Chile

Standards

National standards organizations

Integration in the international standards network

The organisation controlling the system of certification and accreditation on quality control and normalisation is "el Instituto Nacional de Normalización" (INN). Usually the degree of application of the standards is not very high and varies according to the sectors. The existing standards mainly applicable to construction, food, fuels, safety, wood and electricity sectors.

Classification of standards

Online consultation of standards

Certification organizations

Legal framework

Independence of justice

Judiciary is independent.

Equal treatment of nationals and foreigners

Foreign nationals in the country can enjoy treatment at par with the natives from the judiciary, including commercial disputes.

The language of justice

The judicial language in the country is Spanish.

Sources of the law and legal similarities

Chile is a Republic (official name: Republic of Chile) based on parliamentary democracy where President enjoys considerable powers. Chile is one of South America's most stable and prosperous nations.
President is both the chief of state and head of government, and holds the executive powers. President appoints the Cabinet and has the authority to remove the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces. P resident is elected by popular vote for a single four-year term.
The legislature is bicameral. The parliament called National Congress consists of: Senate (the upper house) with its members elected by popular vote to serve eight-year terms, and the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house) with its members elected by popular vote to serve four-year. Chile's congressional elections are governed by a unique binomial system that rewards coalition representations. Each coalition can run two candidates for the two Senate and two Deputy seats apportioned to each electoral district and parties are forced to form wide coalitions. Historically, the two largest coalitions (Concertacion and Alianza) split most of the seats in a district. The citizens of Chile enjoy considerable political rights
Judiciary is independent. The main source of the law is the constitution of 1980 (amended several times). The country's legal system is based on Code of 1857 derived from Spanish law and subsequent codes influenced by French and Austrian law as well as various judicial reviews of the legislative acts by the Supreme Court. Chile has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction. In June 2005, Chile completed overhauled its criminal justice system to adopt a new US-style adversarial system. The judicial language in the country is Spanish.
Chile is ruled by law. Foreign nationals in the country can enjoy treatment at par with the natives from the judiciary, including commercial disputes. Corruption in the country is limited and under control.

Consulting national laws online

Intellectual Property

National organizations

The body in charge of protecting patents and trademarks in Chile is the Departamento de Propiedad Industrial in Santiago.
Chile signed the Agreement of Paris for the protection of industrial property, as well as the agreement establishing the World Intellectual property Organisation (WIPO). Patents that were obtained in other countries are valid in Chile until expiration of their normal date of validity.

Tax rates

Accounting rules

Tax year

The fiscal year begins on January 1-st and ends on December 31 of the same year.

Accounting regulation bodies

Accounting reports

- stocks: they are calculated with the " First in - First out " method.
- fixed assets: buildings, shares and bonds bought by the company.
- capitalization interests : interests incurred on fixed assets (shares and bonds).
- depreciations : there are several calculating methods for depreciations.
- investments and long-term fundings.
- research and development costs : they must be registered and paid off over a period of more than 6 years.
- interests for bills relative to accounts receivable and payable.
- provisions for redundancy payment.
- long term contracts.
- extraordinary costs : they appear in the profit and loss account.

Publication

Companies have to produce their their annual financial statement to the shareholders.
The account books must be published in Spanish and use the Chilean currency as reference.

Professional accountancy bodies

Certification and auditing

External audits are compulsory for companies with capital and foreign investors with repatriated profits.

Accounting news

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