Recently, the Senate approved the observations made by the President of the Republic to the bill that systematizes economic crimes and attacks against the environment, thus finalizing its legislative procedure. At present, the bill is subject to the control of constitutionality by the Constitutional Court, prior to its enactment.

It should be noted that with this project there are relevant changes in terms of criminal liability of legal persons. In effect, the number of crimes for which legal entities are criminally liable is increased (more than 200) and, together with this, the application of Law No. 20.393 is extended to State companies, corporations and universities, political parties and religious legal entities of public law.

Likewise, the prerequisites for this criminal liability are reformulated, requiring that, on the one hand, the crime is perpetrated within the framework of its activity, by or with the intervention of the person holding an office, function or position in the legal person, or rendering services to it by managing its affairs before third parties; and, on the other hand, that the commission of the crime is favored or facilitated by the lack of effective implementation of a crime prevention model.

Regarding the content of the crime prevention models, the existence of secure channels for complaints and periodic evaluations by independent third parties are required.

In addition, amendments are introduced in relation to the penalties applicable to legal entities, by (i) establishing a new system for calculating fines (day-fines); (ii) the detailed regulation of the confiscation of assets or proceeds from the crime and (iii) and the incorporation of the penalty of supervision, i.e., the subjection to a supervisor - determined by the court - who must be in charge of the development, implementation or improvement of the crime prevention system of the legal entity.

Finally, it should be noted that the entry into force of the amendments to Law No. 20,393 is maintained, namely, the first day of the thirteenth month following the month of publication.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this information, please contact our team:

Andrea Abascal (aabascal@bofillmir.cl)

Rocío Vergara (rvergara@bofillmir.cl)