The following laws constitute the Chilean key anti-bribery and anti-corruption legislation:

• The Chilean Constitution (articles 8 and 79);
• Law N° 18,575 on the general basis of the State’s administration (articles 52, 53, 61 and 62);
• The Chilean Criminal Code (articles 248, 248 bis, 249, 250, 250 bis, 251, 251 bis, 251 ter, 251 quater, 251 quinquies, 251 sexies, 287 bis and 287 ter);
• Law N° 20,393 on legal entities’ criminal liability derived from money laundering, terrorism finance, and bribery;
• Law N° 20,730 on lobbying and the activities that represent private interests before authorities and public officers;
• Law N° 20,880 on probity in public functions and the prevention of conflicts of interest; and
• Law N° 19,884 on transparency and the limits and control over electoral expenditure.
• Law N° 19,886, public procurement contracts framework act; and
• Law N° 20,285 on access to public information.

The following specific anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws have been enacted in Chile in the last ten years:

• Law N° 20,730 on lobbying and the activities that represent private interests before authorities and public officers was enacted and published in 2014;
• Law N° 20,880 on probity in public functions and the prevention of conflicts of interest was enacted in 2015 and published in 2016; 
• Law N° 20,900, which amended Law N° 19,884 on transparency and the limits and control over electoral expenditure was enacted and published in 2016;
• Law N° 21.073 on regional governor elections (includes new anti-corruption provisions and early public office termination clauses on the basis of probity breaches), enacted in 2018;
• Law No. 21,121, which amended the Criminal Code and other provisions regarding the prevention, detection and prosecution of corruption was enacted and published in 2018; and
• Law N° 21.333 which amends the electoral expenditure act (modifies the statute of limitations regarding electoral expenditure-related crimes). Enacted in 2021.

Yes, to give, offer or consent to give an economic benefit or benefit of any other nature to a domestic public official is prohibited under articles 250 and 250 bis of the Chilean Criminal Code.

Yes. To offer, promise, give or consent to give an economic benefit or of any other nature to a foreign public official is prohibited under article 251 bis of the Chilean Criminal Code.

For these purposes the word foreign public official means any person who has a legislative, administrative or judicial post in a foreign country, whether it has been appointed or elected; any person who exercises a public function for a foreign country, whether in a State agency or a public enterprise;...article 251 ter of the same code also considers as foreign public officials, any person who is an officer or agent of an international public organization.

Yes, requesting or accepting a bribe by a public official is prohibited under articles 248, 248 bis and 249 of the Chilean Criminal Code, and articles 61 and 62 N° 5 of Law N° 18,575.

The local legislation which prohibits and punishes, on the one hand, to offer, promise, give or consent to give to a public official an economic benefit or of any other nature, and, on the other hand, to request or accept said benefits by a public official is applicable to the following individuals and legal entities, provided that the crime has been committed in Chilean territory:

• domestic public officers;
• individuals without distinguishing their nationality;
• private legal entities, without distinguishing their place of incorporation or nationality; and
• Chilean State enterprises.

The individuals and legal entities based in Chile are responsible for crimes of bribery perpetrated abroad only in the case of article 251 bis of the Chilean Criminal Code which punishes the bribery of foreign officials (please see our response to "Is a bribe payment to foreign government officials prohibited by the legislation?").

Yes, articles 1, 2 and 3 of Law N° 20,393 established a criminal liability regime applicable to private legal entities and Chilean State enterprises, derived –among other predicate offenses—from bribery of domestic and foreign public officials.

Individuals who give, offer or consent to give an economic benefit or of any other nature to a domestic public official shall be subject to the following penalties:

• imprisonment ranging between 61 days and 10 years;
• a fine ranging from between one and four times the amount of the benefits that were requested or accepted; and
• temporary or permanent disability to perform any kind of public function.

In case the benefit accepted or requested corresponds to one of a none economic nature, the fine shall range between UTM 25 and UTM 1,500 (approximately, USD $1,600 to USD $96,389).

Individuals who offer, promise, give or consent to give a bribe to a foreign public official shall be subject to the following penalties:

• imprisonment ranging from three years and one day up to 10 years;
• a fine ranging between two and four times the amount of the benefits that were requested or accepted; and
• disability to exercise any kind of public function for a period ranging from seven years and one day up to 10 years.

In case the benefit accepted or requested corresponds to one of a none economic nature, the prior fine shall range between UTM 100 and UTM 1,000 (approximately, USD $6,425 to USD $64,259).
 

As a general rule, legal entities that are found guilty with respect to a bribery offense of a public official, shall be subject to the following penalties:

• debarment from contracting with the Chilean state for a period ranging between two and four years;
• loss between 20 and 70 percent of fiscal benefits for a period ranging from two to five years; or their total loss for a period of two to three years; or
• a fine ranging between UTM 400 and UTM 40,000 (approximately, USD $25,800 to USD $2,580,000).

However, if the bribe has been offered, promised, given or consented with the purpose that the public official either (i) omits an act that is required by his functions; (ii) performs an act the breaches the duties within his functions; or (iii) commits any of the crimes regulated in Title V of the Second Book of the Chilean Criminal Code (“Crimes committed by public officials during their functions”) or in section 4 of the Title III of said Book (“Crimes of torture, other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and other violations of constitutional rights by public officials”); then legal entities shall be subject to the following penalties:

• dissolution;
• debarment from contracting with the Chilean state ranging from four years and one day to perpetuity;
• loss between 71 and 100 percent of fiscal benefits for a period ranging between two and five years; or their total loss for a period of three years and one day up to five years; or
• a fine ranging from UTM 40,001 to UTM 300,000 (approximately, USD $2,570,455 to USD $19,277,935).

In addition to the sanctions applicable to both cases of bribery, Law N° 20,393 contemplates the following supplementary penalties:

• publication of an abstract of the guilty sentence in the Official Gazette to be paid by the corresponding legal entity;
• confiscation of the results, goods, effects, objects, documents, instruments, money and securities related to the crime; and
• in cases where the corresponding legal entity has invested more than its income in order to commit bribery, such entity shall also deposit an equivalent quantity in favor of the state.

Yes, according to article 3 of Law N° 20,393, legal entities are criminally liable if the commission of the crime resulted from the entity’s breach of its direction and supervisory duties.

Article 3 of Law N° 20,393 specifies it will be understood that the entity has complied with its direction and supervisory duties if, prior to the commission of the crime, the entity has adopted and implemented an organization, management and supervision model that meets the requirements listed in said law, to prevent bribery, amongst other predicate offenses that can generate criminal liability for legal entities. Article 4° determines the minimum standards for such a supervision model.

Yes, according to article 25 of Law N° 20,393, legal entities are entitled to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement (suspensión condicional del procedimiento) with the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Público), if the entity has no previous convictions or deferred prosecution agreement in progress. In order to dismiss the relevant criminal charges, the conditions agreed therein shall be complied with within a period that ranges between six months and three years. Entering into a deferred prosecution agreement is possible or (depending on the penalty) more likely, if certain mitigating circumstances, such as active collaboration with the investigation, are fulfilled.