CHILE Law and Practice Contributed by: Jorge Bofill and César Ramos, Bofill Escobar Silva
Law No 19,913 – which created the Financial Analy - sis Unit (UAF) – contains the main money-laundering regulation in Chile, under which both natural and legal entities may be prosecuted. Sanctions for individuals include fines of up to USD80,000 and the confiscation of the laundered assets, as well as up to 15 years of imprisonment. Legal entities may face penalties such as the dissolution of the legal entity, a temporary or permanent ban on entering into contracts with state entities, loss of tax benefits, seizure of goods and monetary fines. As mentioned in 3.3 Anti-Bribery Regulation , Chilean legislation does not include a specific obligation to prevent any kind of crime, a general legal obligation to report any crime, nor does it oblige companies to maintain compliance programmes. Nonetheless, the effective implementation of a suitable crime-preven - tion model may be an exculpatory factor for the legal entity. However, regarding money laundering, some institu - tions, such as banks, stock markets, jewellers and casinos, are legally obligated to report suspicious operations to the UAF, and the infringement of their legal obligations can generate administrative sanc - tions. Failing to report can lead to a fine of up to USD200,000. 3.14 ESG-Related Offences As mentioned in 1.5 Corporate and Personal Liabil- ity , Law No 21,595 on Economic and Environmental Crimes introduces profound changes into Chilean criminal law. One of them was introducing environ - mental crimes, both for individuals and corporations. The main offences are the following: • knowingly eluding the environmental impact evalu - ation, while being obliged to produce an envi - ronmental impact study, and releasing polluting substances into the water, soil or air, or extracting water or soil components. This is sanctioned with 541 days to five years of imprisonment; • while being authorised to perform the acts of the aforementioned crime, infringing emission or quality norms; prevention, decontamination or environmental measures; environmental qualifica -
tion resolutions; or any condition associated with the authorisation, if the infringer has been admin - istratively sanctioned in at least two separate sanctioning proceedings for serious or very serious infringements within the previous ten years. This is sanctioned with 541 days to five years of imprison - ment; • while being authorised to extract waters, infring - ing the rules of distribution and utilisation in case of temporal reduction ordered by the authorities or in an area that has been declared a prohibited zone for new exploitations, has been decreed a restricted area in terms of hydrogeology, has been declared to have exhausted its natural water sources, or has been declared a zone of water scarcity. This is sanctioned with 541 days to five years of imprisonment; • pouring, depositing or releasing polluting sub - stances, or extracting water or components from the soil or subsoil, seriously affecting waters, soil, air, animal or plant health, water resources or the supply of drinking water, or seriously affecting wet - lands by dumping earth or other solids into them. This is sanctioned with three years and one day to ten years of imprisonment; and • committing the acts of the aforementioned crime through reckless behaviour, mere carelessness or negligence, in violation of regulations. This is sanc - tioned with 61 days to five years of imprisonment. Each one of these crimes is also sanctioned by a fine, ranging from USD8,500 to USD8.5 million, proportion - al to the main penalty. Legal entities are only expected to monitor supply chains for compliance, and their compliance pro - grammes should address them, when a person pro - vides services to the company managing their affairs before third parties, with or without representation, as explained in 1.5 Corporate and Personal Liability . 3.15 Artificial Intelligence and Automation Misuse These new technologies have not yet been regulated by Chilean law; therefore, misuse can only be pros - ecuted if it constitutes an already-established crime. For example, algorithmic trading could only be pros - ecuted in accordance with the general rules of the
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