CHILE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Joaquin Schafër, VGC Abogados
In social areas, some labour reforms are worth highlighting, including the 2024 enactment of Law No 21.643, which seeks to guarantee safe and harassment-free workplaces, and to prevent acts that are contrary to this objective. In sum, there is no general law in Chile that establishes a direct obligation for companies to implement HRDD. However, through decrees issued by the President of the Republic, some steps have been taken in business and human rights. In 2017, the Committee for the Nation - al Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights was created, which is integrated by differ - ent ministries with the objective of advising the President of the Republic on the topic and cre - ating and monitoring compliance with the NAP. While NAPs do not establish new obliga - tions, they are instruments through which the government promotes certain public policies and assesses the social climate for regulatory change. To date, Chile has enacted two NAPs on Business and Human Rights. The first NAP was enacted in 2017 by the Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs and lasted for three years (2017– 2020). Its purpose was to develop a culture of respect and promotion of human rights in busi - ness in different industries, and to bring the dis - cussion to the domestic level, as established in the UNGPS. The second NAP was enacted in 2022 by the Under-Secretary of Human Rights, also for a three-year period (2022–2025). It sought to deepen the conversation inaugurated by its pre - decessor and to establish new and more ambi - tious actions. The third NAP is currently under discussion, and seeks to outline public policy in this area for the period 2026–2029. This instru - ment seeks to deepen collaborative work in its elaboration and includes the different stakehold -
ers and actors impacted positively and nega - tively by business activities. Regulatory risks: bills on human rights due diligence Along with the pragmatism and non-enforcea - bility that characterise the NAPs, it is worth not - ing that the debate has highlighted the need to include autonomous public agencies and for the National Congress to articulate the NAPs with regulations and bills. This is not the result of chance; rather, this need for co-ordination aris - es from a series of bills currently under discus - sion that, with different nuances, seek to require companies to implement HRDD. First, Bill No 17.196-17, presented in October 2024, seeks to amend the law on joint stock companies to establish obligations for such cor - porations to promote the protection of human rights. This bill is based on the regulatory model of the EU CSDDD and seeks to oblige certain companies, depending on their size and corpo - rate form, to implement the various steps and tasks set out in the HRDD in their activities. Of course, this includes having a policy commit - ment, as well as the task of identifying, assessing and mitigating negative human rights impacts on their stakeholders. The second bill is No 17.446-17 and was intro - duced in April 2025. With only two proposed arti - cles, the bill seeks to require large companies, based on their capital and number of workers, to implement due diligence on compliance and respect for human rights, the environment and climate change. The bill requires corporations to prepare an annual report on their compliance with these obligations and subsequent reporting to the authority. In terms of implementation and regulation, the draft law relies on the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.
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