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57(5) The Foreign Investment Committee receives applications to make foreign
investments in Chile through its Vice President; they are accompanied by background
information on the applicants. When the applicants are juridical persons, this information
consists of: name of the company; type of company; names of the principal
shareholders, their nationality, civil status and residence; company domicile; economic
activity; financial information for the previous year; registered capital; assets; profits;
countries in which the company has investments; legal representative in Chile; economic
analysis of the project; sector of the economy; region where the investment will be
made; new jobs the project will generate; intended market; amount, purpose and
composition of the investment; and information on the company receiving the
investment.10
Concerning the investment contract for the “Río Cóndor Project”
57(6) On March 21 and September 24, 1991, the Foreign Investment Committee issued
two agreements approving the foreign investment applications submitted by Cetec
Engineering Company Inc. and Sentarn Enterprises Ltd., to invest a capital of
US$180,000,000 (one hundred and eighty million United States dollars).11
57(7) On December 24, 1991, the State of Chile signed a foreign investment contract
with Cetec Engineering Company Inc. and Sentarn Enterprises Ltd. (foreign investors)
and with Inversiones Cetec-Sel Chile Limitada (company receiving the capital). This
contract was signed under Decree Law No. 600 (the Foreign Investment Statute) in order
to invest in Chile a capital of US$180,000,000 (one hundred and eighty million United
States dollars). The contract established that this capital would be “surrendered and paid,
on one or more occasions” to the company receiving the capital, Inversiones Cetec Cel
[sic] Chile Ltda., so that the latter could use it in “the work of the design, construction
and operation of a forestry exploitation project in the twelfth region,” known as the “Río
Cóndor Project.” This project “involve[d] the development of a comprehensive forestry
complex, composed of a mechanized sawmill, a timber-processing plant, manufacture of
boards and planks, a lumber chip recovery plant [and] an energy plant […].”12 The
project had a “significant environmental impact” and gave rise to public debate.13
57(8) The Foreign Investment Committee approved the foreign investment application
based on the examination of the background information provided by the investors.14 An
statement made by the witness, Andrés Emilio Culagovski Rubio, on March 10, 2006 (file on merits, volume III,
folio 815).
10
Cf. Foreign investment request form (file on merits, volume III, appendix to the written statement
made by the expert witness, Claudio Francisco Castillo Castillo, on March 13, 2006 folios 897 to 901).
11
Cf. Foreign investment contract of December 24, 1991 (file of appendixes to the brief answering the
application and with observations on the requests and arguments brief, appendix 2, folio 2045).
12
Cf. Foreign investment contract of December 24, 1991 (file of appendixes to the brief answering the
application and with observations on the requests and arguments brief, appendix 2, folio 2046).
Cf. Testimony given by Marcel Claude Reyes before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing
held on April 3, 2006; and testimony given by Eduardo Moyano Berríos before the Inter-American Court during
the public hearing held on April 3, 2006.
13
Cf. Testimony given by Eduardo Moyano Berríos before the Inter-American Court during the public
hearing held on April 3, 2006; written statement made by the witness, Andrés Emilio Culagovski Rubio, on
March 10, 2006 (file on merits, reparations, and costs, volume III, folio 817); written statement made by the
witness, Liliana Guiditta Macchiavello Martini, on March 10, 2006 (file on merits, reparations, and costs, volume
14