Economic Crimes Fines: the Day-Fine System
Law 21.595 replaced fixed fines with a day-fine system calibrated to the offender’s real income. For legal entities, exposure now reaches 2,000,000 UTM, alongside sanctions that can go as far as dissolution.
What changed with Law 21.595
The Economic Crimes Law introduced a special day-fine system for economic offenses. The court sets the number of day-fines according to the penalty of the offense, and the value of each day-fine according to the offender’s economic capacity. This applies both to natural persons and, through the reformed Law 20.393, to legal entities.
The practical effect is a sharp increase in exposure: a fine proportional to real income and assets, not a fixed amount that a large company could absorb.
Each day-fine is worth 5 to 5,000 UTM, and between 2 and 400 day-fines are imposed (Article 12 of Law 20.393). Beyond the fine, the entity faces non-monetary sanctions.
Additional sanctions
- Prohibition from contracting with the State
- Loss of fiscal benefits
- Forfeiture and judicial supervision
- Dissolution of the legal entity
Each day-fine is worth 0.5 to 1,000 UTM. The number of day-fines runs from 1 to 300 depending on the principal penalty (Articles 27 and 28 of Law 21.595).
Who is exposed
- Directors and senior executives
- Officers with management or supervision duties
- Employees acting in the entity’s interest
The value of each day-fine corresponds to the average net daily income during the year before the investigation, across all income sources (Articles 28 and 29 of Law 21.595).
Anti-avoidance rule
- Salaries, income and returns on capital are all counted
- If income is disproportionately low versus assets, the court may double the value
Day-fines by principal penalty
The number of day-fines rises with the severity of the offense’s principal penalty.
- Imprisonment (prisión)1 – 10
- Presidio menor, minimum11 – 50
- Presidio menor, medium51 – 100
- Presidio menor, maximum101 – 150
- Presidio mayor, minimum151 – 200
- Presidio mayor, medium201 – 250
- Presidio mayor (max) to qualified life251 – 300
The exposure, in numbers
The headline figures a board should have in view when weighing an economic-crime risk.
Figures are theoretical maximums under Law 21.595 and Law 20.393. The actual fine depends on the offense, the penalty and the offender’s economic capacity, assessed case by case.
Frequently asked questions
What is the day-fine system under Law 21.595?
It is the way Chile’s Economic Crimes Law 21.595 calculates fines. Instead of a fixed amount, the sanction is expressed in day-fines: the court first sets how many day-fines apply according to the penalty of the offense and then the value of each one according to the offender’s economic capacity. The result is a fine proportional to real income, far higher than the previous regime.
What is the maximum fine for a company?
For a legal entity, Article 12 of Law 20.393 sets each day-fine at between 5 and 5,000 UTM and provides for between 2 and 400 day-fines, yielding a theoretical maximum fine of 2,000,000 UTM (on the order of CLP 136 billion). Where offenses concur, the combined fines cannot exceed 600 day-fines. Non-monetary sanctions may be added, such as prohibition from contracting with the State, loss of fiscal benefits, forfeiture, judicial supervision and even dissolution.
How is the value of each day-fine set?
The value of each day-fine corresponds to the offender’s average net daily income during the year before the investigation began, considering salaries, income and returns on capital. If that income is disproportionately low relative to the offender’s assets, the court may increase the value by up to two times.
Does a crime-prevention model reduce the fine?
Yes. For a legal entity, a suitable and effectively implemented crime-prevention model (Law 20.393, as reformed by Law 21.595) can exempt or mitigate criminal liability. Its effective implementation, rather than its mere documentary existence, is what the court weighs when setting the sanction.
Since when does this regime apply?
Law 21.595 was published on 17 August 2023 and enters into force gradually depending on the category of offense, so the regime applies progressively from that date. Pre-existing prevention models must be reviewed to cover the new predicate offenses.
Official sources
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