-20Investment Statute, which is one of the legal mechanisms for implementing this type of
investment, and grants certain benefits to the investor. This Legislative Decree includes
provisions regulating “foreign natural and juridical persons and Chileans resident abroad
who transfer foreign capital to Chile and who sign a foreign investment contract.”5 The
Decree regulates foreign investment contracts, the rights and obligations of foreign
investors, and the rules and regulations applicable to them, as well as the role of the
Foreign Investment Committee and the Executive Vice Presidency.6
57(2) The Foreign Investment Committee “is a functionally-decentralized, public-law
juridical person, with its own assets […] linked to the President of the Republic through
the Ministry of Economy, Development and Reconstruction.” The Committee is composed
of: (1) the Minister of Economy, Development and Reconstruction, who chairs it; (2) the
Finance Minister; (3) the Minister for Foreign Affairs; (4) the Minister of the respective
sector, in the case of investment applications in areas that involve ministries that are not
represented on the Committee; (5) the Minister of Planning and Cooperation, and (6) the
President of the Central Bank of Chile.7
57(3) This Committee is “the only body authorized, in representation of the State of
Chile, to authorize the entry of foreign capital under Decree Law [No. 600] and to
establish the terms and conditions of the respective contracts” and is linked to the
President of the Republic through the Ministry of Economy, Development and
Reconstruction. To fulfill its role and obligations, “the [Foreign Investment] Committee
shall be represented by its President in the case of […] investments that require the
agreement of the Committee, as established in Article 16 [of this decree]; otherwise, it
will be represented by its Executive Vice President.”8
57(4) To fulfill its role and obligations, the Executive Vice Presidency of the Foreign
Investment Committee, has the following responsibilities: (a) to receive, examine and
report on foreign and other investment applications submitted to the Committee’s
consideration; (b) to act as the Committee’s administrative body, preparing the required
background material and studies; (c) to carry out information, registration, statistical and
coordination functions relating to foreign investment; (d) to centralize information and
the reports on the control of the obligations undertaken by foreign investors or the
companies in which they are involved exercised by public entities, and to denounce any
offense or infraction that comes to its attention before the competent public entities or
authorities; (e) to carry out and to facilitate the necessary procedures before the
different entities that must provide information or grant authorization before the
Committee can take a decision on the different applications, and for due execution of the
corresponding contracts and decisions, and (f) to investigate in Chile or abroad the
suitability and soundness of the applicants or interested parties.9
5
Cf. Article 1 of Decree Law No. 600 on the Foreign Investment Statute published on December 16,
1993 (file of appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, appendix 6, folios 1199 to 1212).
6
Cf. Decree Law No. 600 on the Foreign Investment Statute published on December 16, 1993 (file of
appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, appendix 6, folios 1199 to 1212).
Cf. Article 13 of Decree Law No. 600 on the Foreign Investment Statute published on December 16,
1993 (file of appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, volume I, appendix 6, folio 1208).
7
8
Cf. Article 12 of Decree Law No. 600 on the Foreign Investment Statute published on December 16,
1993 (file of appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, volume I, appendix 6, folio 1207).
9
Cf. Article 15 of Decree Law No. 600 on the Foreign Investment Statute published on December 16,
1993 (file of appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, volume I, appendix 6, folio 1208); and written