Chile: An Overview

Chile 2026: Economic Resilience and Regulatory Change

Chile enters 2026 in a paradox familiar to anyone who follows the country closely: structurally promising, cyclically uncomfortable. The economy closed 2025 with GDP growth of 2.5%, in line with expectations, according to the Central Bank’s June 2026 monetary policy report (IPoM). However, the first quarter of 2026 hit harder than anticipated – underperformance in mining, agriculture and fisheries forced the Central Bank to revise its 2026 growth forecast down to 1.0%–1.75%, from its prior estimate of 1.5%–2.5%. Inflation climbed back to 3.9% in May, above the 3% target, pushed by energy costs from the Middle East conflict. Copper prices tell a different story: the Central Bank now projects the metal at USD5.80 per pound for 2026, driven by demand from the energy transition, defence spending and new technologies. The short and medium term are pulling in opposite directions – and that tension runs through every major legal development of the year.

Competition law: enforcement that does not forgive

Chile’s competition authorities have had a consequential year. According to the Fiscalía Nacional Económica (FNE)’s own records, between 2019 and 2026 the agency conducted 24 investigations into digital markets, targeting delivery platforms, online travel agencies and global technology companies. The preference for out-of-court settlements has proven its worth: in early 2026, Chile’s Competition Court (TDLC) approved an agreement with the companies behind PedidosYa and Glovo, imposing a fine of approximately USD31.5 million for an international market allocation scheme – the largest settlement of its kind in Chilean competition history.

However, the FNE made it equally clear that accepting a settlement does not end the matter – it begins a monitored commitment. In March 2026, it filed a new complaint against PedidosYa for allegedly breaching a 2023 agreement that banned price-matching practices with restaurants, in the same month that it reached a separate agreement with Booking.com eliminating equivalent clauses in the hotel sector.

At the same time, Chile’s Supreme Court issued a ruling that will reshape how companies think about their governance. In its 2 March 2026 decision, the Court overturned two prior TDLC rulings on director-level conflicts of interest – what Chilean law calls “interlocking” – holding that the prohibition applies to individuals only, not to the companies they sit on, and that parent companies cannot be held liable for their subsidiaries’ directors simultaneously serving competitors. The ruling nullified fines totalling approximately CLP7.5 billion. The message for corporate governance and M&A advisers is that the rules on director overlap are now more clearly defined – though the doctrine is still settling.

Looking ahead, a study on e-commerce by the FNE has proposed that large digital platforms adopt standardised terms and conditions for sellers, bringing Chilean practice closer to European models. A pending lawsuit against Google challenging practices in its app store may produce Chile’s first major ruling on whether a platform can favour its own services over third parties – a case that is being watched closely across the region.

The multi-forum trap: when one dispute becomes three

Perhaps the most underappreciated risk in Chilean business litigation today is the convergence of forums. Disputes that were once resolved cleanly within a single track – through arbitration, administrative proceedings or criminal investigation – are increasingly generating parallel proceedings across two or even three arenas simultaneously.

In infrastructure and concessions, contractual disputes have been carried out through technical panels, arbitration and judicial review, only to be followed by criminal investigations over the same underlying facts. In financial markets, governance conflicts have passed successively through regulators, arbitrators and ordinary courts. Chile’s highest courts are now routinely reviewing arbitral awards, regulatory sanctions and civil judgments that all trace back to the same conduct.

The strategic implication is serious: a company that prevails in arbitration may still face criminal exposure for the same behaviour. A business that settles with a regulator may later find itself defending the identical decision in civil proceedings. The risk is not in any single system – it is in how they combine. Early, integrated legal strategy before any formal proceeding is initiated has never mattered more.

Compliance: no longer optional, now operational

Two major laws are now fully shaping Chile’s compliance environment – and both have teeth.

The 2023 Economic Crimes Law significantly broadened corporate criminal liability, formalised environmental offences, and imposed a legal duty of oversight on company boards. Compliance programmes are no longer just a best practice: courts now treat them as enforceable obligations, assessed in criminal proceedings. In early 2026, Chile’s financial regulator reinforced this direction with new anti-money laundering rules requiring supervised institutions to designate a named senior officer with direct personal accountability and to apply more rigorous client due diligence.

Chile’s new Data Protection Law will take full effect in December 2026, replacing a decades-old framework with rights and obligations comparable to European standards. The agency responsible for enforcement is expected to be active from day one.

Moreover, there is open finance. Chile’s system for regulated financial data-sharing was originally set to launch in July 2026 under the 2023 Fintech Law, but was formally delayed to July 2027 by the financial regulator on 1 June 2026, following pressure from banks seeking more preparation time. The technical framework is now complete. The competitive window is open; whether institutions use this extra year proactively or reactively will define their position in the next cycle.

Dispute resolution: faster rules, higher stakes

International arbitration in Chile is operating under new global rules. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – whose arbitration framework is widely used in Chilean commercial disputes – overhauled its procedures in 2026, eliminating the traditional preliminary stage for defining the scope of a dispute and introducing an accelerated track capable of producing a final award in approximately three months. The change rewards parties that prepare thoroughly before filing. Those that planned to refine their position later will find that the window has closed.

At home, Chile’s principal domestic arbitration centre, the CAM Santiago, is becoming steadily more international through its 2025 alliance with the Centro Iberoamericano de Arbitraje and is working to define how artificial intelligence can be used in arbitral proceedings – a question that no institution in the region has yet answered definitively. On the judicial front, Chile’s Supreme Court began 2026 with a historic milestone: the election of its first female president in more than 200 years of institutional history. As the Court deepens its role at the intersection of arbitration, regulatory law and criminal liability, the calibre of its leadership matters more than ever.

Outlook

Chile in 2026 is a country where the structural fundamentals – copper, investment pipeline, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) alignment – remain intact, but where the regulatory environment has grown denser, and faster than most businesses anticipated. Frameworks that were being drafted two years ago are now law. Enforcement bodies are active, and disputes that once stayed in a single lane are now spilling across several at once. For any businesses with significant operations or interests in Chile, the question is no longer which legal system might affect them but how many might, and whether they are ready.