Every two years manufacturers and importers of dangerous substances have to notify the environmental authority. The first notification deadline due on February 2024. 

Any manufacturer or importer of a substance as such and any importer of a dangerous substance contained in quantities equal to or greater than one tone per year (TPA) must notify the environmental authority in the Substance Notification System, through the Single Window of the Environmental Authority portal. As it is stated in art 294 of Decree 57, the notification must be made every two years, with a deadline of 30 August, considering what was manufactured and imported in the previous two calendar years.   

However, the first notification must be made until February 2024, for substances for industrial use and in the fourth year for substances for non-industrial use. The information to be provided should include elements such as: 

• name, address, telephone, and email address  

• name of the substance and number of the American Chemical Society  

• hazard classification(s) of the substance indicating the class and category of hazard 

• amount of substance manufactured or imported per year expressed in mass ranges 

• intended uses.  

In the case of substances contained in mixtures, the corresponding use of the mixture must be indicated.   

Once the notification has been made, the Ministry of the Environment will issue a Resolution with all the notified substances, until 31 December of that same year. This is part of a current new regulation that the Chilean government is implementing, and its process is ruled by Title VI of Decree 57 which is the result of the country’s commitments as an OECD party. These harmonized labelling and classification of chemicals are obligations that Chile is complying with to facilitate international trade and protect human health and the environment.  

Chile approved the uniformized Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Notification of Hazardous Chemicals and Mixtures by Decree 57 on 26 November 2019. In publishing Decree 57 Chile formally accepts the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. Under article 270 of Decree 57, the supplier of a hazardous substance or mixture must provide its recipient with a Safety Data Sheet (SDS). Title V of this Decree describes its requirements and obligations, as well as specifies what information must be included in each section of the registration.   

The Chilean Ministry of Health opened, on 22 August, 2022, a consultation on proposed amendments to the Chilean Food Health Code. The proposals would completely modify Title III of the Code – which regulates food additives – by eliminating 15 of its 30 articles, and replacing a further 14 articles. Only one article – on the definition of food additives – would be left untouched. 

In addition to the Codex Alimentarius, the new rules establish regulations in the EU (EFSA specifications) and the US (Food Chemical Codex and FDA specifications) as secondary options to assess the identity and purity of food additives.  

Furthermore, the Chilean authorities would establish a technical norm listing allowed food additives and their authorized uses, use conditions, and limits. The Ministry of Health has already drafted this technical list, on which comments can also be submitted during the consultation period. 

Finally, the rules also address the labelling obligations for food additives. 

The drafts are open for consultation until November 30, 2022. They can be accessed on the Ministry’s website.