Socially speaking, there is a great complaint from many people that Justice is not working properly in Chile. However, for all our purposes, and in particular for a foreigner, you can not take these Chilean conversations, as synonymous that the ruling is just a matter of influencing the judge, the ruler, or the public officer in charge. For instance if you try to bribe the officer in charge of the primary step of the Justice ladder – a carabinero, the policeman stopping you on the traffic- he will take you immediately into jail. Do not start with the wrong foot doing that in Chile. On this small nation, since almost the start of the Republic, some wise founding Fathers, designed laws, regulations to organize our public life. The Chilean Civil Code issued in 1855 was started by Andres Bello in 1840. This Code was copied or served as inspiration for several nations in Latin America. So, in Chile the adherence to the law, is stronger than the loyalty to the ruling Officer. This provides stability to the country and safety to the investors, as there is not going to be a huge change when a government or an officer looses his position, unless the Congress change the laws !!! That is part of the Chilean way that you need to learn. The law is mostly above all. This sometimes can be frustrating because we are bureaucratic and slow motion. The other side, is that the country is stable. So, when you plan on doing business in Chile, be aware of this two facts of our culture: The law is above all and we move slow. If you plan with that on mind, you can stay here for decades with a business.
So, you need a good and professional advice to drive trough both, our complex legal system and the people handling it. If you do not care for our legal system, officers are not going to respect you. Most likely, you will loose your money for following your way, and not the Chilean way for doing business. You will be in halt by the law, not for a particular officer.
If someone offers you a magic solution because he is going to bribe such and such important ruling officers, you are going directly to the dump. You are going to loose that money plus putting in total jeopardy your investment. Instead start putting solid foundations for your endeavors in Chile, investing in respecting the law, because in the worst case scenario, you could still sell your business to a third party, because a due diligence proves that it is legally healthy. That is valuable in Chile. May be in another nation it is most important who is on charge. In Chile it is also important, but he will not dare to loose his position for breaking the law for giving you a benefit. This is the most likely scenario on the 98% of the cases. So, do not undervalue the strength of the law to raise yourself and your business. Include the respect to our whole legal system, as part of your assets that you must preserve. I mean for whole legal system, many civil, criminal, tax, labor, environmental, financial, custom, municipal and all kind of laws, regulations and practices.