The law includes new crimes in the catalog of the Economic Crimes Law, which may also give rise to criminal liability for companies.
On September 29, Law No. 21,770 was published in the Official Gazette, establishing the Framework Law on Sectoral Authorizations and introducing amendments to several laws, including Law No. 21,595, which refers to Economic Crimes.
The purpose of this law is to provide a general framework that ensures compliance and standardizes the procedures of the State Administration bodies with jurisdiction to authorize projects or activities subject to regulatory limitations.
The aim is to provide greater legal certainty for project owners, those who carry out the projects, and the general public.
The law also seeks to boost productivity, growth, and investment by modernizing authorization systems and moving progressively toward more uniform and simplified regulation.
In this regard, it establishes rules that define how administrative bodies should act to resolve applications in a valid, timely, and transparent manner, considering the associated risks and adequately safeguarding the rights of applicants.
What are the amendments to the Economic Crimes Law?
Article 123 of Law No. 21,770 introduces amendments to the Economic Crimes Law (LDE) and, in turn, impacts the Criminal Liability of Legal Entities Law. Specifically:
It mandates that paragraph 7 of Article 2 of the Economic Crimes Act be amended and that paragraph 33 be added.
This solved the problem that arose when Law No. 21,673 eliminated letters f) and h) from Article 7 of the Fraud Act (Law No. 20,009). It also corrected the reference to the effect that the crimes listed in letters a) and b) of Article 7 of Law No. 20,009 are second-category crimes, namely: the malicious use of blocked cards, passwords, and other credentials; and the malicious obtaining of improper cancellations of card charges.
Additionally, the crimes described in Articles 12(3) and 38 of Law No. 21,770 were incorporated as new second-category crimes: the presentation of false or altered information, or the omission of essential information in documents or notices; and false certification or reporting by professionals.
On the other hand, the law mandates that paragraph 6 be incorporated into Article 3 of the Economic Crimes Law, thus adding a new third-category crime: violation of the confidentiality obligation under Article 45.
As we pointed out at the beginning, the incorporation of these new crimes into the LDE catalog implies, in turn, their inclusion among those that can generate criminal liability for legal entities.
Tal como señalamos al inicio, la incorporación de estos nuevos delitos al catálogo de la LDE implica, a su vez, su inclusión dentro de aquellos que pueden generar responsabilidad penal para las personas jurídicas.
For more information on these amendments, please contact:
Rodrigo Albagli | Partner | ralbagli@az.cl
Antonio Rubilar | Partner | arubilar@az.cl
Yoab Bitran | Director Compliance Group | ybitran@az.cl
Loreto Osorio | Associate | losorio@az.cl
Sebastián Achondo | Associate | sachondo@az.cl
Macarena Navea | Associate | mnavea@az.cl
Felipe Barrera | Associate | fbarrera@az.cl
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