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Project permits in Chile: environmental assessment (DIA and EIA) timelines, the Ley Nº 21.850 reforms to appeals and injunctions, and the new sectoral permits framework law

Last verified: 2026-10-26 · Status: Changing

Large projects in Chile, from power plants and mines to ports and factories, cannot be built until they pass the Environmental Impact Assessment System, through a Declaration (60 day review) or, where significant impacts exist, a full Study (120 day review), with clocks that stop whenever the authority asks for clarifications. Ley Nº 21.850 reshapes the back end from 1 November 2026: a single appeal route with tight deadlines, an optional fast track with fewer rounds of questions, a one year limit on invalidation and court injunctions against approvals capped at six months. Permits outside that system move to Ley Nº 21.770, which sets maximum terms, positive silence for project and operating permits and a single digital window, phased in permit by permit.

USD figures use the dólar observado of CLP 972.60 per US dollar for 1 October 2026, the latest value shown in the SII dólar observado table on the verification date. UTM amounts use the October 2026 UTM of CLP 72,151 and UTA of CLP 865,812, and UF amounts the UF of CLP 41,221.08 for 26 October 2026, all published by the SII. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Review period for an Environmental Impact Study	120 daysLey Nº 19.300 art. 15, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Review period for an Environmental Impact Declaration	60 daysLey Nº 19.300 art. 18, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Power plant size that triggers assessment (until a new regulation applies)	3 MWLey Nº 19.300 art. 10 letter c, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Deadline to file the special appeal against an RCA	30 daysLey Nº 21.850 art. 11 Nº 4, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Deadline to decide appeals on an EIA	60 daysLey Nº 21.850 art. 11 Nº 4, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Maximum total duration of court injunctions suspending an RCA	6 monthsLey Nº 21.850 art. 14 Nº 5, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Deadline for the administration to invalidate unlawful acts	1 yearsLey Nº 21.850 art. 4, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Maximum term for a sectoral project permit under the framework law	50 business daysLey Nº 21.770 art. 20 and 21, as of 2026-10-26 · pending
Silence effect for project and operating permits under the framework law	Deemed granted textLey Nº 21.770 art. 24, as of 2026-10-26 · pending

The rule

1. Projects listed in art. 10 may only be carried out or modified after assessment of their environmental impact. All environmental permits and statements that State bodies must or may issue for projects in the system are granted through it, coordinated by the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA). A report on territorial compatibility is always required from the regional government, the municipality and, where relevant, the maritime authority.Ley Nº 19.300, Ley sobre Bases Generales del Medio Ambiente, Art. 8 and art. 9, 1994-03-09 official text · verified 2026-10-26

2. Projects that must enter the system include significant water works, high voltage transmission lines and substations, power plants (currently above 3 MW), nuclear facilities, airports, terminals, railways, motorways and public roads that may affect protected areas, ports and shipyards, urban or tourism developments outside strategically assessed plans, industrial or real estate projects in saturated or latent zones, mining projects including hydrocarbons and industrial aggregate extraction, pipelines and industrial scale plants, agroindustries and livestock operations, among others. A full Environmental Impact Study (EIA) is required if the project creates health risks, significant adverse effects on renewable natural resources, resettlement or significant alteration of community life, is located near populations, protected areas, priority conservation sites, protected wetlands or glaciers, significantly alters landscape or tourism value, or alters cultural heritage; otherwise a Declaration (DIA), a sworn statement of compliance, is filed. Splitting projects to avoid the system or change the instrument is prohibited.Ley Nº 19.300, Ley sobre Bases Generales del Medio Ambiente, Art. 10, art. 11, art. 11 bis and art. 18, 1994-03-09 official text · verified 2026-10-26

3. The assessing body has 120 days to rule on an EIA and 60 days on a DIA; the DIA period can be extended once by up to 30 days in qualified cases. Requests for clarifications, rectifications or additions suspend the clock until the applicant answers. An EIA lacking essential information can be returned only within the first 40 days, and a DIA within the first 30 days, after which assessment must continue. A missing sectoral environmental permit requested by the assessing body is deemed granted if not issued within 15 days for an EIA or 10 days for a DIA. A DIA accompanied by a commitment to third party conformity certification must be qualified within 30 days, and urgent EIAs for public calamities or essential services run at half time. For an EIA, the applicant publishes an extract in the Diario Oficial and a regional or national newspaper, at its own cost, within 10 days of filing.
Cost to do it: No SEA filing fee is set in Ley Nº 19.300. Costs are consultants' studies, baseline fieldwork and the publication of the EIA extract in the Diario Oficial and a newspaper.
Example: A DIA filed on day 0 with one round of questions answered in 45 days is due by day 105 at the earliest, before any 30 day extension. / Budget at least six months for a DIA and a year or more for an EIA once suspensions are counted.Ley Nº 19.300, Ley sobre Bases Generales del Medio Ambiente, Art. 15, art. 15 bis, art. 16, art. 18, art. 18 bis, art. 18 ter, art. 19 and art. 28, 2010-01-26 official text · verified 2026-10-26

4. From 1 November 2026: a project with a favourable environmental qualification (RCA) only needs a new assessment for changes in the same assessed area if they substantially change the magnitude or extent of impacts, and pure technology upgrades need none, as the regulation will define. Rejections or returns of a DIA or EIA for requiring an EIA, or for not proving compliance, must be in a reasoned resolution. The art. 10 letter c) entry becomes "power generating plants", but that change only takes effect when a new regulation is published, which may not set a threshold below 3 MW and must distinguish by technology; the Ministry of the Environment must issue new regulations within one year of publication.Ley Nº 21.850, Art. 11 Nº 1, 2 and 3; ninth and thirteenth transitory articles, 2026-10-17 official text · verified 2026-10-26 · changed: Ley Nº 21.850 (Diario Oficial 17 October 2026); in force from 1 November 2026 under its ninth transitory article.

5. From 1 November 2026, a single special appeal (recurso especial de reclamación) lies against the decision on a DIA (to the SEA Executive Director) or on an EIA (to a Committee of the Ministers of Environment, Health, Economy, Agriculture, Energy and Mining, which must sit at least ten times a year). It may be filed by the project owner, by those who submitted observations in public participation (limited to their observations and essential procedural defects), and by other interested parties (limited to matters directly affecting them and essential procedural defects), within 30 days of notice or publication on the SEA website, after which the decision is presumed known to all. All appeals are decided together within a strict 30 days for a DIA or 60 days for an EIA from the last appeal; if no decision follows a five day reminder, any party can obtain an automatic certificate and the appeal is deemed rejected. The decision can be challenged only before the Environmental Court within 20 days, on grounds raised in the appeal, and is not open to invalidation or other administrative review on the same matters.Ley Nº 21.850, Art. 11 Nº 4 and Nº 5 (new art. 20 and art. 24 bis of Ley Nº 19.300); art. 14 Nº 1 and Nº 4, 2026-10-17 official text · verified 2026-10-26 · changed: Ley Nº 21.850 (Diario Oficial 17 October 2026); in force from 1 November 2026 under its ninth transitory article.

6. From 1 November 2026 project owners can opt, when filing, into a voluntary special assessment regime in which the SEA admits only one round of clarifications for a DIA and up to two for an EIA (the second only exceptionally and with reasons). Agencies' opinions must stay within the content of the filing and those rounds, without new requirements or new topics, and must follow SEA guidelines; for projects planned under a strategically assessed instrument, the SEA must recognise the information in that assessment and shorten its review. The SEA gains technical leadership over the assessment and may disregard late or irrelevant agency opinions.Ley Nº 21.850, Art. 11 Nº 6 (new art. 25 septies of Ley Nº 19.300) and Nº 9 (art. 81 letter a), 2026-10-17 official text · verified 2026-10-26 · changed: Ley Nº 21.850 (Diario Oficial 17 October 2026); in force from 1 November 2026 under its ninth transitory article.

7. From 1 November 2026, court injunctions suspending an RCA in whole or part last at most 30 calendar days, renewable by reasoned decision, and may never exceed six months in total, save a new injunction where needed to prevent serious and irreversible harm to the environment or health or for manifest breach of the RCA; decisions on them can be appealed within 10 days. The general deadline for the administration to invalidate its own unlawful acts is cut from two years to one year from notice or publication.Ley Nº 21.850; Ley Nº 20.600 (Environmental Courts); Ley Nº 19.880, Art. 4 (Ley Nº 19.880 art. 53) and art. 14 Nº 5 (Ley Nº 20.600 art. 24), 2026-10-17 official text · verified 2026-10-26 · changed: Ley Nº 21.850 (Diario Oficial 17 October 2026); in force from 1 November 2026 under its ninth transitory article.

8. Provisions of the bill that would have created compensation for owners whose RCA is annulled were declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court, and the Comptroller General noted that the remaining articles 12 and 13 and the fourteenth transitory article of Ley Nº 21.850, which refer to that mechanism, have no operative object; no compensation procedure for annulled environmental approvals is available.Ley Nº 21.850, Constitutional Court ruling Rol Nº 17.917-26 of 2 October 2026 and Comptroller General note Nº OF197180 of 16 October 2026, published with the law, 2026-10-17 official text · verified 2026-10-26 · changed: Struck down before publication of Ley Nº 21.850.

9. Ley Nº 21.770 creates a system for sectoral authorisations outside the environmental assessment system, coordinated by a new Office of Sectoral Authorisations and Investment. Authorisations are classified as administration or disposal, location, professional or service, project, operation, or other. Applications are filed digitally through a Unified Sectoral Permits Information System using single forms; procedures with terms above 20 days start with an admissibility review; information requests must cite the rule that requires them or justify why they are needed; reports from other bodies are due within 20 days, and, as a rule, binding reports not delivered on time are deemed favourable. Where sector law provides, a notice or sworn statement replaces the permit and enables the activity from the next day, subject to later inspection.Ley Nº 21.770, Ley Marco de Autorizaciones Sectoriales, Art. 1, art. 2, art. 4, art. 7, art. 9 to 11, art. 14 to 19 and art. 40, 2025-09-29 official text · verified 2026-10-26

10. Unless a law says otherwise, sectoral procedures may not exceed 120 days for administration or disposal permits, 50 days for location permits, 60 days for professional or service permits, 50 days for project permits, 25 days for operating permits and 60 days for others, in business days, suspended only in the listed cases. If sector law sets no effect for silence, project, operating and other permits are deemed granted when the term expires, and administration or disposal, location and professional permits are deemed refused; the applicant obtains an automatic certificate from the platform, and the agency may no longer decide once it is requested. Title III, with these terms and silence rules, enters into force for each authorisation eight months after publication in the Diario Oficial of the Ministry of Economy supreme decree classifying it.
Cost to do it: The law sets no new fees; sector fees, where they exist, still apply.Ley Nº 21.770, Ley Marco de Autorizaciones Sectoriales, Art. 20, art. 21, art. 24 and art. 25; first and fourth transitory articles, 2025-09-29 official text · verified 2026-10-26

Step	DIA	EIA
Early return for missing essential information	First 30 days	First 40 days
Decision	60 days, extendable once by up to 30	120 days
Missing sectoral environmental permit deemed granted	10 days after request	15 days after request
Rounds of questions under the voluntary special regime	One	Up to two
Special appeal: filing	30 days, to the SEA Executive Director	30 days, to the Committee of Ministers
Special appeal: decision	30 days	60 days
Court challenge	20 days, Environmental Court	20 days, Environmental Court

Environmental assessment clocks (Ley Nº 19.300, as amended by Ley Nº 21.850 from 1 November 2026).

Authorisation type	Maximum term	Default silence
Administration or disposal (public services, State property)	120	Refusal
Location	50	Refusal
Professional or service	60	Refusal
Project	50	Approval
Operation	25	Approval
Other	60	Approval

Maximum terms and default silence under Ley Nº 21.770 (business days; applies to each permit eight months after its classification decree).

Worked example

A developer plans a 9 MW solar plant. It must enter the system because it exceeds 3 MW, and if no art. 11 effect applies it files a DIA, opting into the voluntary special regime so the SEA can ask only one round of questions (Ley Nº 19.300 art. 10 and new art. 25 septies).
The SEA asks questions on day 40; the developer answers on day 75 and the remaining 20 days run, so a decision is due around day 95. A neighbour who submitted observations appeals the approval within 30 days; the Executive Director must rule within 30 days, and the neighbour can then go to the Environmental Court within 20 days (new art. 20).
If the court suspends the RCA, the injunction lapses after 30 days unless renewed and cannot exceed six months in total (Ley Nº 20.600 art. 24 as amended). The plant's sectoral permits outside the system will move to fixed terms and positive silence under Ley Nº 21.770 as each is classified.

Step by step

1. Screen the project against art. 10 and the regulation to know whether it must enter the system, and against art. 11 to choose DIA or EIA.
2. Decide whether to opt into the special regime at filing; it cuts rounds of questions but requires a complete filing up front.
3. Map public participation and indigenous consultation risks, and prepare the EIA extract publication if applicable.
4. Track suspensions and deadlines, including the 30 or 40 day early return windows.
5. After the RCA, calendar the 30 day appeal window and the 20 day court window, and prepare for injunction hearings.
6. List sectoral permits outside the system and check whether each has been classified under Ley Nº 21.770 and when its new terms start.

Common traps

Splitting a project to stay under thresholds or file a DIA instead of an EIA is prohibited (Ley Nº 19.300 art. 11 bis).
Assuming the 3 MW threshold has changed. The new wording only applies once the new regulation is published, and it cannot go below 3 MW (Ley Nº 21.850 thirteenth transitory article).
Raising new arguments in court. The Environmental Court claim can only rest on matters raised in the special appeal (new art. 20 letter f).
Counting on compensation if an RCA is annulled. That mechanism was struck down; no compensation route exists.
Expecting positive silence today for every sectoral permit. Ley Nº 21.770's terms and silence rules apply permit by permit, eight months after each classification decree.

Sources

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