Abstract
Chilean consumer law and policy has a short but enthralling history. As compared with other jurisdictions such as EU countries, its bedrock is still in formation, particularly pertaining to its envisaged role in the regulatory spectrum applicable to consumer markets. However, this circumstance has not been a serious obstacle to several reforms carried out in recent years aimed at broadening its scope of action, including rethinking a proposal regarding the policy goals to be addressed by the national consumer agency, SERNAC. In that context, this article presents a brief account of the main features of Chilean consumer law, considering the current socioeconomic development level of the country, the main pieces of legislation concerning consumer protection in the Chilean legal framework—notably the Chilean Consumer Protection Act—as well as key elements of the public policy approach in this matter. A few examples of topics such as product liability and sale and purchase of consumer goods are also analysed in order to allow a comparison of the Chilean experience in consumer protection with other jurisdictions.
Highlights
Chile is a country located in the so–called Southern Cone of South America, bordering on Perú to the north, on Bolivia to the northeast, and on Argentina to the east, with its western geographic boundary being the Pacific Ocean
Due to the existence of this piece of legislation on the subject of consumer protection, theoretical analysis in Chile has been mainly focused on studying the scope of the CCPA, and its lex generalis or lex specialis nature, as well as the consequences of its application to contracts applied by and between consumers and suppliers and, later on, how this law should be appropriately construed for B2B relationships, considering that, since 2010, micro and small enterprises are entitled to invoke some of the CCPA provisions when dealing with their suppliers
I have sought to offer a summary of the features, roots, and the current state of development Chilean consumer law
Summary
Chile is a country located in the so–called Southern Cone of South America, bordering on Perú to the north, on Bolivia to the northeast, and on Argentina to the east, with its western geographic boundary being the Pacific Ocean. Chile’s form of government is a presidential republic, with the duties of head of state and head of government performed jointly by a president elected by universal suffrage. Both the President of the Republic and the National Congress are involved in drafting national laws, reason for which they are jointly referred to as co–legislators. The rulings of the superior courts (“case law”) do not constitute a mandatory legal precedent for lower courts, except in very specific cases Notwithstanding, they are still a relevant source for judicial construction of the law and legal reasoning (so–called jurisprudencia).
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