Chile lies on the southwestern edge of South America with a population of over 16 million. It is heavily urbanized, with 40% of the population and 50% of industry located in the Metropolitan Area (RM) of the capital, Santiago. The country is divided into 15 regions (one of which is the RM and two of which were formed in 2007), each region into provinces, and each province into "communities." Chile’s economy is based heavily on natural resource extraction, with 90% of its exports coming from unprocessed or slightly processed minerals, trees, fish and fruit.  It has associate member status in both Mercosur and the Andean Community, the two main trading blocs of South America.

Chile is a representative democracy with a nationally elected President and a bicameral Congress, comprised of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. The Chilean Constitution grants citizens the right to live in an environment free of contamination. While Chile’s judiciary is generally held in high regard and has a long and distinguished tradition, it has rarely delved into environmental matters. The Chilean Congress has passed few environmental laws, with many bills held up in committee or left unsigned by the President. Consequently, much of Chilean environmental law is derived from binding policy decrees adopted by executive branch agencies on the basis of broad-scope codes and “Supreme Decrees." However, the 1980 Constitution made such "rule by decree" more difficult.

Chile has relied heavily on voluntary reporting and compliance schemes, rather than command and control regulation. The 1994 environmental framework law requires Environmental Impact Statements for all private and public activities that might significantly impact the environment. In the Executive Branch most environmental matters involving chemicals, wastes, and product restrictions have been traditionally regulated by the Ministry of Health ("MINSAL") because they fall within the scope of the Sanitary Code. Decreto con Fuerza de Ley No. 725 (Jan. 31, 1968).

In 1994, the National Environment Commission (“CONAMA”) was created to promote sustainable development and coordinate environmental policy and strategy. CONAMA is overseen by a Board of Directors that includes representatives of nearly every Ministry and is presided over by the Minister of the Environment, Ana Lya Uriartes.  Concerns relating to the structure and effectiveness of agency led to elevating the position of President of CONAMA to the status of Cabinet Minister in 2007. More recently, Chile’s President signed a bill that would establish both an Environment Ministry and an Environmental Enforcement Superintendent’s Office.  This bill is pending approval by the Chilean legislature.

Article 70 (a) of Law 19.300 states that it is CONAMA’s function to "propose to the President…the environmental policies of the Government." However, the Health Minister’s signature is still required for all "primary" environmental quality norms (see Article 32 of Law 19.300) and MINSAL continues to maintain a critical inspection and enforcement role in environmental matters.

Major norms under the 1994 environment law are subject to public disclosure and discussion, then presented to CONAMA’s Board of Directors (where other Ministries can initiate blocking tactics), and then signed by the President and the appropriate Minister for the subject matter involved (i.e., the Transport Minister on matters involving the transport of dangerous goods within Chile, the Health Ministers for product restrictions made under the Sanitary Code, or the Foreign Relations Minister when international agreements are involved). By contrast, decrees linked to the Sanitary Code usually can be adopted by MINSAL with little advance public discussion and without the Council’s approval, as long as the President signs the measure.

Chile’s environmental laws and actions have long been influenced by efforts to gain access to free trade with North America. Chile’s major environmental law, Law 19.300, was largely created in an effort to prepare the groundwork for Chile’s accession to NAFTA. In 1996, Chile and Canada signed a free trade agreement that calls for further harmonization of Chile’s laws with North American norms. Subsequently, a ruling from the Canada-Chile Environmental Cooperation Commission based on a citizen complaint helped defeat a Boise-Cascade timber project.

After a decade of negotiations, the Chile-US Free Trade Agreement was signed in December 2002. It was followed by an Environmental Cooperation Agreement (ECA) signed in 2003 which includes the establishment of the Joint Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The cooperative work being conducted under the ECA includes the development of a pollutant release transfer register as well as projects to improve environmental enforcement and compliance assurance. While Chile’s environmental framework has traditionally been slow to develop, in recent years, there have been some significant developments such as the adoption of a new hazardous waste regulation and Policy for Clean Production, the proposed creation of a Ministry of Environment and Chile’s pending bid to join the OECD that signal an increased focus on environmental policy issues.  In addition, Chile and the state of California have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding that includes the promotion of collaboration on issues of environmental protection.

Chile has several innovative programs that address environmental issues. Some of the most creative of these were developed by SESMA, the Environmental Health Service of Metropolitan Santiago connected to MINSAL, the Ministry of Health. SESMA created its own regional solid waste law, and experimented with various reporting schemes for solid waste and air pollution.  SESMA, now known as the Health SEREMI, Metropolitan Region is often an innovator of new policies that, if successful, are later applied to the country as a whole.