On December 24, 2021, Law No. 21.398 was published in the Chilean Official Gazette, which significantly amended the Consumer Law (Law No. 19.496), in order to promote the protection of consumers' rights. This makes strongly advisable for companies to review their contracts, terms and conditions, websites, among others, in order to comply with the new regulations.

The main amendments are highlighted below:

• Legal recognition of the principle of pro-consumer interpretation.

Article 2 ter was introduced to the Consumer Law, which expressly enshrines the "pro consumer" principle (previously recognized by authors and jurisprudence), by virtue of which the rules of the law must be construed in favor of consumers, and only in a complementary manner by the general rules of interpretation of the Civil Code.

• Amendments to the legal guarantee regime

The Consumer Law establishes a legal guarantee that allows the consumer, in the event of faults or deficiencies of a product, to choose one of the following alternatives: a) the free repair of the good; b) the replacement of the product; or, c) the return of the product. Law No. 21.398 provides for the following amendments to the legal guarantee:

• The term available to the consumer to exercise the legal guarantee is increased from three to six months.
• It is provided that in order to exercise the legal guarantee, it will not be necessary to exercise the guarantees granted by the company beforehand. The consumer may decide to exercise the legal guarantee or the guarantee granted by the company.
• It is provided that the supplier may not offer the consumer the contracting of products, services or policies whose coverage refers to obligations that the supplier must assume by virtue of the Consumer Law.​

• Amendments in the field of electronic contracting and unilateral termination of the contract.

Prior to the publication of Law No. 21.398, the Consumer Law allowed the consumer to unilaterally terminate contracts entered into by electronic means, and in which the offer is made through catalogs, notices or any form of remote communication. This right could be exercised within 10 days from receipt of the product or from the execution of the contract in the case of services, unless the supplier expressly indicated that the consumer could not exercise this right.

Law No. 21.398 introduced the following amendments:

• When exercising the right to unilaterally terminate the contract, the consumer may do so without stating a cause.
• In the case of goods, the supplier may not prevent the consumer from unilaterally terminating the contract, except in the case of goods that: a) by their nature cannot be returned, or may deteriorate or expire rapidly; b) are goods that have been made according to the consumer's specifications; c) are goods for personal use.
• In the case of services, the company may exclude the right of unilateral termination by the consumer.
• When the exclusion of the right of unilateral termination is legally applicable, the company must so inform in a clear, prominent and easily accessible manner, and prior to the conclusion of the contract and payment of the price.
• Finally, the power to unilaterally terminate the contract is extended to face-to-face purchases in which the consumer did not have direct access to the good.

• Amendments to contract clauses.

In addition, amendments were made to the regulation of pre-formulated standard contracts, which are those contracts whose content is preset by the supplier, without the consumer being able to amend it. The following are the amendments:

• Any clause in which arbitration is agreed as a form of dispute resolution will be considered as unwritten, so the consumer may always sue before the ordinary courts. Only once a dispute has arisen may the parties agree to submit it to mediation, conciliation or arbitration.
• Clauses that limit the means by which consumers may exercise the rights established by law will be null and void.
• It is established that ambiguous clauses in pre-formulated standard contracts will be construed in favor of the consumer. Additionally, it is provided that in the case of contradictory clauses, the clause or the part of it that is more favorable to the consumer will prevail.
• The company may not condition the termination of the contract to the payment of amounts owed or the restitution of goods.