial Market Commission ("FMC") opened a public consultation process regarding the complementary activities that may be developed by bank or non-bank payment card operators ("Regulatory Proposal"), given the incorporation of new participants into the payments system, as a consequence of the implementation of the four-party model ...
The Chilean Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI) has recently announced the possibility to apply to a program for fast-tracking patent’s and utility model’s applications, provided that said applications relate to technical solutions capable of impacting the environment positively ...
On April 10th, 2023, the Congress approved a bill that reduces the workday weekly limit from 45 to 40 hours (Bill N°11.179-13). This bill, however, includes multiple and important amendments to the working hour and rest regimes, amongst which we can highlight the following: Reduction of the ordinary working hours limit The duration of the ordinary working hours will be reduced from 45 to 40 hours ...
On March 3, 2023, the Court of Appeal of Santiago granted a constitutional petition for protection (“recurso de protección”) filed by a bookstore chain against the Municipality of Santiago for not adopting adequate and effective measures to prevent the installation of street vending in Ahumada Street ...
On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, Decree Nº318/2022 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was published in the Official Gazette, enacting the "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership" (CPTPP), which has entered into force as of that date. The treaty seeks to promote the economic integration of the parties, generating a common framework for trade policy, government procurement, intellectual property, electronic commerce, investment, among others ...
On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, Decree Nº318/2022 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was published in the Official Gazette, enacting the "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership" (CPTPP), which has entered into force as of that date. The treaty seeks to promote the economic integration of the parties, generating a common framework for trade policy, government procurement, intellectual property, electronic commerce, investment, among others ...
