CHILE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ricardo Rozas, Max Morgan and Stefano Perretta, JJR Abogados
Rules Regarding Cash and Guarantees When money is handed over for the constitution of the fund, the court will deposit it in a bank, with the knowl - edge of the receiver and the interested parties. Any readjustments and interest obtained therefrom will be added to the fund to the benefit of the creditors. If the fund has been constituted by means of a guarantee, its amount will accrue current interest wherever the court sits, and it will be left on record in the document establishing the guarantee. Limitation of Civil Liability for Damage From Spillage of Hydrocarbons and Other Hazardous Substances Spillage of hydrocarbons from seagoing vessels car - rying oil in bulk as cargo is subject to the CLC 1992. Spillage of hydrocarbons from vessels not carrying oil in bulk as cargo or spillage of other hazardous sub - stances is subject to the terms of the CLC 1969 and supplementary norms set forth by the Chilean Navi - gation Law, including those for fund constitution and distribution. 3.6 Seafarers’ Safety and Owners’ Liability In January 2019, Chile enacted the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). Other applicable domestic regula - tions are the Labour Code, the Navigation Law and the general regulations on order, safety and discipline of ships and the coastline. In 1982, Chile ratified the Hamburg Rules and then included them in the Code of Commerce in 1988 (par - agraph 3, Title V, Book III), with minimal changes (the “Chilean adoption of the Hamburg Rules”). 4.2 Title to Sue on a Bill of Lading Under the Chilean adoption of the Hamburg Rules, a “contract of carriage by sea” means “any contract whereby the carrier undertakes against payment of freight to carry goods by sea from one port to anoth - er”. In this respect, a contract which involves carriage by sea and carriage by some other means is, for the purposes of Chilean law, deemed to be a contract of 4. Cargo Claims 4.1 Bills of Lading
carriage by sea only in so far as it relates to the car - riage by sea. In turn, the Chilean adoption of the Hamburg Rules provides that the bill of lading “is a document which establishes the existence of a contract of maritime transport and verifies that the carrier has taken charge or has loaded the goods and has undertaken to deliv - er them against presentation of that document to a determined person to his order or to the bearer”. In this respect, under the Chilean adoption of the Hamburg Rules, “shipper” means: • any person by whom or in whose name or on whose behalf a contract of carriage of goods by sea has been concluded with a carrier; and • any person by whom or in whose name or on whose behalf the goods are actually delivered to the carrier in relation to the contract of carriage by sea. In addition, under the Chilean adoption of the Ham - burg Rules, “consignee” means “the person entitled by a document of title to take delivery of the goods”. Notwithstanding that there is some debate among local scholars as regards the nature of the contract of carriage by sea, under Chilean practice title to sue will usually be associated with the lawful holder of the bill of lading, which includes the shipper, consignee, endorsees and subrogated insurers, as the case may be. As regards assignment of title to sue, this can gener - ally be done following the assignment rules contained in the Chilean Civil Code. 4.3 Ship-Owners’ Liability and Limitation of Liability for Cargo Damages The Chilean adoption of the Hamburg Rules recog - nises a basic distinction between the “carrier” (also known as the “contractual carrier”) and the “actual carrier”. The former is defined as “any person by whom or in whose name a contract of carriage of goods by sea has been concluded with a shipper” and the latter as “any person to whom the performance of the carriage of the goods, or part of the carriage,
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