. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/C/W/198
4 April 2000
(00-1366)
Council for Trade in Goods Original:  Spanish
REPLIES TO QUESTIONS POSED BY THE UNITED STATES
CONCERNING THE REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION TO
INCORPORATE THE WTO TRIMS AGREEMENT
INTO CHILEAN LEGISLATION
1(a) The Chilean Government has submitted a bill to the National Congress which, among other
things, brings our legal system into line with th e TRIMs Agreement.  According to the Constitution
1980, in view of its subject-matter, the bill can only be submitted by the President of the Republic andmust originate in the Chamber of Deputies.  After an initial reading in the Chamber of Deputies, the
bill must be passed on to the Senate, which can approve, reject or amend it, in which case it must
return to the Chamber of Deputies for such amendments to be approved.  If the Senate's amendments
are not approved, a joint committee is formed to address the matter.
Bills are analysed both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate by subject-based committees
formed to study and discuss them.  Once a bill has been approved by the committee responsible for its
particular subject-area, it is placed on the plenary agenda of the Chamber and the Senate respectively.
The committees are politically representative so that once a bill has been approved at that level, there
is little likelihood of its being rejected in the Congressional Session.
The bill is currently in the Economics Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, in its first
reading (it has not yet been transmitted to the Congress's other Chamber, the Senate).
(b) Article 18 of the bill repeals the provisions of Law No. 18.483 which do not comply with the
WTO TRIMs Agreement, and amends some other articles of that law.
(c) The Automotive Statute, as a law of the Republic, can only be repealed or amended by
another legal provision of at least the same rank.
2. The following is the text for Article 18 of the bill, as submitted by the President of the
Republic:
… Article 18: The following amendments shall be introduced to Law No. 18.483:
(1) Articles 3; 9; 10; 11; 11 bis; 12 and 12 bis… shall be repealed …
3. In view of the political situation which prevailed in Chile for much of last year owing to the
presidential election, and in order not to violate its international obligations, the Chilean Government
decided to request an extension of the transition period for the Chilean automotive TRIM.  In addition
to the run-off election, consideration was also given to the fact that the National Congress was going
into recess during the month of February was another factor taken into consideration.
(a) The Chilean Government believes that the necessary political conditions exist for the bill to
be approved within the period requested.  Nevertheless, if it were necessary, the Executive would ask
that the urgency procedure be applied to the bill.G/C/W/198
Page 2
(b) As mentioned in the reply to question 3, Chile has recently been involved in a lengthy
presidential election process.  The President Elect only came into office on 12 March of this year, so
that an adjustment period is inevitable, and the Government teams responsible for coordination with
Congress will need a reasonable period of time in which to speed up of the legislative process.
Furthermore, a bill may be amended or supplemented in either Chamber a bill provided that suchchanges are directly in line with the original and fundamental ideas contained therein, and this could
delay the adaptation of our legislation to the provisions of the TRIMs Agreement.
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