Environmental Law 2025 Comparisons

The constitutional foundation of Chilean environmental law is established in Article 19 No 8 of the Constitution (CPR), which recognises the right to live in an environment free from pollution and imposes on the state a duty to protect nature and to regulate activities that may harm it.

Environmental Laws

This framework is developed mainly in the following pieces of legislation:

• Law No 19,300 on the General Bases of the Environment;
• Law No 20,417, Organic Law of the Superintendency of the Environment; and
• Law No 20,600 on Environmental Courts.

Other relevant statutes are:

• Law No 20,920 (2016) on Extended Producer Responsibility (the “REP Law”);
• Law No 21,202 (2020) on Urban Wetlands;
• Law No 21,368 (2021) on Single-Use Plastics;
• Law No 21,455 (2022), Framework Law on Climate Change;
• Law No 21,595 (2023) on Economic Crimes, establishing a catalogue of criminal offences against the environment; and
• Law No 21,600 (2023) on the National System of Protected Areas (the “SBAP Law”).

Principles

The key principles governing environmental protection are provided by international law instruments, Chilean practice and environmental statutes. Typical principles include:

• sustainable development;
• the precautionary and preventative action principle;
• the principle of non-regression; and
• the “polluter pays” principle.

In addition, some of the laws mentioned above also contain express catalogues of principles applicable to their respective implementations.

Chile’s environmental institutional framework is composed of a set of specialised authorities that operate under the principles of co-ordination, technical competence and transparency. The following are the key authorities.

Administrative Authorities

• Ministry of the Environment – the central administrative authority responsible for defining environmental policy, developing the legislative agenda and issuing secondary regulations. It establishes both primary environmental quality standards, which protect human health, and emission standards, which regulate pollutants by source or receptor.
• Environmental Assessment Service (Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental) – a technical agency administering Chilean environmental impact assessment proceedings for projects listed under Law No 19,300 that may cause pollution or affect human health or the environment, and issuing environmental permits. See 4.2 Environmental Permits/Approvals.
• Superintendency of the Environment (Superintendencia del Medio Ambiente, or SMA) – an agency tasked with enforcing powers with environmental regulations and the conditions set out in environmental permits (Environmental Qualification Resolutions, or RCA, for its Spanish acronym) and in other environmental management instruments. In cases of non-compliance, it may impose a range of administrative sanctions. The SMA is governed by its own statute, Law No 20,417.

Judicial Authorities

• Three environmental courts (Tribunales Ambientales) – specialised judicial bodies under the supervisory authority of the Supreme Court. Their function is to resolve environmental disputes and other matters defined by law. There are three courts in Chile, located in Antofagasta (North), Santiago (Centre) and Valdivia (South), covering the entire national territory.

Co-ordination between the Ministry of the Environment, SEA and SMA is ensured through formal administrative mechanisms and information-sharing systems. These entities frequently collaborate in environmental oversight, technical reporting and the implementation of national policies at the regional level.

In addition, all the sectoral public services vested with powers in the administration of environmental assets are in some way co-ordinated through the National Environmental Information System (SINIA) and the Committee of Ministers for Sustainability (Comité de Ministros para la Sustentabilidad) chaired by the Minister of the Environment.

The constitutional foundation of Chilean Environmental Law is established in Article 19 No 8 of the Constitution (CPR), which recognises the right to live in an environment free from pollution and imposes on the state a duty to protect nature and to regulate activities that may harm it.

This constitutional provision is further elaborated in Law No 19,300, which provides tools for its protection. These tools are named “environmental management instruments” and they regulate human activity by imposing (ambient and emissions) standards and other regulatory mechanisms such as authorisations, environmental education and others.

In addition, environmental components are subject to their own sectoral legislation. For example:

• air;
• flora and fauna;
• fresh water and sea water;
• natural habitats; and
• protected areas.

As explained in detail below (see 5. Environmental Liability), the breaching of regulations may result in:

• administrative sanctions;
• civil sanctions; and
• criminal sanctions.

The Superintendency of the Environment (SMA) has enforcement powers to prevent and to impose sanctions for administrative breaches, including site visits or inspections, and information requests. The agency has the power to collect and analyse samples.

Environmental Permitting

In Chile, environmental permits are a layered system composed of the following.

• A general environmental permit (Resolución de Calificación Ambiental, or RCA) issued through the Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental, or SEIA proceeding.
• A series of sectoral permits with environmental content (Permisos Ambientales Sectoriales, or PAS) integrated into the SEIA proceeding under the “one-stop shop permitting” philosophy.

A project or activity must undergo environmental assessment – and therefore obtain an RCA – whenever it is likely to cause environmental impacts, as defined in Article 10 of Law No 19,300 and Article 3 of D.S. No 40/2013. The Law provides an exhaustive list of 18 categories, including:

• mining;
• energy;
• industrial, or infrastructure projects above certain thresholds;
• waste treatment and disposal facilities;
• dams; and
• developments in protected areas.

To this end, project owners shall submit either an Environmental Impact Study (EIA) or Statement (DIA) – depending on whether the project causes significant impacts on human health, natural resources, resettlement, cultural heritage or protected areas – before the SEA.

Appeals

Two main avenues exist for challenging or reviewing environmental permitting decisions.

• Administrative appeal – before the SEA (Article 20 of Law No 19,300), by the project owner and any person who participated in the public consultation phase, within 30 days of its notification. The appeal is decided by the Committee of Ministers (in the case of EIA) or the SEA’s National Director (in the case of DIA).
• Judicial review before environmental courts – once the administrative appeal is resolved, the decision may be judicially challenged within 30 days. The court cannot issue the administrative act of replacement and must always return the file to the administration for further proceeding. With some exceptions, the judicial decision is subject to cassation review by the Supreme Court.

Environmental authorities typically use a traditional regulatory approach (command and control) in their regulatory policy, through strong instruments such as (among others):

• environmental quality standards;
• emission standards;
• instructions; or
• general regulations.

Forms of self-regulation are not typically recognised in Chilean environmental law.

Since its creation (in 2012), the SMA’s enforcement approach has been based on “responsive regulation”, incorporating alternative mechanisms to sanctions, including:

• warning letters;
• compliance programmes; and
• self-reporting.

Environmental permits can be transferred in accordance with the SEIA Regulations (S.D. No 40/2012). Agreements between private parties shall be notified to the SEA, which in turn shall notify the SMA of the change in ownership.

As explained in detail below (see 5. Environmental Liability), breaching of environmental permits may result in:

• administrative sanctions;
• civil sanctions; and
• (in specific cases) criminal sanctions.

Administrative Liability

• The Organic Law of the Environmental Superintendency (Law No 20,417, or LOSMA, by its Spanish acronym) establishes violations of environmental regulations. These cover both situations of environmental damage and non-compliance related to the execution of projects (Article 35). Under this law, violations are classified as minor, serious or very serious depending on the effects, characteristics or circumstances of the events (Article 36).
• In addition, sectoral regimes usually have a catalogue of violations whose penalties are imposed by the agencies with jurisdiction over the corresponding environmental component.

Civil Liability

• Law No 19,300 establishes that any person who causes damage to the environment through negligence or wilful misconduct shall be liable for such damage (Article 51). This is a judicial action aimed at obtaining environmental compensation for damage caused to the environment, brought before the environmental courts and whose sole purpose is to restore the conditions of the affected environment to its state prior to the damage (Article 53).
• Law No 20,600 also establishes that a final ruling by the environmental court declaring the existence of environmental damage may serve as a basis for subsequent action for damages before the civil court (Article 46).

Criminal Liability

• Law No 21,595 (2003) on Economic and Environmental Crimes reinforced the existing framework in the Criminal Code, which covered relevant offences such as the improper spread of pollutants (Article 291) and forest fires (Article 476 No 3). The new law added crimes against the environment (in the Criminal Code, Articles 305 to 312), expressly classifying behaviours such as intentional or negligent environmental damage or circumvention of the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA), along with other pollution-related offences that had previously been dispersed across different statutes.
• In addition to this general regime in the Criminal Code, there are provisions contained in sectoral laws, such as Law No 17,288 (the “National Monuments Law”), which punish damage to national monuments (Articles 38 and 38 bis), and the General Law of Fishing and Aquaculture, which establishes penalties for water pollution by hydrocarbons, with special emphasis on marine environments (Article 136).

Each regimen establishes specific rules on limitation periods that determine whether actions may be brought against current operators or project owners.

• Administrative violations (Organic Law of the Superintendency of the Environment) are subject to a limitation period of three years from the date on which they were committed. This means that the administrative authority cannot punish acts that occurred outside that period, except in the case of permanent offences that continue to have an effect over time.
• Civil liability – ordinary compensation claims for non-contractual liability, which prescribe four years from the occurrence of the act, in conformity with the Civil Code (Article 2332). Environmental damage claims must be filed within five years from the date the environmental damage becomes evident (Article 63, Law No 19,300). The limitation period is suspended while the harmful conduct persists and only begins to run once the damaging activity has effectively ceased.
• Under the Criminal Code, environmental offences are subject to limitation periods depending on the classification of the conduct (Article 94) –
1. felonies (Crímenes): 10–15 years;
2. misdemeanours (Simples delitos): five years; and
3. minor offences (Faltas): six months.

Administrative Proceedings

In response to the sanctioning procedures of the Chilean SMA, the most frequent defences focus on questioning the validity of the charge or the proportionality of the sanction. Among these, the following stand out.

• Statute of limitations on the offence, given that the provisions of Article 35 of the LOSMA prescribe a three-year statute of limitations from the date of the offence.
• Disproportionality of the sanction in relation to the actual gravity of the facts.
• Insufficient evidence of the alleged environmental damage or of the extent of the impacts attributed to the offender.
• Improper consideration of the circumstances relevant to determining the sanction.
• Unjustified delay in initiating the administrative sanctioning procedure.

Civil Judicial Proceedings

In judicial proceedings, both in environmental remediation actions and in claims for compensation, the most common defences focus on substantive and procedural aspects.

• Insufficient substance of the alleged facts to constitute environmental damage.
• Absence of a causal link between the defendant’s activity and the damage caused.
• Statute of limitations, either under the Civil Code (four years) or Law No 19,300 (five years from the evident manifestation of the damage).
• In environmental restoration claims, challenging disproportionate or punitive measures that go beyond what is strictly necessary to restore the environment.

Criminal Proceedings

Regarding criminal offences, common defences include the following.

• Absence of the constitutive elements of the offence or the atypicality of the alleged conduct.
• Lack of a causal link between the conduct and the damage caused to the environment.
• Invocation of justifying or mitigating causes, depending on the nature of the case.

As mentioned above (see 5.1 Key Types of Liability), Law No 19,300 establishes that any person (entity/natural person) who causes damage to the environment through negligence or wilful misconduct shall be liable for such damage (Article 51).

This is a judicial action aimed at obtaining environmental compensation for the damage caused to the environment, brought before the environmental courts and whose sole purpose is to restore the condition of the affected environment to its state prior to the damage (Article 53).

Chile has developed carbon offsetting mechanisms, including the “Green Tax” (Law No 20,780), which allows certain taxpayers to offset their emissions by acquiring certified GHG reductions. In addition, this law allows offsetting taxable emissions through emission reduction projects, provided that the reductions are additional, measurable, verifiable and permanent.

In the Chilean legal system, there are no specific incentives, exemptions or penalties for good environmental citizenship.       

The general principle under Chilean law is that a company is a legal entity separate from its shareholders, so they are not liable for the actions of the company itself.

However, recent Chilean judicial decisions have recognised that in certain exceptional circumstances it is possible to apply the “principle of piercing the corporate veil”. As a result, a shareholder or parent company could be liable for a company’s obligations.

There is no explicit statutory duty for company directors to oversee the environmental and social impacts of their activities. However, within the financial sector, the Chilean Financial Market Commission (Comisión para el Mercado Financiero, or CMF) has issued the General Regulations No 461 (the “NCG No 461“) requiring supervised companies to include sustainability information in their annual reports, which indirectly requires directors to take these factors into consideration.

Although there is no general explicit legal obligation, Chilean companies – especially in the financial sector – are increasingly incorporating ESG criteria in their investment strategies, risk management frameworks and corporate governance structures.

Reporting, Monitoring and Enforcement

There is no specific statutory obligation requiring financial institutions or publicly listed companies to report against sustainable investment criteria. However, the NCG No 461 sets reporting requirements for financial institutions and other regulated entities.

Additionally, companies should disclose whether they rely on principles, guidelines or recommendations from national or international organisations, such as the following (among others):

• Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO);
• Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT);
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO); and
• Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Audit Requirements

There are no general legal obligations or requirements in relation to environmental audits in Chile.

In the context of the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA), environmental authorisations (RCA) could eventually mandate audit obligations to a project owner. However, these are defined on a case-by-case basis for each approved project.

Monitoring

However, there are some sectoral requirements established in special laws, such as the monitoring requirements for sanitation companies to measure the quality of their effluents, enforced by the Superintendency of Sanitation Services (SISS) (Law No 18,902, Article 11B), or the monitoring requirements for pollutants in liquid waste discharges into water bodies, under S.D. No 90/2000, MINSEGPRES.

In the context of the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA), environmental authorisations (RCA) typically establish monitoring and surveillance requirements for various environmental components, as required by Law No 19,300 and the SEIA Regulations. These are defined on a case-by-case basis for each approved project.

In addition, the Superintendency of the Environment has also issued various general regulations in accordance with its Organic Law, ordering regulated entities to monitor certain specific components.

• SMA regulations for monitoring emissions subject to Law No 20,780 Green Tax (Exempt Resolution No 585/2023).
• SMA regulations for monitoring systems in salmon farming centres (Exempt Resolution No 2,662/2021).
• SMA regulations for monitoring of water in tailings storage facilities (Exempt Resolution No 31/2022).

Personal Liability for Environmental Damage or Legal Breaches

In civil matters, Article 51 of Law No 19,300 on the General Bases of the Environment establishes liability for environmental damage, which falls on the person causing it, without excluding the possibility that individuals acting on behalf of a legal entity may also be held responsible if they directly contributed to the harmful act. Thus, Chilean law establishes a comprehensive environmental liability regime encompassing civil, criminal and administrative spheres, thereby strengthening the requirement of diligence and oversight at the managerial level of companies.

In the criminal sphere, under Law No 21,595 on Economic and Environmental Crimes, Article 48 introduced new provisions into the Criminal Code establishing criminal liability for natural persons who, acting on behalf of or for the benefit of a legal entity, commit environmental crimes or allow their commission through a lack of diligence in fulfilling their duties.

In this regard, Article 2 of Law No 21,595 classifies environmental crimes as second-category economic crimes, meaning that, for criminal liability to be attributed, one of the following connection factors must be present:

• the act was committed in the exercise of a position, function or role within a company; or
• the crime was committed for the company’s economic or other benefit.

Consequently, liability may fall upon both natural persons (directors, managers, executives) and legal entities, depending on their degree of participation or the benefit obtained.

Penalties

The penalties applicable to directors and officers depend on the type of liability involved. In the administrative sphere, under Law No 20,417, the SMA may impose fines, revoke permits or even order the closure of facilities. Although sanctions are primarily imposed on the company, the SMA may refer cases to the public prosecutor’s office when there are indications of criminal liability by natural persons. Likewise, under Article 45 of the same law, legal representatives are secondarily liable for the payment of fines imposed.

In the criminal sphere, the Chilean Criminal Code provides for environmental crimes in Articles 305 to 309, introduced by Law No 21,595 on Economic and Environmental Crimes, without prejudice to other offences established in special laws. Directors or managers who order, consent to or fail to prevent unlawful acts when they could have done so may be sanctioned with imprisonment and fines, depending on the severity of the harm caused.

Insurance Coverage for Liabilities or Penalties

Directors and senior executives may take out civil liability insurance (known as directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, or D&O), which may cover defence costs and certain indemnities arising from infractions committed in the course of their duties. However, such coverage cannot extend to criminal sanctions.

In practical terms, these insurance policies generally cover negligent or unintentional acts but exclude intentional crimes and wilful environmental damage. Therefore, obtaining such insurance does not eliminate the need to implement internal compliance programmes and control mechanisms, such as regular reporting to the board of directors or the establishment of positions like Chief Compliance Officer (CCO). On the contrary, this need has been reinforced following the enactment of the Economic Crimes Law, which expanded criminal responsibilities and heightened the duty of diligence of senior executives and directors.

Availability and Scope

In Chile, environmental insurance is available on the market through pollution liability policies and environmental damage insurance, offered mainly by international companies and specialised local brokers. These policies have evolved in recent years alongside increasing regulatory requirements and public concern regarding environmental compliance, particularly in sectors such as mining, energy, industry and real estate projects. Although there is no uniform state scheme, private insurers have developed products tailored to the risks arising from environmental incidents and the need to demonstrate financial solvency before authorities or affected third parties.

Mandatory Aspects

Under Chilean law, there is no general mandatory environmental insurance. However, sectoral legislation has established financial guarantee mechanisms that serve an equivalent function, ensuring the repair or mitigation of environmental impacts.

In the mining sector, for instance, Law No 20,551 requires the constitution of financial guarantees to secure compliance with mine and facility closure plans, which aim to prevent the generation of environmental liabilities.

Similarly, the REP Law, which establishes the Framework for Waste Management, Extended Producer Responsibility, and Promotion of Recycling, provides in its Article 22 that collective management systems must establish and maintain a bond, insurance policy or other guarantee to ensure compliance with targets and related obligations.

Uninsurable Aspects of Environmental Risk

In general, policies exclude administrative fines and criminal penalties, since insurance cannot cover consequences arising from unlawful or punitive acts. This principle is reinforced by Law No 21,595, which classifies economic and environmental crimes, including certain conducts that entail criminal liability for environmental damage. Such conducts cannot be subject to insurance coverage, as the contracting of insurance does not exempt directors or executives from criminal responsibility or possible administrative sanctions.

Intentional or wilful damages caused by the insured, as well as pre-existing undeclared events, are also excluded, unless specific clauses are negotiated with an additional premium (Article 535 of the Commercial Code). Moreover, large-scale or systemic risks – such as diffuse pollution or environmental degradation of multiple origins – are difficult to cover in advance under insurance policies, due to the impossibility of identifying the responsible party or quantifying the damage.

In Chile, financial institutions and lenders (creditors) are not directly liable for environmental damage or for breaches of environmental law.

Under Law No 19,300 on the General Environmental Framework, environmental liability primarily rests with the project owner or operator responsible for causing the impacts. In this context, a lender could eventually face indirect liability if it is proven that it exercised a significant degree of control, interference or influence over the operations that caused the damage – particularly in financing structures where the creditor participates in the management or direction of the project.

In theory, Chilean courts could apply the general principles of extra-contractual civil liability (Articles 2314 to 2329 of the Civil Code) to hold a lender liable if its conduct contributed to the environmental harm through negligence or complicity. Nonetheless, such cases are exceptional in practice, and there are no judicial decisions in Chile imposing environmental liability on financial institutions solely for providing financing.

In Chile, lenders generally do not face a direct risk of environmental liability. Nevertheless, they often adopt various preventative and contractual measures aimed at ensuring the effectiveness of the loan granted and protecting their interests against potential environmental contingencies.

Among these measures, conducting “environmental due diligence” prior to the granting of financing is particularly noteworthy, especially for projects subject to the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA). Likewise, creditors commonly require the borrower to demonstrate compliance with all applicable environmental regulations and to maintain valid environmental permits throughout the term of the loan.

Similarly, loan agreements typically include representations, warranties and environmental compliance clauses that oblige the borrower to report any relevant environmental incident or proceeding. It is also common to include indemnity clauses that shift environmental risk to the borrower, as well as requirements for insurance coverage against potential environmental contingencies. In project financing, lenders may also establish monitoring mechanisms or periodic audits to verify the borrower’s continuous compliance with environmental obligations.

As noted above (see 5.1 Key Types of Liability), Law No 19,300, recognises an action aimed at obtaining compensation for the damaged environment, processed before the environmental courts and whose sole purpose is to restore the conditions of the affected environment through the comprehensive restoration of the environment to its state prior to the damage (Article 53).

At the same time, ordinary compensation judicial proceedings remain available, which are brought before civil courts and are intended to compensate natural or legal persons for losses suffered as a result of environmental damage. The basis for this can be found in Law No 19,300 itself (Article 53) or in the Civil Code, which regulates non-contractual liability (Article 2332). However, Law 20,600 establishes that a final decision by the environmental court declaring the existence of environmental damage may serve as a basis for subsequent action for damages before the competent civil court (Article 46).

The Chilean legal system does not recognise exemplary or punitive damages as a mechanism of civil sanction.

Civil liability focuses on the full reparation of harm, rather than on punishing the offender. Consequently, the amount of compensation is determined based on the actual and proven damage (ie, consequential damage and loss of earnings), without adding additional sums as a deterrent or for exemplary purposes.

However, some recent rulings have shown a tendency to consider the “severity of the conduct” or the “offender’s intent” when determining the amount of compensation, particularly in cases of pollution or violations of fundamental rights. While this does not constitute punitive damages, it reflects a broader interpretation of the concept of “adequate reparation” under the Chilean private law.

It is possible to file collective or group lawsuits for damages related to the environment, although the Chilean legal system does not recognise “class action” in environmental law.

There are several landmark cases that have shaped environmental and civil jurisprudence in Chile.

One of the most significant is the Río Cruces – Celulosa Arauco case, in which the Supreme Court ordered reparative and compensatory measures for the damage caused to the ecosystem of the Carlos Anwandter Nature Sanctuary.

Another notable case is that of Puchuncaví–Quintero, where communities affected by industrial pollution filed lawsuits against companies operating in the industrial park for damages to health and the environment, sparking a nationwide debate on corporate and state responsibility.

In Chile, it is indeed possible to use contractual clauses, indemnities, or other private agreements to transfer or allocate responsibility for incidental damages or environmental violations between parties – such as buyer and seller, or principal and contractor. This practice is supported by the “principle of contractual autonomy” (Article 1545 of the Civil Code), which allows parties to freely determine the terms of their obligations, provided they do not contravene public order or mandatory legal provisions.

Binding Effect of Agreements on Regulators

Private agreements are not enforceable against administrative or judicial authorities. Therefore, they have no binding effect on regulators, who may always hold the project owner or the actual polluter responsible, regardless of the contractual terms. Consequently, these agreements produce only internal or inter partes effects, without modifying liability before the state entities.

Moreover, environmental liability towards the state is personal and non-transferable. According to Article 51 of Law No 19,300 on the General Environmental Framework, any person who, by negligence or intent, causes environmental damage is directly liable before the competent authority and courts.

This means that, although the parties may agree between themselves who will bear the costs of a potential sanction or remediation, such an agreement does not release the offender from their legal responsibility before the Superintendence of the Environment or the environmental courts. In other words, the existence of a contractual clause does not alter the application of the environmental liability regime established by law.

Chile does not have a specific law or national quality standards establishing permissible levels of soil contamination or a comprehensive regime regulating the remediation of contaminated soils that exceed those standards.

The applicable framework is based mainly on Law No 19,300, which establishes the obligation to repair environmental damage, and on the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA), through which remediation projects are evaluated and authorised. Article 10, paragraph (o) of that law expressly includes environmental remediation projects, while Article 3 (o.11) of the SEIA Regulations (D.S. No 40/2012) stipulates that projects for the remediation or recovery of areas containing contaminants covering an area of 10,000 m² or more must be submitted to the SEIA and undergo assessment by the environmental authority.

At the technical and public policy level, in 2012 the Ministry of the Environment published the Methodological Guide for the Management of Soils with Potential Contaminants (SPC), which establishes the main procedures for identifying, characterising and managing contaminated sites. This instrument complements Exempt Resolution No 1,690/2012, which approved the official methodology for the identification and preliminary assessment of abandoned soils with contaminants.

Since 2009, the Ministry has also been developing a National Policy for the Management of Sites with Contaminants, aimed at co-ordinating public and private environmental recovery actions, as well as maintaining a National Registry of Sites with Contaminants, which is an official record of contaminated or potentially risky sites, used to prioritise management and remediation measures according to their level of environmental risk.

Responsibility for Clearing up Contaminated Land

In Chile, the “polluter pays” principle governs environmental liability, as established in Law No 19,300 (Article 51) and reinforced by complementary regulations such as Law No 20,920 on Extended Producer Responsibility and Recycling Promotion (Article 2 (a)). Under this principle, any natural or legal person who causes environmental damage is obliged to repair the affected environment and, where applicable, compensate for the damage caused.

In practice, compliance with this obligation may involve the adoption of environmental repair or remediation measures, which must be submitted to the environmental authority or, in certain cases, submitted to the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) for review and approval. For instance, in certain cases decided by the environmental courts, the implementation of remediation plans has been required either as a condition for damage repair or as a measure ordered by the tribunal (see, eg, First Environmental Court D-17-2022 and D-14-2024).

Delegation of the Responsibility

The operator or project owner may hire third parties to conduct studies or carry out remediation works; however, this does not exempt them from their responsibility to the environmental authority. Private agreements of this nature do not release the responsible party from administrative, civil or criminal liability, nor from their primary obligation to restore the damaged environment.

However, as noted in 12.1 Key Laws Governing Contaminated Land, Chile lacks a specific law regulating environmental remediation or the management of contaminated sites, unlike other countries that have more developed regulatory frameworks and detailed procedures for environmental restoration and determining the liability of those responsible for the damage.

As mentioned in 12.1 Key Laws Governing Contaminated Land, in the absence of a specific law regulating the management of contaminated soil or establishing criteria for the attribution of liability, the determination of liability is governed by the “polluter pays” principle and by the rules of the Civil Code on non-contractual liability, as applicable. Consequently, the general rule is that each offender is liable only for the damage directly attributable to them.

In practice, both the administrative authority and the courts assess the causal relationship between each party’s actions and the resulting contamination, and may allocate differentiated responsibilities according to the degree and magnitude of participation in the damage. The SMA generally identifies individual offenders in its sanctioning procedures, even when multiple parties are involved in the same incident, to determine the specific contribution of each.

Under civil law, joint and several liability applies only in cases where two or more parties have jointly participated in the same wrongful act, whether negligently or wilfully (Article 2317 of the Civil Code). In such circumstances, each co-offender may be pursued for the entire amount of the damage caused, with the party who pays retaining the right to seek reimbursement from the others in proportion to their participation in the act. This interpretation has been confirmed by several Chilean judicial decisions, which has clarified that joint and several liability in tort arises only when the same wrongful conduct results from the concurrent actions of multiple participants.

This is also clear from Law No 19,300, which establishes an express case of joint and several liability by providing that municipalities shall be jointly and severally liable for damages when, at the request of a person, they fail to bring the environmental remediation action that the law empowers them to exercise (Article 54).

As mentioned in 5.1 Key Types of Liability, Law No 19,300 establishes a special judicial action for environmental damage remediation, which is brought before the environmental courts. According to Article 54 of this law, locus standi is restricted to three categories:

• natural or legal persons who have directly suffered the damage;
• municipalities, with respect to events that occurred within their territories; and
• the state, represented by the State Defence Council (Consejo de Defensa del Estado).

By contrast, when seeking compensation for damages through civil proceedings, standing is governed by the general rules of non-contractual liability under the Civil Code, applicable to any person who has suffered compensable damage.

In Chile, environmental inspection is primarily the responsibility of the SMA, in accordance with its Organic Law (Law No 20,417). This entity supervises compliance with regulations, RCA, prevention or decontamination plans, and other environmental obligations. The SMA may initiate inspections on its own initiative, at the request of a sectoral entity, or based on citizen complaints.

The SMA oversight powers may take various forms, such as:

• on-site inspections;
• requests for information;
• remote monitoring; and
• co-ordination with sectoral agencies (such as the Dirección General de Aguas (water), Seremi de Salud (health), Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (mining), among others).

When the SMA finds non-compliance, it may initiate a sanctioning procedure, under Title III of its Organic Law.

At the same time, in cases where the facts under investigation may constitute environmental or economic crimes, the SMA is obliged to report the information to the public prosecutor’s office (Ministerio Público), which conducts the criminal investigation pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Code. In such cases, prosecutors may request investigations by the investigative police (Policía de Investigaciones) or technical agencies (such as Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero (Agriculture and Livestock) or Servicio Nacional de Pesca (Fisheries)), as appropriate.

The Chilean climate regulation is structured around a set of principles, policies and legal instruments guiding both public and private action on climate change.

The central instrument is the Framework Law on Climate Change (Law No 21,455), which establishes carbon neutrality by 2050, as a guiding objective, providing for a multi-level governance system involving national, regional and local authorities. The law incorporates key principles in the Chilean legal system such as precaution, prevention, intergenerational equity and transversality, which shape the interpretation and application of climate regulations.

The Framework Law is implemented through various instruments, including:

• the Long-Term Climate Strategy (Estrategia Climática de Largo Plazo, or ECLP), which defines the national mitigation and adaptation trajectory until 2050;
• the Sectoral Mitigation and Adaptation Plans, which assign specific responsibilities to ministries such as Energy, Transport, and Agriculture; and
• the Regional Climate Change Action Plans, which adapt the goals to territorial conditions.

Additionally, the Framework Law establishes the obligation to incorporate the climate change variable into the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) (Article 40). Projects proponents must assess the effects of climate change on relevant environmental components and ensure consistency with sectoral, regional and local climate management instruments.

Finally, Chile’s climate policy is closely aligned with international commitments. The country is a party to the Paris Agreement and updated its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2023 – the first submitted under the Framework Law – with strengthened commitments on emissions reduction and adaptation.

Chile has established a specific legal framework to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The main instruments include tax, regulatory and international commitments designed to support both mitigation and adaptation efforts.

As noted in 13.1 Key Policies, Principles and Laws, the Framework Law on Climate Change sets the national goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The principal instruments supporting this objective include the following.

• Green tax (Law No 20,780) – applicable to fixed emission sources, allowing emitters to offset their taxable emissions through certified GHG reductions or verified mitigation projects.
• Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) – requires the inclusion of climate change variables in project assessments, reinforced by the SEIA Regulation and the 2024 Methodological Guide issued by the Environmental Assessment Service to ensure consistent consideration of climate impacts.
• Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – updated in 2023 for the 2025–35 period, introducing more ambitious mitigation and adaptation targets under the Paris Agreement framework.

Asbestos

In the Chilean legal system, the use of asbestos has been prohibited since 2001 under Supreme Decree No 656/2001 of the Ministry of Health, which restricts its production, importation, distribution, sale, and use in various products and construction materials. This ban is complemented by legislation on hazardous chemical substances, which regulates their handling, transport and final disposal (Supreme Decree No 57/2019 of the Ministry of Health).

Despite the prohibition, asbestos remains present in thousands of older buildings, prompting government programmes for its removal and requiring specific protocols for the identification, handling and safe management of this material in replacement projects.

Additionally, Supreme Decree No 148/2003, by the Ministry of Health (Sanitary Regulation on the Management of Hazardous Waste), classifies PCB waste as hazardous, including it among the listed Hazardous Waste Categories (Article 18).

PCBs

By contrast, the use of PCBs in electrical equipment was banned in 1982 through Exempt Resolution No 610 issued by the Superintendency of Electric and Gas Services.

Due to the challenges associated with their disposal, it was established that PCB stocks, as well as waste derived from electrical equipment still in operation, must be properly stored to prevent environmental contamination, with users held responsible for ensuring compliance.

Currently, several Chilean companies – mainly in the electricity, transportation, metallurgy and mining sectors – still use PCB-containing equipment as coolants in transformers and capacitors, taking advantage of their resistance to flammability and high temperatures. However, all companies that continue to operate PCB-containing equipment must cease their use by 2025 and ensure their complete elimination no later than 2028. This obligation is framed within the Stockholm Convention, an international agreement signed in 2001 and in force since 2004, which Chile joined in 2005, aimed at controlling and eliminating these hazardous substances (Stockholm Convention, 2001).

In the Chilean Legal System, waste management is primarily governed by Law No 20,920 on Extended Producer Responsibility (the “REP Law”). This statute establishes a comprehensive waste management framework aimed at reducing waste generation, promoting reuse and recovery, and applying the extended producer responsibility principle, under which manufacturers and importers must take responsibility for the waste generated by their products at the end of their life cycle.

The law identifies six “priority products” subject to specific collection and recovery obligations:

• packaging;
• tyres;
• lubricating oils;
• electrical and electronic equipment;
• batteries; and
• textiles.

Producers must organise and finance waste management systems, either individually or collectively, under the supervision of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA).

For each regulated category, the MMA issues Supreme Decrees that set binding collection, recycling and recovery targets as well as detailed operational obligations. To date, the following decrees have been enacted:

• Supreme Decree No 8/2021, on tyres;
• Supreme Decree No 12/2021, on packaging; and
• Supreme Decree No 47/2024, on lubricating oils.

Two additional decrees are currently under development:

• Decree on Batteries and Electrical and Electronic Equipment, approved in June 2025 by the Council of Ministers for Sustainability and Climate Change and pending presidential promulgation; and
• Decree on Batteries, currently undergoing public consultation.

In the textile sector, the MMA issued Exempt Resolution No 3,914/2025, which declared textiles a new priority product, thereby extending the scope of the REP Law to a category of producers not originally covered by the statute. This resolution broadens waste management obligations to textile manufacturers and importers and is complemented by the Circular Economy Strategy for Textiles to 2040, which defines specific goals and actions across four key pillars:

• culture and responsible consumption;
• territorial management;
• regulation; and
• circular innovation.

Finally, Law No 21,368, on single-use plastics and plastic bottles, complements this framework by restricting disposable packaging, encouraging reuse, and setting minimum recycled content requirements for bottles.

Under REP Law, producers of “priority products” (ie, packaging, tyres, lubricating oils, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries, and textiles) remain responsible for the environmentally sound management of the waste generated by their products, even when they engage third parties for treatment, recovery or final disposal (Article 2 (i)).

This means that delegating waste management does not entail transferring environmental responsibility. Producers must ensure that waste is handled by authorised operators and in compliance with applicable regulations. If a contractor mismanages the waste or violates environmental rules, the competent authority may still hold the producer liable.

Only a formal and documented transfer of the waste to a duly authorised operator – for instance, a sanitary landfill or treatment plant approved through an Environmental Qualification Resolution – releases the producer from further obligations, as ownership of the waste is deemed to have been transferred.

Not all producers in Chile are subject to end-of-life product management obligations, but only those whose product categories have been expressly designated as priority products under the REP Law.

To meet collection and recovery targets and related obligations, the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) may establish, through Supreme Decrees, specific requirements on labelling, eco-design, waste prevention measures and restrictions on hazardous substances in products, among others (Article 8 of the REP Law).

As a result, the supreme decrees referenced in 15.1 Key Laws and Regulatory Controls establish specific obligations for each category of priority product under the REP Law. When these products reach the end of their useful life, producers may be required to organise or finance their collection, recovery or recycling through individual or collective management systems. These obligations apply when the product falls within a category declared as a priority product, subject to specific targets and requirements established by ministerial decree.

In the case of plastics, Law No 21,368 on single-use plastics and plastic bottles requires that disposable bottles contain a minimum percentage of domestically recycled material and promotes the use of returnable containers (Article 7). These percentages are to be determined by regulation, which is currently pending publication (the draft regulation sets them out in Article 10).

Rights and obligations of waste operators in Chile are established in the REP Law, between waste generators, waste managers, importers/exporters of waste, and management systems.

• Waste generatorsmust deliver their waste to an authorised waste manager for treatment in accordance with applicable regulations, unless they are authorised to manage it themselves. Household and similar solid waste must be handed over to the municipality or an authorised manager (Article 5).
• Waste managersmust handle waste in an environmentally sound manner, applying best available techniques and practices, holding the relevant authorisations, and declaring key data (type, quantity, cost, origin, treatment and destination) through the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (RETC) (Article 6).
• Importers and exporters of wasteare subject to the Basel Convention and national regulations. The import of hazardous waste for disposal is prohibited and import for recovery is only permitted where the Ministry of Environment authorises it and confirms that an approved facility will handle it (Article 8).
• Management systems – whether individual or collective – must (Article 22):
1. maintain a financial guarantee (bond, insurance or equivalent) to ensure compliance with collection and recovery obligations;
2. enter into agreements with authorised waste managers and municipalities for collection and treatment;
3. submit periodic and final compliance reports through the RETC, certified by an external auditor if required, detailing the quantities placed on the market, costs, and achievement of collection and recovery target; and
4. provide any additional information requested by the Ministry of the Environment or the Superintendence of the Environment.

The SMA is vested with enforcement powers, overseeing compliance with recovery targets, reporting duties and management system performance, and may initiate sanctioning proceedings ex officio, following a complaint or at the request of the Ministry of the Environment.

The REP law also establishes strict civil liability for damages arising from the improper handling of hazardous waste (Article 43) and criminal penalties for unauthorised import, export or management of such waste, including imprisonment for up to three years, increased where environmental harm occurs (Article 44).

Timing and Manner of Disclosure

In Chile, from a regulatory standpoint, disclosure is required primarily when a project is subject to environmental assessment under the Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (SEIA). During the SEIA process, the project proponent must provide complete and truthful environmental information (Law No 19,300, Articles 8, 18, 19, 25 quater). Misrepresentation or omission can trigger administrative sanctions and even the revocation of the Environmental Permit (RCA).

Reporting Requirements

As mentioned in 6.6 Environmental Audits, in the context of SEIA, environmental authorisations (RCA) typically establish monitoring and surveillance requirements for various environmental components, as required by Law No 19,300 and the SEIA Regulations. These are defined on a case-by-case basis for each approved project. Key reporting duties include:

• follow-up reports (ie, compliance data against the RCA conditions);
• emissions declarations; and
• incident notifications (ie, emergencies, spills).

The SMA is the central body that receives and supervises environmental information under the Environmental Monitoring System (Sistema de Seguimiento Ambiental, or SSA).

Besides these SEIA requirements, the SMA has also issued various general regulations in accordance with its Organic Law, ordering regulated entities to monitor certain specific components:

• SMA regulations for monitoring emissions subject to Law 20,780 Green Tax (Exempt Resolution No 585/2023);
• SMA regulations for monitoring systems in salmon farming centres (Exempt Resolution No 2,662/2021); and
• SMA regulations for monitoring of water in tailings storage facilities (Exempt Resolution No 31/2022).

In addition, there are some sectoral requirements established in special laws, such as:

• monitoring requirements for sanitation companies to measure the quality of their effluents, enforced by the Superintendency of Sanitation Services (SISS) (Law No 18,902, Article 11B); or
• monitoring requirements for pollutants in liquid waste discharges into water bodies, under S.D. No 90/2000, MINSEGPRESS.

Consequences of Non-Disclosure or Incomplete Disclosure

Failure to disclose environmental information – or providing incomplete or misleading data – has both administrative and market consequences. Before the SMA, it constitutes a serious infringement (Article 36 letter b, Law No 20,417), leading to fines up to 10,000 UTA (Unidades Tributarias Anuales), temporary closure, or even revocation of authorisation. Additionally, civil liability may arise if investors or third parties suffer damages due to concealment or false disclosure, particularly in M&A contexts where environmental liabilities are not properly revealed. See 17.2 Disclosure of Environmental Information.

Obtaining Environmental Information

The public’s right to obtain environmental information from public authorities in Chile is grounded in two overlapping legal regimes, in addition to the Escazú Agreement.

• Law No 20,285 (2008), sobre Acceso a la Información Pública (the general “Transparency Law”). Articles 5–10 and 11–14 provide the procedural mechanism: any person, without need to justify a special interest, may request access to environmental information from a public authority. Requests are made via the Transparency Portal (www.portaltransparencia.cl) or directly before the relevant agency (ie, SEA, SMA, DGA, SEREMI, CONAF, etc).
• Law No 19,300 (1994), sobre Bases Generales del Medio Ambiente (the environmental framework statute). Article 31 bis of this statute establishes a specific right of access to environmental information held by the administration, reinforcing that such information is public unless expressly excepted.

“Environmental information” is defined broadly in Article 31 bis of Law 19,300 and in the Escazú Agreement (Article 2). It means “any information that is written, visual, audio, and electronic, or recorded in any other format, regarding the environment and its elements and natural resources, including information related to environmental risks, and any possible adverse impacts affecting or likely to affect the environment and health, as well as to environmental protection and management”. Typical examples include:

• environmental permits (RCAs);
• environmental impact studies and statements (EIA/DIAs);
• sanctioning resolutions issued by the SMA;
• monitoring reports;
• emission data;
• contingency plans;
• inspection reports; and
• any other records linked to environmental impact or risk.

Chile’s SEA, SMA and the Ministry of the Environment maintain public databases (eg, e-seia.cl, snifa.sma.gob.cl, retc.mma.gob.cl) that provide open access to much of this information without need for formal requests.

Definition of Public Authorities and Bodies for Environmental Transparency Purposes

For these purposes, “public authority” is defined broadly. Under Articles 1 and 2 of Law No 20,285, it covers:

• all organs of the state administration, including ministries, regional governments, municipalities and decentralised public services (ie, SMA, SEA, CONAF, SERNAGEOMIN, etc);
• state-owned enterprises and publicly controlled corporations, in so far as they perform public functions or manage public resources; and
• private entities performing public functions, when they exercise delegated administrative authority (eg, private certification entities accredited by the SMA or concessionaires under public law regimes).

As mentioned in 6.5 ESG Requirements, Chilean corporate law did not impose explicit “environmental disclosure” duties on all companies. However, a significant shift has occurred since 2021, when the Comisión para el Mercado Financiero (CMF, for its Spanish acronym) issued General Rule (Norma de Carácter General) No 461, which modernised corporate reporting obligations by introducing the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework.

Under these regulations, publicly traded corporations, banks and insurance companies must disclose qualitative and quantitative information on how environmental and climate risks may affect their business, and what measures they adopt to manage them. This disclosure forms part of the Memoria Anual (Annual Report), a mandatory filing under Law No 18,046 and its regulations.

In Chile, green finance mechanism includes:

• green bonds (governed by CMF’s NCG No 461 and the Ministry of the Treasury’s Green Bond Framework);
• sustainability-linked bonds and loans;
• green investments funds (regulated under Law No 20,712); and
• CMF regulations.

Chile issued its first sovereign green bond in 2019, making it the first country on the continent to issue this type of instrument. These issues fund renewable energy, clean transport, water management and biodiversity projects under verified impact metrics.

Responsibility for monitoring and enforcing these agreements lies with the following:

• the CMF (which supervises private issuers);
• the Ministry of the Treasury, which governs sovereign issuances through the Public Debt Office, publishing annual impact reports audited by external verifiers; and
• the Chilean Central Bank, which integrates climate and environmental risks into its Financial Stability Reports and supervises the resilience of financial institutions to transition and physical climate risks.

In Chile, environmental due diligence is a standard practice in M&A transactions, project financing and real estate investments, particularly in high-risk sectors such as mining, energy and industry.

The initial review usually focuses on documentation from SEIA, including:

• environmental authorisations (RCAs) and their amendments;
• compliance reports;
• communications with authorities; and
• publicly available records on official platforms, such as the National Environmental Inspection Information System (Sistema Nacional de Información y Fiscalización Ambiental, or SNIFA, for its Spanish acronym) of the SMA.

When the inherent risk of the asset justifies it, the review is supplemented with technical site visits, sampling or specific studies, as well as verification of the legal status of environmental and sectoral permits and the transferability or updating of RCAs in the event of a change of ownership, following the guidelines issued by the Environmental Assessment Service.

Due diligence also considers:

• enforcement history;
• pending administrative proceedings; and
• any environmental damage lawsuits, along with potential civil or criminal actions, with their respective limitation periods that could affect the purchaser’s exposure.

Following the enactment of Law No 21,595 on Economic and Environmental Crimes, the due diligence standard has been strengthened by the incorporation of new criminal offences that may trigger criminal liability for legal persons under Law No 20,393. Consequently, buyers and investors now conduct a deeper assessment of potential environmental breaches with criminal relevance, and the existence and effectiveness of corporate compliance programmes implemented by the target company.

This means that environmental due diligence is no longer limited to verifying permits and sanctions, but also includes reviewing the following:

• environmental and criminal compliance systems;
• internal traceability and control mechanisms;
• staff and contractor training; and
• the existence of risk matrices and response protocols for environmental incidents.

In the Chilean legal system, there is no general legal obligation requiring a seller to disclose environmental information to the buyer. Disclosure is usually governed by contractual representations and warranties clauses, which are tailored to the type of transaction and the level of environmental risk associated with the asset or project.

However, as noted in 16.2 Public Environmental Information and 17.1 Environmental Due Diligence, much of the relevant environmental information is publicly accessible through official platforms, such as the Environmental Impact Assessment System (e-SEIA), the SNIFA or through requests for information under Law No 20,285 on Access to Public Information. Generally, buyers often verify the information provided by the seller against these public records and, where appropriate, conduct site inspections and technical reviews to assess actual environmental compliance and the existence of liabilities or contingencies.

A notable example illustrating the importance of adequate environmental disclosure is the Australis Seafoods case (Joyvio v Quiroga) before the Santiago Arbitration and Mediation Centre (CAM). The arbitral tribunal ordered the sellers to return approximately USD300 million to the Chinese buyer Joyvio, finding that material information was not adequately revealed in the transaction documents. This case also gave rise to an ongoing criminal complaint for alleged fraud, and the environmental aspects are currently being pursued before the SMA, where sanctions and the approval of a compliance plan are expected.

In Chile, the most common contingencies identified during an environmental due diligence relate to compliance with the applicable regulatory and permitting framework governing a specific project or activity. This includes reviewing:

• RCAs and their amendments;
• outstanding mitigation or compensation obligations; and
• any environmental enforcement actions or administrative proceedings before SMA.

A key issue often encountered is the existence of non-compliance that may trigger sanctioning procedures, which can result in significant fines or even partial or total closure of operations.

In addition, for assets with potential environmental legacies, the review typically extends to historical liabilities and potential environmental damage claims under Article 53 of Law No 19,300, as well as related civil or criminal proceedings.

As noted in 17.2 Disclosure of Environmental Information, purchasers usually cross-check the seller’s disclosures against public records and, where necessary, conduct site inspections and technical assessments to verify actual compliance and identify potential risks or contingencies. Consequently, environmental due diligence in Chile requires a high level of rigour and scrutiny, with a strong focus on regulatory, enforcement and reputational risks.