CHILE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ricardo Rozas, Max Morgan and Stefano Perretta, JJR Abogados
and Merchant Marine (also known as DIRECTEMAR). Its main powers can be summarised as follows: • ensuring the safety of navigation and the protection of human life at sea, and overseeing compliance with the national and international provisions on these matters; • controlling and overseeing ships’ and naval arti - facts’ material to ensure their efficiency and sea - worthiness; • ensuring compliance with laws, regulations and other provisions concerning the technical and pro - fessional issues relating to the Chilean merchant navy; • monitoring and ensuring compliance with public order and discipline on board vessels and naval artifacts; • sanctioning crew members for professional mis - conduct/lack of due diligence or faults against public order, safety and discipline; • enforcing safety measures in connection with ves - sels, naval artifacts, port operations and (generally) maritime, river and lake activities; • initiating a maritime enquiry into accidents and losses involving vessels or persons in Chilean ter - ritorial waters, channels, lakes or navigable rivers to determine the causes and the parties responsi - ble, and to establish the professional, technical and disciplinary liabilities that may apply; • exercising maritime police faculties; and • ensuring the preservation of the marine environ - ment. 1.3 Domestic Legislation Applicable to Ship Registration Any type of vessel (whether constructed or under construction) or naval device can be registered at the following registries kept by DIRECTEMAR: • the Large Vessels Registry; • the Minor Vessels Registry; • the Vessels in Construction Registry; • the Naval Devices Registry; and • the Mortgage, Liens and Prohibitions Registry. The rules relevant to the organisation and operation of registries, and the procedures, formalities and require - ments of registration, are contained in the Navigation
Law and the Regulations for Registration of Vessels and Naval Artifacts (Decree 163 of 1981). 1.4 Requirements for Ownership of Vessels Merchant vessels can be registered by Chilean nation - als or citizens. If the owner is a corporation, it must meet the following requirements to be deemed Chil - ean: • having its registered offices and true and effective headquarters in Chile; • having a Chilean president, manager and majority of directors or administrators, as the case may be; and • the majority of the equity capital being owned by Chilean individuals or bodies corporate. Special vessels (eg, tugboats, dredgers, scientific or recreational vessels) can be registered in Chile by for - eign natural persons as long as they are domiciled in the country or their main place of business is located locally (this rule does not apply to fishing vessels). Without prejudice to the foregoing, applying the prin - ciple of international reciprocity, the Maritime Author - ity may – under conditions of equivalence – release from the above requirements fishing companies incor - porated in Chile with a majority participation of foreign capital, when in the country of origin of such capital there are requirements for the registration of foreign vessels and provisions for the development of fishing activities in accordance with said principle, which can be used by natural or legal persons from Chile. Vessels under construction can be registered in a spe - cial registry for this purpose. Once the construction is completed, the owner must request its registration in the corresponding ship’s registry. 1.5 Temporary Registration of Vessels According to the Navigation Law, in the event of an international conflict that seriously affects the normal - ity of Chile’s international maritime trade or of immi - nent danger of such a conflict, the President of the Republic is empowered to authorise – on a temporary basis – the use of the national flag by certain vessels that are hired by national companies.
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