Regulatory Process
Administrative Process
Judicial System
The Environmental Framework Law was enacted in 1994. However, Chilean environmental law has recently seen some important developments in relation to the regulatory process, the administrative process and the judicial system.
In general, recent developments in the regulation of the environment are the result of agreements being reached with various industrial sectors on emission standards. Standards for noise emission and wastewater discharge into the sewage system are two of the most recent to be agreed. In the near future, standards are expected to be agreed for emissions of certain air pollutants by heavy transport vehicles in the Santiago metropolitan region and for emissions of wastewater into the surface waters.
Recently, there has been more stringent enforcement of environmental regulations. This improvement in enforcement has resulted from increased reliance on technical/scientific considerations and this resulted in the administrative agencies developing more expertise.
The environmental impact assessment system, administered by the National Environmental Agency (Conama), has directly and indirectly promoted compliance with laws and regulations. This system has also improved consistency in the decisions of different agencies by ensuring that environmental permits are granted once a project has obtained approval from Conama after the agency has conducted an environmental impact assessment.
Judicial control of agencies' administrative decisions has also increased and this has allowed the development of legal concepts such as 'the right to a pollution-free environment', 'lawfullness' and 'arbitrary decision'.
Judicial supervision has improved as a result of the wide use of the 'Constitutional protection action', which may be filed to protect the constitutional right to a pollution-free environment. The action may be brought in relation to actions or omissions to act in order to control either the lawfulness of an agency's decision or to obtain protection from activities that pollute the environment. The standing to bring this action has recently been broadly interpreted to allow persons and entities that are not directly affected by the action or omission to act to file a claim.
Normally, the tort action for negligence may be used to protect private rights and interests. However, here, only an affected person may file a claim. The 'environmental restoration action', on the other hand, pursues the restoration of environment that has been negligently or intentionally damaged, without consideration of damage to private rights or interests. It may therefore be exercised by the state, the relevant municipality or any person who resides in the municipality.
For further information on this topic please contact Jaime Ubilla at Carey y Cía by telephone (+56 2 365 7203) or by fax (56 2 633 1980) or by e-mail ([email protected]).
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