Chile 2018 - [[ getTranslation('Draft of {timestamp}').replace('{timestamp}', '5 Mar 2018') ]]

The outgoing government of Chile issued this text towards the end of its term in office in 2018 but it was never passed. We provide it as a point of reference in the ongoing discussion in Chile over constitutional reform.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

The dignity of a human being is inviolable. The State is obligated to respect and protect the dignity of human beings, just as all people and the diverse forms in which they associate are obligated to as well.

The family, in its diverse forms, is the fundamental nucleus of society.

The Republic of Chile is a State of democratic and social laws. Its territorial organization is unitary. Its administration is decentralized, allowing for the adoption of other modalities as allowed by the law.

The State is at the service of the people and its goal is the common good, for which it must create the necessary conditions for the sustainable development of the whole community and its members, clearly respecting the rights and guarantees consecrated within the Constitution with financial responsibility.

The State recognizes, protects, and promotes intermediate groups through which society is organized and structured; the State grants these organizations autonomy to accomplish their own specific goals, within the bounds established by the Constitution.

It is the responsibility of the State to protect the security and sovereignty of the nation and its territory, to give protection to the population, promote the harmonious integration and solidarity of its inhabitants and peoples, just as it must protect the rights of people to participate with equality of opportunity in national life. The protection of the environment as well as the national history and culture are special responsibilities of the State.

Sovereignty resides with the nation and with its diverse indigenous peoples. The exercise of sovereignty is realized by citizens through elections and plebiscites established by this Constitution and the laws, as well as through public bodies and authorities in the discharge of their duties. No sector of the people nor any individual may claim to exercise the sovereignty of the Chilean State.

The exercise of sovereignty recognizes respect for human rights as a limit. It is a requirement that organs of the State and all people respect and promote the rights guaranteed by this Constitution, those established by international treaties that have been ratified by Chile and are in force, and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the Assembly General of the United Nations on December 10, 1948. The organs of the State must reconcile these rights with those established in the Constitution.

The State recognizes the indigenous peoples that live within the national territory as a part of the Chilean nation, which obligates the State to promote and respect their integrity as well as their rights and culture. The indigenous peoples will participate as indigenous groups within the National Congress through a parliamentary representation, whose number and form of election will be determined by an organic constitutional law.

Chile is a State of laws, based on the principle of constitutional supremacy. As a consequence, the entire juridical system is subordinated to the Constitution, the primary source of law; the organs of the State, prior to the regular inauguration of its members, must act within the form established by the Constitution and according to the legal norms dictated by the Constitution.

The autonomous character that this Constitution grants to certain organizations does not remove their status as part of the State with the same rights, responsibilities, and limitations that their status as part of the State involves.

The precepts of this Constitution obligate the leaders or members of these organizations just as they would any other person, institution or group.

Violation of this norm will generate sanctions as determined by this Constitution and the laws.

The Constitutional Tribunal will resolve those issues within its jurisdiction between organs of the State that do not involve the Superior Courts of Justice.

No magistrate, person, or group of persons may attribute to themselves, even within extraordinary circumstances, any authority or rights other than those expressly conferred to them by the Constitution and the laws.

Any act in contravention of this article is null and will give rise to the responsibilities and sanctions that the law mandates.

The exercise of public functions obligates representatives of the State to strictly adhere to the principle of probity in all of their actions.

The acts and resolutions of the organs of the State are public; their foundations and the procedures utilized are public as well. However, a single law may establish secrecy of all effects or some details when publicity would affect the ability of the organization to fulfill its duty, the rights of persons, national security, or the national interest.

The President of the Republic, the Minister of State, the representatives and senators, as well as other State authorities and employees established by an organic constitutional law, must publicly declare their financial interests and assets.

Such a law will determine the cases and the conditions in which these authorities must delegate the administration of certain goods or duties to third parties in cases where a conflict of interest would exist in the exercise of their official duties. Alternatively, other appropriate means to resolve conflicts may be considered and, in qualified situations, the transfer of all or part of these goods may be arranged.

It is the responsibility of the organs and institutions of the State to guarantee the institutional order of the Republic. All conduct that seeks to attack our democracy and fundamental rights is contrary to the Constitution and can be found classified within the penal code.

Terrorism, in any of its forms, is contrary to the rule of law.

The punishable acts classified as terrorist crimes, as well as the responsibility for their commission, will be established in a special section within the penal code. The procedural rules for their judgement will be material for the Penal Process Code.

Chileans are:

1. Those born within the territory of Chile;
2. The children of a Chilean mother or father born within a foreign territory;
3. Foreigners that obtain a nationalization card according to the law, and
4. Those who obtain a special grant of nationalization by law.

The law will regulate the procedures for renouncing Chilean citizenship, of opting for Chilean citizenship, of grant, denial and cancelation of cards of nationalization, and the formation of a registry of all of these acts.

Chilean nationality is lost:

1. Right to renounce citizenship
   Through voluntary renunciation before a competent Chilean authority. This renunciation will only take effect if the person has nationalized within another country prior to renunciation;
2. By supreme decree in the case of aiding an enemy of Chile or its allies during war;
3. Due to cancelation of a card of nationalization, and
4. Through a law that revokes amnesty

Those who lose Chilean nationality for any of the causes established in this article will only be able to regain Chilean nationality through law. A person that would become stateless due to loss of nationality cannot lose Chilean nationality.

Any persons affected by an administrative act or resolution that deprives them of their Chilean nationality can appeal, for themselves or for any other person of their name, within the period of thirty days to the Supreme Court, which will convene the full tribunal. The intervention of the Supreme Court will suspend the effects of the act or resolution appealed.

Chileans who have reached the age of 18 are citizens.

Citizenship confers the rights of suffrage, to run for office in elected office, as well as the other rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws.

Citizens with the right to suffrage that are outside of the country may vote from abroad according to the laws in force.

Foreigners that have resided in Chile for longer than five years and who have complied with the requirements outlined in the first indent of article 13 may exercise the right to vote in cases and forms as determined by the law.

Those who have nationalized according to numbers 3 or 4 of article 10 will only have the option to run for elected office after they have had their nationalization card for over five years.

In popular elections, suffrage will be personal, equal, secret, informed and voluntary, with the exception of a plebiscite as outlined in article 133 of this document.

A popular election can only be convened for the elections outlined within the Constitution, for plebiscites contemplated by the Constitution, or according to an organic constitutional law, subject to the approval of the Constitutional Tribunal.

In popular elections to choose members of elected bodies, a procedure to convert votes into positions will be applied to produce a proportional representation between the percentage of votes and the percentage of positions obtained by the list of candidates. The law will establish the forms of candidacy and the procedure to calculate the distribution of positions as well as the necessary corrections to represent each of the candidate lists.

The right of suffrage is only suspended by interdiction in the case of dementia of due to a judicial condemnation established by an organic constitutional law.

Citizenship is only lost through the loss of Chilean nationality.

There will be a public electoral system. An organic constitutional law will determine the organization and functioning of the system and regulate the form in which electoral processes and plebiscites will be realized in all cases not foreseen by the Constitution; it will always guarantee the strengthening of political parties as well as the participation of independents within those processes. This law will also establish a system of financing, transparency, as well as limits and controls on electoral spending.

An organic constitutional law will also include an electoral registration system under the direction of the Electoral Service to which those that meet the requirements established by this Constitution will be incorporated by the ministry created by the organic constitutional law.

The protection of public order during elections and plebiscites will be the responsibility of the Armed Forces and the Carabineros (a military police force) as indicated by the law.

Through the organs and authorities established within it, this Constitution ensures and guarantees to all people the following directly applicable rights:

1. Right to life, Prohibition of torture, Prohibition of corporal punishment, Prohibition of cruel treatment
   The right to life as well as physical and mental integrity.

   The death penalty, torture, and degrading forms of punishment to mental and physical integrity are prohibited.

2. Right to development of personality
   The right to personality. Every person has the right to free development of their personality, within the limits required to respect the legal order as well as the dignity and rights of all other people.
3. State support for children, Rights of children
   The rights of boys, girls, and adolescents to respect for their integrity as well as their moral, physical, psychic and sexual development. Additionally, they have the right to be treated according to their level of maturity and granted progressive autonomy in the issues that affect them.

   The care of boys, girls, and adolescents is a right of the parents or of the people that care for them, according to the law.

   It is a responsibility of the State, the family, and the community to grant the necessary protection in order for them to exercise their rights. The law will establish a system of protection and guarantees for the rights of boys, girls, and adolescents;

4. Equality regardless of race, Equality regardless of creed or belief, General guarantee of equality, Equality regardless of religion, Equality regardless of parentage, Equality regardless of skin color, Equality regardless of language, Equality regardless of social status, Equality for persons with disabilities, Equality regardless of financial status, Equality regardless of gender, Prohibition of slavery
   Equality before the law. In Chile there are no privileged persons or groups. In Chiles there are no slaves and he who steps on Chilean territory is free.

   No person, authority, group, or even the law can establish arbitrary differences. No person can be negatively discriminated against due to their race, skin color, sex, gender, language, religion, opinion, public beliefs, disability, economic and social position, birth, or any other condition;

5. Equality regardless of gender
   Men and women are equal before the law and in the enjoyment and exercise of their rights. It is an obligation of the State to promote equality, adopting the legislative and administrative means to eliminate all forms of discrimination that affect equality.
6. Guarantee of due process
   Equal juridical protection in the exercise of rights during investigation or judgement by the State.
   1. Every person has the right to justice and to be heard by tribunals.
   2. Every person has the right to a trial. Every sentence from an organization that exercises jurisdiction must base itself on a legally conducted process that features the guarantees of an investigation and a procedure adjusted to the law, justice, and especially to constitutional rights.
   3. Protection from false imprisonment
      No person can be investigated nor processed without their knowledge or without constant official documentation of the condition. Every person has the right to reparation or compensation if they are absolved or dismissed in these investigations or processes, or if the process does not follow proper legal procedures.
   4. Right to counsel
      All persons have the right to legal defense in the form signaled by the law and no authority or individual may impede, restrict or perturb the intervention of a legal expert, if it is formally required. With respect to the members of the Armed Forces and the Public Order and Security Forces, this right is guided, in matters concerning administrative and disciplinary issues, according to the norms pertaining to their respective statutes.
   5. Right to counsel, Protection of victim's rights
      The law will arbitrate the means to provide assistance and judicial defense to those who are not able to procure it themselves. The law will distinguish the cases and establish the form in which natural persons that are victims of a crime will be eligible for free legal assistance and defense in order to exercise the penal actions recognized by this Constitution and the laws.
   6. Right to counsel
      Every person accused of a crime has the non-renounceable right to be assisted by a defense attorney provided by the State, if a person does not name one, the State will name one at the opportunity provided by the law.
   7. No person may be investigated nor judged by special commissions, but only by the prosecutor or tribunal indicated by the law for the case, which must be established prior to the perpetration of the act.
   8. The law cannot presume the penal responsibility as a right.
   9. Protection from ex post facto laws, Principle of no punishment without law
      No crime will be punished with a different punishment than the punishment indicated by the law and promulgated prior to the perpetration of the crime, unless a new law favors the party affected by the crime.
   10. No law may establish punishments without the conduct they are meant to punish being expressly and completely described.
   11. Presumption of innocence in trials
       Every person investigated, accused, denounced, or formally charged has the right to the presumption of innocence and cannot be treated as guilty nor exposed publically to be guilty, until they have been proven guilty. Any contravention of this norm can be challenged in court in order to obtain sanctions and reparations.
   12. Prohibition of double jeopardy
       No person may be sanctioned by a punishment that is not proportional to the conduct punished or to the judicial good affected; nor may a person be newly judged for a matter already known or resolved judicially.
7. Right to privacy
   The respect and protection of private life and the honor of persons and their families, establishing damages of either of these judicial goods as reparable.

   All people have the right to the protection of their personal information. The law will regulate the treatment of personal data and the sanctions that will occur in the case of noncompliance or when such data is made vulnerable;

8. Regulation of evidence collection, Right to privacy
   The inviolability of the home and of every form of communication and private documentation. The home and workplace may be raided, personal objects may be seized, and communications and private documents may be intercepted, opened, copied, or registered only in the cases and forms expressly determined by the law; additionally, such acts may only be committed by the persons and departments expressly determined by the law. Such interventions must have judicial backing and the affected persons must receive reparations if the investigations are revealed to have been unnecessary or disproportionate. The people and institutions that infringe on this right will personally and jointly answer for the damage caused;
9. Freedom of religion, Right to conscientious objection, Freedom of opinion/thought/conscience
   The liberty of conscience, the right to conscientious objection, and the right for the manifestation of all beliefs as well as the exercise of all cults that do not oppose the law.

   Religious confessions may erect and conserve temples as well as their dependencies under the conditions set by the law and ordinances.

   The churches, confessions, and religious institutions of any cult will have the rights established and recognized by the actual laws in force with respect to their assets. The temples and their dependencies used exclusively for cult purposes are exempt from tax contributions;

10. The right to personal liberty and to individual security.

    In consequence:

    1. Freedom of movement
       Every person has the right to reside and remain in any place within the Republic, to travel from one part to another, and to enter and exit their territory within the limits established by the law and always without the interference of third parties;
    2. Protection from unjustified restraint
       No person may be deprived of their personal liberty nor may their liberty be restricted except in cases and in forms established by the Constitution and the laws;
    3. Protection from unjustified restraint
       No person may be investigated, arrested, or detained except by order of a public authority expressly issued according to the law and after said information or order has been communicated in a legal form. However, a person caught in the act may be detained with the restriction that they must stand before a competent judge within the next twenty-four hours and be allowed to send notice to a person indicated by the detainee.
       Terrorism

       If the authority should arrest or detain a person, it must notify a competent judge and give the judge access to the detainee within forty-eight hours. The judge may issue a public and legally based resolution to extend this period to five days, or up to ten days in the case that acts classified as terrorist acts will be investigated.

    4. No person may be arrested or detained, or subjected to preventative imprisonment except in their home or in public places designed for this purpose and within the bounds of the law.

       Those in charge of prisons may not permit the entry of any arrestee, detainee, accused person, or prisoner without leaving documentary proof of the corresponding order, which emanates from a legal authority and is available in a public registry.

       No miscommunication may impede the person charged with overseeing the detention facility from visiting an arrestee, detainee, accused person, or prisoner within the facility. The person charged with overseeing the detention facility is obligated, whenever an arrestee or detainee requests, to transmit a copy of a detention order to a competent judge, to request that he be given said copy, or to give the arrestee or detainee a certificate noting his having detained that individual if this requirement was omitted at the time of arrest;

    5. Protection of victim's rights, Right to pre-trial release
       Liberty of the defendant will proceed unless preventative imprisonment or detention are considered necessary by the judge in order to allow investigations or to protect the security of the victim or society, which requires an immediate, legally based and public resolution. Preventative imprisonment or detention are transitory restrictions on liberty and may not exceed six months. The determination of their time limit may not refer to any punishment. The law will establish the requirements and modes of obtaining it.
    6. Protection from self-incrimination
       During criminal proceedings a defendant or accused person is not obligated to testify under oath regarding his or her own acts; neither can they be obligated to make a declaration counter to themselves, their ancestors, descendants, spouse or other persons in the cases and circumstances indicated by the law;
    7. Confiscation of property will not be permitted with the exception of confiscation in the cases established by the law; however, confiscation will be permitted in cases of illicit associations.
    8. Neither the loss or suspension of welfare rights nor the loss of political rights cannot be applied as a sanction, with the exception of the permissions outlined within article 17 of this Constitution.
    9. Protection from false imprisonment
       Every person that receives a judgement of acquittal, is definitively dismissed, or proves to have had their rights violated during the investigation and proceedings against them will have the right to reparation or compensation by the State or by the persons responsible for the property or moral damages suffered by them. The declaration of a competent tribunal, as well as compensation will be judicially determined in a brief, summary process and the evidence will be fully assessed;
11. Protection of environment
    The right to live in an environment free of contamination. It is the duty of the State to ensure this right is protected and to oversee the preservation of nature.

    The law will establish specific restrictions on the exercise of certain rights or liberties in order to protect the environment;

12. Right to shelter
    The right to live in a shelter with the basic material conditions and access to basic services as established in the law
13. Right to health care
    The right to the protection of health.

    The State guarantees the free and equal access to the promotion, protection, and recuperation of health and the rehabilitation of the individual.

    Likewise, the State is charged with the coordination and control of actions related to health.

    It is a preferential right of the State to guarantee the functioning, and quality of a public health system, partially supported by obligatory contributions from users that are proportional to their incomes. The performance of health services provided by welfare institutions will be regulated by the law, which will guarantee the availability and quality of these services as well as the obligations that may be established to cover these services.

    Every person will have the right to choose, without being negatively discriminated against, the system of health they wish to belong to, be it private or public;

14. The right to education.

    The objective of education is the development of the person during the distinct stages of life. Access to the formal system at its distinct levels will be guaranteed by the State.

    Parents or parental guardians have the preferential right and duty to educate their children. The State has the duty to grant special protection for the exercise of the right to education, making available the educational establishments necessary for the right to be realized.

    Free education, Compulsory education

    It is obligatory for the State to promote early childhood education, to finance a free system starting at the medio menor level in order to ensure access to it and higher levels. Kindergarten is obligatory as it is a requirement for entry into basic education.

    Free education, Access to higher education, Compulsory education

    Basic education and secondary education are obligatory, requiring the State to finance a free system to achieve that goal and ensure access to basic and secondary education for the entire population. In the case of secondary education, this system, in accordance with the law, will extend until a person reaches the age of 21. Higher education will also be free and provided by State establishments or within those private institutions allowed for by the law. The law may establish fees for the administrative costs generated by each student as well as subsidies for those who require assistance in order to pay the fees.

    Right to culture, Reference to science

    The State is also charged with fostering the development and quality of education, culture, scientific investigation and technological innovation, artistic creation, and the protection and growth of the cultural patrimony of the nation.

    It is the duty of the community to contribute to the development and improvement of education;

    The State recognizes the distinct forms of education of the indigenous peoples within the framework of the general system of education outlined within this article;

15. Right to academic freedom
    The liberty of teaching is inherent in the right to education and includes the right to open, organize and maintain educational establishments within the norms that the Constitution and the laws establish and under the supervision of the corresponding ministries.
    Right to academic freedom

    The liberty of teaching has no other limitations than those established by the law.

    Right to academic freedom

    Officially recognized teaching may not be oriented by a specific political or party tendency nor serve to diffuse such a tendency; the former shall not affect civic education, which must be obligatorily taught in all educational establishments

    Parents have the right to choose the educational establishment their children attend.

    A law will establish the minimum requirements that must be met at each level of education, basic and secondary, in addition to indicating the objective norms to be generally applied in order to permit the State to ensure compliance. Said law will also establish the requirements for official recognition of educational establishments at all levels;

16. Freedom of expression, Freedom of opinion/thought/conscience
    The freedom of expression, to opinion and to inform, without prior censorship in any form or through any means; the former may not inhibit the ability to respond to crimes or abuses committed in the exercise of these rights, in conformity with the law.

    In no case may the law establish a State or private monopoly on the means of social communication, consistently guaranteeing the existence of pluralism in the editorship and information provided by the means of communication.

    Right to protect one's reputation

    All natural or juridical persons offended or unjustly referred to by a means of social communication will have the right to have their declaration or rectification freely dispersed according to the conditions determined by law by the means of social communication in which the information was emitted without affecting the legal actions the person affected has the right to.

    All natural or juridical persons have the right to found, edit, and maintain means of communication under the conditions established by the law.

    Television, State operation of the media

    The State, universities and other persons or entities that the law determines may establish, operate, and maintain television stations or other means of communication.

    Media commission

    There will be an autonomous Consejo National de Television (National Television Council) with juridical personhood, charged with the oversight of the proper functioning of this mode of communication. A law will indicate the organization, function, and attributes of the council.

    The law will regulate a system of qualifications for the exhibition of cinematographic productions;

17. Right to information
    The right of persons to freely inform themselves and the right to access information available within public organizations without limits beyond those established for reserved or secret information in article 8 of this Constitution;
18. The right to participation in public affairs, directly, through associations, or through representatives in accordance with the legal order.

    The organizations of the State must establish mechanisms of public participation in the generation and evaluation of their activities in ways and under conditions determined by the law;

19. Freedom of assembly
    The right to peaceful assembly without prior permissions and without arms.

    Meetings in plazas, streets and other public spaces will be conducted according to the law;

20. Right of petition
    The right to present petitions to authorities, regarding any issue of public or private interest without any other limitation beyond doing so in a respectful and convenient manner. All natural and juridical persons possess this right regardless of their condition and legal status. The law will regulate the form and conditions for the exercise of this right;
21. Freedom of association
    The right of association without prior permission.

    To enjoy juridical personhood, associations must constitute themselves in conformity with the law.

    No person may be obligated to join an organization, except those that, according to the law, are required to perform a profession.

    Organizations contrary to the legal order are prohibited;

22. The free exercise of political rights.
    Right to form political parties

    People are free to participate in political parties or other types of political organizations created in accordance with the law regardless of the contents of article 13 of this Constitution.

    Restrictions on political parties

    Parties are associations that contribute to the functioning of the democratic system and the formation of the people’s political voluntarism; their legal order, functioning, ends, and structure are regulated by an organic constitutional law. People have the right to receive civic education from the formal education system as well as from the social and political organizations in which they freely participate.

    Regulation of political parties, Prohibited political parties

    The Political Constitution guarantees political and social pluralism. Parties, movements or other forms of organization whose acts or conduct do not respect the basic principles of the democratic and constitutional order, seek the establishment of an autocratic system, as well as those that engage, incite or propose violence are unconstitutional. It is the duty of the Constitutional Tribunal to declare their unconstitutionality;

23. Right to work
    The right to work and legal protection of the right to work.
    Right to just remuneration, Right to work

    All people have the right to freely contract and the liberty to work for just compensation.

    Right to just remuneration

    Any discrimination not based on the capacity or suitability of a person, especial with regards to salary differences between men and women, is prohibited, with the exception that the law may require Chilean nationality or age limits in certain cases.

    Right to appeal judicial decisions

    No class of work may be prohibited, except that which opposes the law or public health or that which demands the national interest as declared by a law. No legal norm nor any public authority may demand affiliation to an organization or an entity as a requirement to develop a specific activity or engage in a specific form of labor, nor may renunciation of affiliation be demanded in order to maintain a specific activity or a specific form of labor. The law will determine the professions that require a high school or a university degree and the other conditions that must be met in order to exercise the profession. Professional schools constituted in accordance with the law and that are related to these professions will be empowered to know of the complaints made against the ethical conduct of their members. Against their resolutions, one may appeal to the respective Court of Appeals. Unassociated professionals will be judged by the special tribunals established by a law.

    The right of unions to collective bargaining, except in cases in which the law expressly prohibits negotiation. The law will establish the modes of collective negotiation and the adequate procedures to achieve a just and pacific outcome through them. The law will indicate the cases in which collective bargaining must submit to obligatory arbitration, which will correspond to special tribunals of experts whose organization and attributes will be established by the law.

    Right to strike

    The right to strike within the right to collective bargaining in accordance with the law. Striking will be prohibited for workers who work within institutions, no matter their nature, purpose, or function, that attend to services of public utility or whose paralysis would cause serious harm to the health or the supply of the population or national security. The law will establish procedures to determine the institutions whose workers will be prohibited from striking under this exception and the eventual sanctions that will accompany their noncompliance;

24. Admission to all the public functions and jobs, without other requirements beyond those imposed by the Constitution and the laws;
25. The right to social security.
    State support for the unemployed

    The State guarantees the access of all persons to the enjoyment of the benefits necessary to lead a life of dignity in the case of retirement or loss of work, whether they are provided by public or private institutions. The law may establish obligatory contributions in proportion to the incomes of the affiliates.

    The State will supervise the exercise of the right to social security as well as the proper functioning of lending institutions.

    Every person will have the right to choose, without negative discrimination, the system of pensions to which they wish to join, be it private or public;

26. Right to join trade unions
    The right to unionize in the cases and forms indicated by the law. Union affiliation will always be mandatory.

    Union organizations will enjoy juridical personhood upon registering their statutes and constitutive acts in the form and conditions established by the law;

27. The equal distribution of taxes in proportion to incomes or in the progression or form set by the law as well as the equal distribution of the remaining public offices.

    Tributes collected, no matter their nature, become part of the patrimony of the State.

    The law may authorize that certain tributes can be created by the State for the purposes of national defense, education, and health. Likewise, the law may authorize that those that tax activities or property that have a clear local or regional identification may be applied within the guidelines indicated by the same law, by communal or regional authorities for the financing of productive or human development projects;

28. Right to establish a business
    The right to develop any economic activity, respecting the legal norms that regulate it.

    The State and its organs may develop business activities or participate in those previously established by the law. In this case, these activities will be subject to the common legislation applicable to the particulars notwithstanding the exceptions justified and established by the law;

29. Right to own property
    The liberty to acquire ownership of all classes of property, except those that nature has made common to all human beings or that should belong to the entire nation given that the law declares it to be so. The foregoing, without prejudice to that which is prescribed elsewhere in other precepts of this Constitution.

    An organic constitutional law, when demanded by national interest and the common good, may establish limitations on or requirements for the acquisition of certain types of property;

30. Provisions for intellectual property
    The right to ownership in its diverse species over all classes of corporeal and intellectual property.

    Only the law may establish the form of acquiring, using, enjoying, and discharging property. Property must serve the common good, and the law may establish the limitations and obligations that are derived from its social function when the general interests of the nation, national security, public utility and sanitation, the conservation of the patrimony and environmental sustainability demand.

    Protection from expropriation

    In no case may any person be deprived of their ownership of property that they own, nor may they be deprived of any of the essential attributes or special powers of ownership, except by virtue of a general or special law that authorizes expropriation for the purpose of public utility or national interest as qualified by the legislator. A person who experiences expropriation may challenge the legality of the act of expropriation before ordinary tribunals and will always have the right to compensation for the harm caused, which will be set through a common agreement or through a sentence dictated according to the law by said tribunals.

    Protection from expropriation

    The physical taking of expropriated property will require prior payment of the entirety of the compensation, which, in the case of disagreement, will be provisionally determined by experts in the form indicated by the law. In the case of a complaint regarding the origin of the expropriation, the judge may, with the merit of the antecedents invoked, decree the suspension of the taking.

    Ownership of natural resources

    The State has absolute, exclusive, inalienable and imprescriptible ownership of all mines, understood to include guano deposits, metalliferous sands, salt flats, the carbon and hydro carbon deposits as well as the other fossil substances, with the exception of superficial clays, no obstante the ownership of natural or juridical persons over the land upon which the mines or deposits are located. The surface structures will be subject to the obligations and limitations that the law indicates to facilitate the exploration, exploitation, and the beneficiation of said mines.

    The law will determine which substances of those previously mentioned in the preceding clause, with the exception of liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons, may be objects of exploration or exploitation concessions. Concessions will always be constituted by a judicial resolution and will have the duration, grant the rights, and imply the obligations expressed by the law, a law that will have the character of an organic constitutional law. Mining concessions obligate the owner to develop the activity necessary to satisfy the public interest that justifies its granting. Its regime of protection will be established by said law, will tend to directly or indirectly comply with this obligation and it will contemplate causes of expiration in cases of noncompliance or in cases of a simple termination of the ownership of a concession. In any case, said causes and effects must be established at the moment the concession is granted.

    It will be the exclusive competence of the ordinary tribunals of justice to declare the expiration of such concessions. The controversies produced with respect to the expiration or termination of ownership of a concession will be resolved by them; and in the case of expiration, the affected party may request that the justice system issue a declaration to sustain their right.

    The ownership of a title holder over a mining concession is protected by the constitutional guarantee outlined within this number.

    The exploration, exploitation and the beneficiation of the deposits that contain substances that are not susceptible to concession may be exercised directly by the State or by its businesses, through administrative concessions, or through special operations contracts that meet the requirements and under the conditions that the President of the Republic sets in each case through supreme decree. This norm will also apply to the deposits of any type that exist in maritime waters under the national jurisdiction and to those located in part or entirely in areas that, according to the law, are determined to have importance for national security.

    Ownership of natural resources

    Bodies of water in any of their states are national property for public use. The rights of particular entities with regards to these waters, recognized or constituted in conformity with the law, will grant ownership to title holders over them. The law will regulate the procedure to constitute, recognize, exercise, and terminate the rights and concessions granted to particular entities;

31. Reference to art, Provisions for intellectual property
    The liberty to create and disseminate the arts as well as the rights of authors over their intellectual and artistic creations of any type for the period of time indicated by the law, which will not be less than the lifetime of the right holder.

    The right of the author includes ownership of the works and other rights, such as paternity, the edition, and the integrity of the work, all in accordance with the law.

    Intellectual property over patents, commercial brands, models, technological processes and other analog creations are also guaranteed for the time period established by the law.

    The prescriptions of the second, third, fourth, and fifth clauses of the previous article will also be applicable to intellectual and artistic creations as well as to industrial property;

32. Protection of language use, Right to culture
    The cultural and linguistic rights of indigenous peoples and the right to their cultural, material, and immaterial patrimony in accordance with the law. It is the responsibility of the State to develop these rights. The preservation and diffusion of the languages of the indigenous peoples will be established in the law, and;
33. The security that the rights guaranteed by this Constitution may not be affected in their essence.

Whoever expects to have their rights as established in this Constitution violated by the arbitrary or illegal acts of any person or institution, be it private or public, may request to obtain effective protection in the face of that vulnerability and the reestablishment of the right violated before any ordinary tribunal of first instance, notwithstanding the other rights that may jurisdictionally impeded. The resolution of this tribunal will be appealable to the Constitutional Tribunal.

The organic constitutional law of the Constitutional Tribunal will regulate the exercise of this constitutional action of rights guardianship.

Notwithstanding that which is outlined in article 20, any individual under investigation, arrested, detained or imprisoned for an infraction of that which is in the Constitution and the laws may come on his or her own behalf, or for any other of their name, before the magistrate indicated by the law, in order for the latter to determine whether legal requirements have been met and to immediately adopt the measures deemed necessary to reestablish the rule of law and ensure the protection of the affected person.

This magistrate may order the individual to be brought to them and the magistrate’s decree will be precisely obeyed by all who are in charge of the investigations, prisons, or detention facilities. Informed of the background, the magistrate will order that the detainee be released immediately, demand that legal defects be repaired, or the magistrate will place the individual at the disposition of a competent judge, proceeding quickly and summarily and correcting these errors or taking account of who is responsible for correcting them.

The same recourse will be available in the same form to all persons that illegally suffer any other form of deprivation, violation or threat to their rights to personal liberty and individual security. In such cases, the respective magistrate will dictate the means, as indicated in the prior clauses, that he expects to be conducive to reestablishing the rule of law and ensuring the protection of the affected person’s rights.

All inhabitants of the republic must respect Chile, its national emblems, and the emblems of its indigenous peoples.

The national flag, the coat of arms of the republic and the national anthem are emblems of the nation.

Chileans have the fundamental right of honoring their homeland, of defending Chile’s sovereignty and the essential values of the Chilean tradition and of Chile’s indigenous peoples.

Military service, taxes and other personal duties imposed by the law are legally binding in the terms and forms established by the law.

Chileans in possession of arms must be registered in the military registries if they are not legally exempt.

All people have the duty to protect, promote, and respect fundamental rights and human rights; to protect and conserve nature as well as the historical and cultural patrimony.

The National Congress is composed of two houses: the Camara de Diputados and the Senate. Both participate in the formation of the laws according to the Constitution and have the other attributes established by the constitution.

Representatives and Senators represent the entire Republic and are independent of all orders that are counter to their conscience.

The ability to hear civil and criminal cases, to resolve them and to enforce judgements pertains exclusively to the courts established by the law. Neither the President of the Republic, the Ministers of the State, nor the Congress may, under any circumstances, exercise judicial functions, take over pending cases, revise the grounds for or the contents of their resolutions or revive closed cases. Any contravention of this norm is null, according to article 7 of this Constitution.

Having reclaimed their intervention in a legal form and in business within their competence, the courts may not excuse themselves from exercising their authority, not even due to a lack of law that resolves the dispute or issues submitted for their decision

In order to execute their resolutions and to enforce or to ensure the enforcement of the acts of instruction determined by the law, the ordinary and special courts of justice that form a part of the Judiciary may issue direct orders to the public force or exercise the conducive means of action that they arrange. The other courts will do so in the form indicated by the law.

The required authority must comply with the judicial mandate without further delay and may not qualify the grounds or opportunity, nor the justice or legality of the resolution the court attempts to execute.

An organic constitutional law will determine the organization and attributes of the courts that are necessary for the swift and complete administration of justice in the entire territory of the republic. The same law will indicate the qualities that judges must possess as well as the number of years that persons nominated for positions on the courts must have worked as a lawyer. Additionally, an organic constitutional law will determine and regulate those functions outside the jurisdictions of the courts.

The organic constitutional law related to the organization and attributes of the courts may only be modified following a hearing in the Supreme Court according to the provisions of the respective organic constitutional law.

The Supreme Court must issue a pronouncement within a period of thirty days after the receipt of the official communication in which the pertinent opinion is requested.

However, if the President of the Republic has made a state of urgency present with regard to the matter under consideration, the President will communicate this to the court.

In said cases, the court must rule within the period implied by the respective urgency.

If the Supreme Court does not release an opinion within the specified periods, the procedure will be concluded.

The organic constitutional law related to the organization and attributes of the courts, as well as the procedural laws that regulate a system of prosecution, may set different dates for its entrance into force within the diverse regions of the national territory. Notwithstanding the prior, the timeline for the entrance into force of said laws throughout the country may not exceed four years.

With regard to the nomination of judges, the law will adjust to the following general precepts.

The Supreme Court will be composed of twenty-one ministers.

The ministers and the judicial prosecutors of the Supreme Court will be nominated by the President of the Republic, selecting them from a list of five persons that, in all cases, will be proposed by the Supreme Court itself and with the agreement of the Senate. The Senate will adopt the respective agreements with a vote of two thirds of the members in office in a session especially convened for this purpose and following the agreement of the majority of the Senators within the Commission for the Constitution, Legislation, Justice and Regulation of the Corporation. If the Senate does not approve the proposition of the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court must complete the five-person list proposing a new nomination to substitute for the rejected nomination, repeating the procedure until a nomination is approved.

Five of the members of the Supreme Court must be lawyers external to the administration of justice, have at least fifteen years of certification, have served within the profession or a university and meet the other requirements indicated by the respective organic constitutional law.

When filling a position that corresponds to a member of the Judiciary, the Supreme Court will form the list of nominations exclusively with members of this court and the senior minister of the Court of Appeals that appears on the list of merit must occupy a place on the list of nominations. The other four positions will be filled according to the merits of the candidates. When seeking to fill a vacancy corresponding to lawyers external to the administration of justice, the list of nominations will be formulated exclusively with lawyers that meet the requirements indicated in the fourth clause.

The ministers and judicial prosecutors of the Courts of Appeals will be designated by the President of the Republic, from a list of candidates proposed by the Supreme Court.

The career judges will be designated by the President of the Republic, from a list of three candidates proposed by the Court of Appeals within the respective jurisdiction.

The senior career judge, in civil or criminal law, sitting on the court or the senior civil or criminal judge within the position immediately below the position being filled, who also is on the list and expresses interest in the role, will occupy a place on the corresponding three candidate list. The other two places will be filled with attention to the merits of the candidates.

The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals will form lists of five or three candidates in a plenum especially convened for this purpose, in a single vote in which each member has a right to vote for three or two of the nominees, respectively. The nominees that obtain the five or the three first majorities will be elected, respectively. Ties will be resolved through a lottery.

However, in the case of nominations for ministers of substitute courts, the designation may be made by the Supreme Court and, in the case of the judges, by the respective Court of Appeals. These designations may not last longer than sixty days and may not be extended. In the case that the mentioned superior courts do not use this ability or in the case that the period of substitution has passed, vacancies will be filled in the ordinary form previously indicated.

The judges are personally responsible for the crimes of bribery, failure to observe the substance of the laws that regulate procedure, denial and distorted administration of justice and, in general, of all prevarication that they enter into in the exercise of their duties.

With regard to the members of the Supreme Court, the law will determine the cases and the mode of enforcing this responsibility.

The judges will remain in their positions during good behavior; however, inferior judges will occupy their respective judgeships for the time period indicated by the law.

Notwithstanding the prior, the judges will cease their functions upon reaching the age of 75; or due to resignation, supervening legal incapacity, or in the case a judge is removed due to a legal cause. The norm related to age will not govern with respect to the President of the Supreme Court, who will continue in his or her role until the end of his or her term.

In any case, upon a request of the President of the Republic, at the solicitation of an interested party, or ex officio, the Supreme Court may declare that the judges have not maintained good behavior and, after a report from the accused and from the respective Court of Appeals, if necessary, the Supreme Court may agree to their removal by the majority of its members. These agreements will be communicated to the President of the Republic for his or her compliance.

The Supreme Court, in a plenum especially convened for this purpose and by the absolute majority of its members in office, may authorize or order, rightly, the transfer of the judges and other functionaries and employees of the Judiciary to another role of equal stature.

The magistrates of the superior courts of justice, the judicial prosecutors, and the career judges that form part of the Judiciary may not be apprehended without an order of the competent court, except in cases of flagrant crime or simple offense and only so as to put them immediately before the court that must consider the matter in accordance with the law.

The Supreme Court has the directive, correctional, and economic supremacy over all courts within the nation. An organic constitutional law will regulate the form and exercise of these powers. The Constitutional Tribunal, the Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones, and the regional electoral tribunals are exempt from this norm.

The superior courts of justice, in the use of their disciplinary powers, may only invalidate jurisdictional resolutions in the cases and form established by the respective organic constitutional law.

An autonomous, hierarchical organization of the State, with the name of the Public Ministry, will direct the investigation, in an exclusive form, of the acts that constitute the crime, of those that determine the punishable participation and of those that believe in the innocence of the accused and, when necessary, it will exercise the public penal action in the form indicated by the law. In a similar fashion, the adoption of means to protect the victims and the witnesses will correspond to the Public Ministry. In some cases, it may exercise jurisdictional functions, and in its investigations it must adhere to the requirements set forth in article 19, number 6 of this Constitution. Any act that contravenes these requirements is null and will bring about the correctional and indemnificatory consequences foreseen in the law.

The victim of a crime and other persons determined by the law may equally exercise the penal action.

The Public Ministry may impart direct orders to the Forces of Order and Security during the investigation, without prejudice to its dependence as indicated in article 103 of this document, completely assuming the hierarchical responsibility for the consequences that the exercise of this prerogative may bring about. In all, the acts that deprive, restrict, or perturb the accused or third parties of their exercise of the rights guaranteed by this constitution will require prior written judicial approval from the lead investigator. The required authority must comply with said orders without further delay and may not qualify their grounds, opportunity, justice or legality, except to request the exhibition of the prior judicial authorization previously described.

The exercise of the public penal action and the direction of investigations of the deeds that constitute the crime, of those that determine the punishable participation, and of those that believe in the innocence of the accused in a case that is under consideration in a military tribunal, such as the adoption of means to protect the victims and the witnesses testifying about the corresponding deeds, according to the norms of the Code of Military Justice and to the respective laws, to the organs and to the persons that this code and these laws determine.

An organic constitutional law will determine the organization and powers of the Public Ministry, it will indicate the qualities and requirements that prosecutors must have and meet in order to be nominated and the causes of removal of the adjunct prosecutors in cases not contemplated within the constitution. Persons designated as prosecutors may not have any impediment that would make them unable to perform the duties of a judge. Regional prosecutors and adjuncts will cease in their role upon reaching the age of 75.

The organic constitutional law will establish the level of independence and autonomy as well as the responsibility that prosecutors will have in the direction of the investigation and in the exercise of the public penal action, in the cases of which they are in charge. In all cases, the law will take into account the hierarchical structure of the Public Ministry set forth in article 92.

The National Prosecutor shall be appointed by the President of the Republic, at the proposal of the Supreme Court and with the agreement of the Senate adopted by two-thirds of its members in office, in a session specially convened for this purpose. If the Senate does not approve the proposal of the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court must propose a new name to replace the rejected one, repeating the procedure until an appointment is approved.

The National Prosecutor must have at least ten years of experience as a lawyer, have reached forty years of age and possess the other qualities necessary for citizenship with the right to vote; the National Prosecutor will remain in office for eight years and may not be reappointed in the following period.

The maximum age indicated in the second clause of article 81 will also apply to a National Prosecutor.

A Regional Prosecutor will exist in each of the country’s administrative regions, unless the population or the geographic area of the region make it necessary to name more than one.

The regional prosecutors will be nominated by the National Prosecutor, from a three candidate list proposed by the Court of Appeals in the respective region. In the case that there is more than one Court of Appeals within a region, the three candidate list will be formed by a plenum composed of all members, especially convened for this purpose by the President of the court that was created first.

The regional prosecutors must have at least five years of certification as a lawyer, have reached the age of 35 and possess the other qualities necessary to be a citizen with the right to vote; they will remain in office for eight years and may be appointed in the following period in another region, which will not obstruct their ability to be nominated for other roles within the Public Ministry.

The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals will call for a public competition in order to formulate the five person and three person lists, which will be agreed to by the absolute majority of their members in office, in a plenum especially convoked for this purpose. Pensioned or active members of the Judiciary may not form part of the five person or three person lists.

The five person and three person lists will be formed in a single election in which each member of the plenum will have the right to vote for three or two nominees, respectively. The nominees that obtain the five or the three first majorities, respectively, will be elected. If a tie results, it will be resolved through a lottery.

There will exist adjunct prosecutors that will be designated by the National Prosecutor, selected from the three-person list proposed by the respective regional prosecutor, which must be formed through a public contest in accordance with an organic constitutional law. They must have certification as a lawyer and possess the other qualities necessary to be a citizen with the right to vote.

The National Prosecutor and the regional prosecutors may be removed by the Supreme Court, at the request of the President of the Republic, of the Camara de Diputados, or of ten of its members, for infringing the norms governing the role, incapacity, bad behavior, or negligence in the exercise of his or her functions. The court will learn of the matter in a plenum especially convened for this purpose and, in order to agree to the removal, it must obtain a majority vote in agreement from the members in exercise.

The removal of the regional prosecutors may also be requested by the National Prosecutor.

The provisions of article 82 will apply to the National Prosecutor, the regional prosecutors, and to the adjunct prosecutors.

The National Prosecutor is the superior authority of the Public Ministry, on whom the regional prosecutors and the adjunct prosecutors will hierarchically and directly depend. The National Prosecutor will have the directive, correctional, and economic supremacy over the Public Ministry, according to the respective organic constitutional law.

The Constitutional Tribunal is an organ of the State; it is autonomous and independent of any other authority or power.

The Constitutional Tribunal will be composed of ten members, designated according to the following procedure:

1. The Supreme Court convenes a public contest to form a three candidate list that will be sent to the President of the Republic.
2. The President of the Republic proposes one of the nominees from said three candidate list to the two houses of the National Congress.
3. Each of the houses, with an affirmative vote of at least two thirds of their members in office, give their approval to the candidate.
4. The President of the Republic designates his or her selection naming them as a Minister of the Constitutional Tribunal.

To comply with the provisions of c), and prior to the vote, the proposed candidate must formulate a presentation of his or her nomination to the respective role in a public special session before the respective house of the National Congress.

The members of the tribunal will serve for nine years in their positions and they may be partially renewed every three years. They must have at least fifteen years of certification as a lawyer, have served actively within the profession, in a university or publicly, they may not have an impediment that would make them unable to perform the duties of a judge, they will be submitted to the norms of articles 59, 60, and 82, and they may not exercise the profession of lawyering, including judicature, nor any other act of those established in the second and third clauses of article 61.

The members of the Constitutional Tribunal will be irremovable and may not be reelected, except one that has been a replacement and has exercised the role for a period of less than five years. They will cease in their role at the age of 75.

In the case that a member of the Constitutional Tribunal ceases to occupy their role, the member will be replaced by the corresponding person, according to the first clause on this article and for the time period remaining to complete the term of the member who was replaced.

The court will function as a whole or divided into two chambers. In this first case, the quorum to hold a session will be of at least eight members and, in the second case, of at least four. The tribunal will adopt its agreements by simple majority, except in the case that a different quorum is required and will rule in agreement with the law. The tribunal as a whole will definitively resolve the attributes indicated in numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11 of the following article. To exercise the remaining attributes, the tribunal may function as a whole or as separate chambers according to the provisions of the respective organic constitutional law.

An organic constitutional law will determine their organization, function, procedures, and will establish their staffing, the regime of remuneration and the employment statute of their personnel.

The attributes of the Constitutional Tribunal are:

1. Constitutionality of legislation, Constitutional interpretation, Legal status of treaties
   To verify the constitutionality of laws that interpret any precept of the Constitution, the organic constitutional laws, as well as the norms of a treaty that affect materials contained within the constitution or organic constitutional laws prior to their promulgation. The declaration of unconstitutionality of any of these norms must be agreed to by a majority of four fifths of the tribunal’s members;
2. To resolve the questions of constitutionality of the general norms issued by the Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeals, and the Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones;
3. To resolve the questions that arise about the constitutionality of a decree with the force of law;
4. Referenda
   To resolve the questions that arise about constitutionality with relation to the convocation of a plebiscite, without prejudice to the powers that correspond to the Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones. Additionally, to resolve the convocation to a plebiscite set forth in the second clause of article 15 by a majority of its members.
5. To resolve, by a majority of its members in office, the inapplicability of a legal precept whose application in any proceeding that takes place before an ordinary or special court produces results contrary to the Constitution;
6. To resolve by a majority of four fifths of its members in exercise, the unconstitutionality of a legal precept declared inapplicable in accordance with the provisions of the prior number.
7. To resolve the complaints in the case that the President of the Republic does not promulgate a law when he or she must do so or promulgates a different text than the constitutionally corresponding text;
8. To resolve the constitutionality of a decree or resolution of the President of the Republic that the Comptroller General of the Republic has deemed unconstitutional, when requested by the President according to article 101;
9. Regulation of political parties
   To declare the unconstitutionality of the organizations and the movements or political parties as well as the responsibility of the persons that participated in the deeds that motivated the declaration of unconstitutionality, according to the provisions of number 22 of article 19 of this Constitution. However, if the affected person is the President of the Republic or the President elect, the referred to declaration will also require the agreement of the Senate, adopted by the majority of its members in office;
10. To inform the Senate in the cases referred to in number 6 of article 53 of this constitution;
11. To resolve the disputes regarding competence that arise between the political, administrative, and judicial authorities that do not correspond to the Senate;
12. To resolve the constitutional or legal inabilities that affect a person being designated as a Minister of the State, to remain in said role, or to simultaneously perform other functions;
13. To issue pronouncements about the inabilities, incompatibilities, and orders of cessation in the roles of parliamentarians;
14. To qualify the inability invoked by a parliamentarian in terms of the final clause of article 61 and to issue pronouncements regarding resignations from the role, and
15. To resolve the constitutionality of supreme decrees, regardless of the error invoked, including those that were ordered in the exercise of the autonomous regulatory power of the President of the Republic when they refer to materials that could be reserved to the law by the order of article 64.
16. To resolve, by the majority of its members, the effective protection of rights in response to a violation of constitutional rights, which the rights holder of the action foreseen in article 20 of this document will be subject.

In the case of number 1, the house of origin will send the respective project to the Constitutional Tribunal within the five days following the day in which the declaration of unconstitutionality is completely processed by the Congress.

In the case of number 2, the tribunal may hear the matter upon the request of the President of the Republic, of any of the houses or of ten of their members. Additionally, requests may be made to the tribunal by any person that is part of a judgement or an action pending before an ordinary or special court, or from the first action of the penal process when it affects the exercise of their fundamental rights due to the provisions of the respective normative statement issued by the court.

In the case of number 3, the question may be put forward by the President of the Republic within the period of ten days when the Comptroller rejects a decree with the force of law as unconstitutional. It may also be posed by any of the houses or by a fourth of its members in office in the case that the Comptroller challenges a decree with the force of law as unconstitutional. This requirement must be made effective within the period of thirty days, counting from the publication of the respective decree with the force of law.

In the case of number 4, the question may be posed upon the request of the Senate of the Cámara de Diputados, within ten days counting from the date of publication of the decree that sets the day of the plebiscitary consult.

The tribunal will establish the definitive text of the plebiscitary consult in its resolution, when doing so is appropriate.

If, at the time of issuing the sentence, there are less than thirty days remaining for the realization of a plebiscite, the tribunal will set a new date between thirty to sixty days after the judgement.

In the case of number 5, the question may be put forward by any of the parties or by the judge dealing the issue. It will correspond to either of the chambers of the tribunal to declare, without further recourse, the admissibility of the question whenever the existence of a question pending before an ordinary or special court is verified, that the application of the challenged legal precept may be decisive in the resolution of an issue, that the challenge is reasonably based and they meet the requirements established by the law. The responsibility to resolve the suspension of procedure in which the action of inapplicability due to unconstitutionality originated will correspond to the same chamber.

In the case of number 6, once a declaration of inapplicability due to unconstitutionality of a legal precept is resolved, according to number 5 of this article, there will be a public action to request a declaration of unconstitutionality from the Constitutional Tribunal, without prejudice to the ability of the tribunal to declare it ex officio. Establishing the requisites of admissibility, in the case that the public action is exercised, as well as regulating the procedure that must be followed to act ex officio will correspond to the respective organic constitutional law.

In the case of number 7, the question may be posed by either of the chambers or by a fourth of their members in office, within the thirty days following the publication of the challenged text or within the seventy days following the date on which the President of the Republic must give effect to the promulgation of the law. If the tribunal welcomes the claim, its finding will promulgate the law that the President was supposed to have promulgated or it will rectify the incorrect promulgation.

In the case of number 10, the tribunal may only hear the case upon the request of the Senate.

There will be public actions to make requests of the tribunal with respect to the attributes conferred by numbers 9 and 12 of this article.

However, if in the case of number 9 the affected person is the President of the Republic or the President elect, the request must be made by the Cámara de Diputados or by the fourth of its members in office.

In the case of number 11, the request must be met by any of the authorities involved in the conflict.

In the case of number 13, the tribunal may only hear the case upon the request of the President of the Republic or upon the request of no less than ten parliamentarians serving in office.

In the case of number 15, the tribunal may only hear the case upon the request of any of the legislative houses, issued within the thirty days following the publication or notification of the challenged text. In the case of defects that do not refer to decrees that exceed the autonomous regulatory power of the President of the Republic, a fourth of the members in office may also meet said requirement.

The Constitutional Tribunal may fully assess the facts when it exercises the attributes indicated in numbers 9, 10, and 12, as well as when it is aware of the grounds for cessation in the role of parliamentarian.

In the cases of numbers 9, 12, and in the case of number 2 when it is requested by a parte, it will correspond to a chamber of the tribunal to issue a pronouncement without further recourse, of its admissibility.

Against the resolutions of the Constitutional Tribunal there will be no recourse, without prejudice to the tribunal’s ability, according to the law, to rectify the errors it has made.

In order to execute its resolutions, the Constitutional Tribunal may issue orders or request actions to the public departments concerned. With this purpose the fourth clause of article 77 of the Constitutions is applicable.

The provisions that the tribunal declares unconstitutional may not be converted into law in the project or decree with the force of law in which it is contained.

In the case of number 6 of article 94, having declared the unconstitutionality of a legal precept, the legislative organs must, within the period of six months, initiate a process to formulate the norm that will regulate the matter previously subject to the abrogated precept.

In the case of number 15 of article 94, a nullified supreme decree will remain without effect, with the single merit of the sentence of the tribunal that receives the complaint. Nevertheless, the precept declared unconstitutional according to the provisions of numbers 2, 3, or 6 of article 94, will be understood to have been abrogated from the publication in the Diario Oficial of the sentence that receive the complaint, which will not produce a retroactive effect.

Sentences that declare all of or a part of a law, a decree with the force of law, a supreme decree or a general norm unconstitutional, will be published in the Diario Oficial within the three days following the declaration.

An organization of the state, autonomous, with juridical personhood and its own patrimony, named the Electoral Service will exercise the administration, oversight, and management of the electoral processes and plebiscites; compliance with the norms of transparency, limits and controls on electoral spending; the norms regarding political parties, and the other functions that are indicated by an organic constitutional law.

The upper management of the Electoral Service will correspond to a directive council, which will exercise the attributes granted by the Constitution and the laws in an exclusive form. Said council will be composed of five councilors designated by the President of the Republic, with the prior approval of the Senate, which requires a two thirds vote of the members in office. The councilors will remain in office for ten years, may not be designated for a new term and will be partially renewed every two years. Prior to the vote of the Senate, the proposed candidates must formulate a presentation of their nomination to the respective position in a public special session before the Senate.

The councilors may only be removed by the Supreme Court, upon the request of the President of the Republic, or upon the request of a third of the members in office in the Cámara de Diputados, due to a serious violation of the Constitution or of the laws, incapacity, bad behavior or negligence in the exercise of his or her duties. The court will hear the issue in a plenum specially convened for the purpose and in order to initiate the removal it must obtain a majority vote of the members in office in agreement. The organization and attributes of the Electoral Service will be established by an organic constitutional law. Its form of decentralization, the staff, the remunerations and staff regulations will be established by a law.

A special tribunal of the State, which will be named the Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones, will be responsible for the general oversight and certification of the elections for President of the Republic, Representatives and Senators; it will resolve the complaints that take place and it will proclaim the results of elections. Said tribunal will also oversee the plebiscites and will have the other attributes determined by the law.

It will be composed of five members designated in the following form:

1. Four ministers of the Supreme Court, designated by that court through a lottery in the form and at the opportunity determined by the respective organic constitutional law, and
2. A citizen that has held the role of President or Vice President of the Cámara de Diputados or of the Senate for a period of no less than 365 days, designated by the Supreme Court in the form indicated in the proceeding letter a), from the group of all those that meet the indicated requirement.

The designations referred to in letter b) may not apply to persons that are parliamentarians, candidates in popular elections, Ministers of the State, nor to leaders of political parties.

The members of this tribunal will hold office for four years and the provisions of articles 59 and 60 of this constitutions will be applicable.

The Tribunal Calificador will proceed as a jury in assessing the facts and will issue sentences according to the law.

An organic constitutional law will regulate the organization and operation of the Tribunal Calificador de Elecctiones.

There will be regional electoral courts charged with the general oversight and certification of the elections that the law entrusts to them, as well as with resolving complaints that take place and proclaiming the elected candidates. Their resolutions will be appealable to the Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones in the form determined by the law. Additionally, they will certify the union elections as well as those that take place in intermediary groups indicated by the law.

These courts will be composed of a minister of the respective Court of Appeals, elected by this court, and two members designated by the Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones from those persons that have practiced the profession of lawyering or performed the functions of a minister or internal lawyers of the Court of Appeals for a period of no less than three years.

The members of these courts will hold office for four years and will have the inabilities and incompatibilities determined by the law.

These courts will proceed as a jury in fully assessing the facts and will issue sentences according to the law.

The law will determine the other attributed of these courts and will regulate their organization and operation.

Annually, the funds necessary for the organization and operation of these courts, will be included in the Budgetary Law of the Nation, their staff, remunerations, and staff regulations will be established by law.

An autonomous organization of the State with the name of the Comptroller General of the Republic will control the legality of the acts of the administration, oversee the entry and the inversion of the funds of the Treasury, the municipalities, and the other organizations and services determined by the laws; it will examine and judge the accounts of the persons that are responsible for assets of these organizations; it will conduct the general accounting of the nation, and it will perform the other functions assigned to it by the respective organic constitutional law.

The Comptroller, with the motive of controlling legality or the authorities, may not evaluate the aspects of merit or of convenience of the political or administrative decisions.

The Comptroller General of the Republic must have at least ten years of certification as a lawyer, have reached the age of forty and must possess the other qualities necessary to be a citizen with the right to vote. The Comptroller General will be designated by the President of the Republic with the agreement of the Senate, which requires a three fifths vote of the Senate’s members in office, and will serve for a period of eight years and may not be designated for the following period. Upon reaching the age of 75, he or she will cease operating in the role. Prior to the vote of the Senate, the proposed candidate must formulate a presentation of his or her nomination for the position in a public special session before the Senate.

The Comptroller General, in order to ensure compliance with the law, will take note of the decrees and resolutions that, in accordance with the law, must be processed by the Comptroller or it will attest to the illegality a law suffers from; however, it must proceed with them when, despite his or her representation, the President of the Republic insists on, with the signature of all of his or her ministers, a case in which a copy of the relevant decrees must be sent to the Cámara de Diputados. In no case will decrees of expenses that exceed the limit signaled in the Constitution be allowed to proceed and the Comptroller will remit a full copy of the records to the same house.

Additionally, it will correspond to the Comptroller General of the Republic to take note of the decrees with the force of law, requiring the Comptroller to object to them when they exceed or contravene the law of delegation or when they are contrary to the constitution.

If the objection took place with respect to a decree with the force of law, the promulgation decree of a law or of a constitutional reform for departing from the approved text, or a decree or resolution for being contrary to the Constitution, the President of the Republic will not have the ability to insist, and in the case of noncompliance with the representation of the Comptroller, the President must remit the background information to the Constitutional Tribunal within the period of ten days, with the goal of having the Constitutional Tribunal resolve the controversy.

In other cases, the organization, operation, and the attributes of the Comptroller General of the Republic will be subject to an organic constitutional law.

The Treasuries of the State may not issue any payment except in the service of a decree or resolution issued by a competent authority, in which the law or the part of the budget that authorizes the expense is expressed.

The Armed Forces under the supervision of the Ministry of National Defense are constituted solely and exclusively by the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. They exist for the defense of the homeland and are essential to national security.

The Forces of Order and Public Security are composed solely by the Carabineiros and Investigations. They constitute the public force and exist to give efficiency to the law, guarantee public order and internal public security, in the form determined by their respective organic laws. They depend on the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, with the exception of the provisions of articles 77 and 84 of this Constitution, which establish their dependence to receive direct orders from the Tribunals of Justice of the Judiciary and the Public Ministry, respectively.

The Armed Forces and Carabineiros, as armed groups, are essentially obedient and non-deliberative. The forces under the supervision of the Ministries charged with National Defense and Public Security are also hierarchical and disciplined professionals.

The incorporation into the staff and personnel of the Armed Forces and the Carabineiros may only take place through their own schools, with the exception of the professional ranks and the civil employees determined by the law.

No person, group, or organization may possess or have arms or other similar elements indicated by a law, without authorization granted in accordance with that law.

A law will determine the Ministry or the organizations under its supervision that will exercise the supervision and control of the armed forces. Additionally, it will establish the public organizations charged with overseeing compliance with the norms related to said control.

The Commanders in Chief of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, as well as the General Director of the Carabineiros will be designated by the President of the Republic from among the five most senior general officers that meet the requirements for the role as specified by the respective institutional statutes; terms will last for four years, they may not be renewed for a new term, and they will enjoy tenure in their role.

The President of the Republic, through a substantiated decree and with prior notice to the Cámara de Diputados and Senate, may call for the retirement of the Commanders in Chief of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force as well as the General Director of the Carabineiros prior to completing his or her term.

The nominations, promotions and retirements of the officials of the Armed Forces and Carabineiros, will take effect through a supreme decree, in accordance with the corresponding organic constitutional law, which will determine the respective basic norms as well as the basic norms with reference to the professional career, incorporation to its rank, security, seniority, command, command succession, and the budget of the Armed Forces and the Carabineiros.

The entry, the nominations, ascensions and retirements in Investigations will take effect in accordance with their organic constitutional law.

There will be a National Security Council charged with advising the President of the Republic on matters related to National Security and exercising the other functions that this constitution assigns to it. It will be presided over by the President of the Republic and its membership will include the Presidents of the Senate, the Cámara de Diputados and the Supreme Court, as well as the Ministers of the Interior and Public Security, External Relations and National Defense, the Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces, the General Director of the Carabineiros, the Director General of the Police of Investigations, and the Comptroller General of the Republic.

Other Ministers of the State may be present in the National Security Council’s sessions in the cases in which the President of the Republic determines

The National Security Council will meet when it is convened by the President of the Republic and it will require an absolute majority of its members in order to establish quorum.

The Council will not adopt agreements except to issue the regulations referred to within the final clause of the present article. In its sessions, any of the members may express their opinion about the issues under consideration, without committing their respective departments, organizations or institutions.

The actions of the Council will be public, unless the President of the Republic determines the application of the exceptions to their publicity established in article 8 of this document. A regulation issued by the council will establish the other provisions concerning its organization, operation, and the publicity of its meetings.

An autonomous organization of the State with its own patrimony, and of a technical character, named the Central Bank will exist; its composition, organization, functions, and attributes will be determined by an organic constitutional law

The candidates proposed to compose the Council of the Central Bank, prior to the respective vote, must formulate a presentation of their nomination to the respective position in a public special session before the Senate.

The Central Bank may only engage in operations with financial institutions, be they public or private. In no way may the Central Bank grant them its guarantee, nor acquire documents emitted by the State, its organizations or businesses.

No public expense or loan may be financed with direct or indirect credits from the Central Bank.

In the case of an external war or the danger of external war, as certified by the National Security Council, the Central Bank may obtain, grant, or finance credits to the State and public or private entities.

The Central Bank may not adopt any agreement that signifies in a direct or indirect manner the establishment of norms, different requirements, or discriminatory requirements in relation to persons, institutions, or entities that realize operations within the same environment.

The territory of the Republic is divided into regions and these are divided into provinces for the purpose of internal governance and administration of the State. The provinces will be divided into communes for the purpose of local administration.

The creation, suppression and denomination of regions, provinces and communes; the modification of their boundaries, as well as the location of the capitals of the regions and provinces will be established through an organic constitutional law.

Proposals of constitutional reform may be initiated through a message of the President of the Republic or through a motion of any of the members of the National Congress, with the limits indicated in the first clause of article 66.

The reform proposal will require a three fourths vote of the Representatives and Senators in office in each house of the National Congress.

In cases not foreseen by this chapter, the norms regarding the formation of laws will be applicable to the processing of proposals of constitutional reform, always requiring the quorums indicated in the prior clause.

A proposal approved by both houses will pass on to the President of the Republic.

If the President of the Republic completely rejects a reform proposal approved by both houses and they insist in their totality with the support of three fourths of the members in office within each house, the President of the Republic must promulgate said proposal, at least through consultation of the citizenry in the form of a plebiscite.

If the President partially observes a reform proposal approved by both houses, the observations will be understood to have been approved with the vote of three fifths of the members in office within each house, in accordance with the prior article, and it will return to the President for promulgation.

In the case that the houses do not approve all or some of the observations of the President, there will be no constitutional reform with regard to the points of discrepancy, except in the case that the President consults the citizenry through a plebiscite with respect to the questions in disagreement.

The organic constitutional law related to the Congress will also regulate vetos to constitutional reform proposals and their processing within the Congress.

Convoking a plebiscite must take place within thirty days following Congress’s insistence on the project approved by them or Congress’s rejection of the observations of the President of the Republic and will be ordered through a supreme decree that will set the date of the plebiscite, which will be held one hundred and twenty days after the publication of said decree if this day is a Sunday. If it is not, the plebiscite will be held on the following Sunday. If the plebiscite is not held by the President before this date, the proposal that was approved by the Congress will be promulgated.

The decree to convoke a plebiscite will contain the proposal approved by both houses and completely vetted by the President of the Republic, or the questions of reform in which the Congress has insisted. In the latter case, each of the questions in disagreement must be voted on separately in the plebiscite.

The Tribunal Calificador will communicate to the President of the Republic the results of the plebiscite and it will specify the text of the proposal approved by the citizens, which must be promulgated as a constitutional reform within five days following said communication.

Once the proposal is promulgated and from the date it enters into force, its provisions will form part of the Constitution and will be incorporated into it.

Without prejudice to the provisions of article 130 and those that follow it, the National Congress, with a two thirds vote of the Representatives and Senators in office in agreement may convoke a Constitutional Convention to elaborate a New Constitution.

An organic constitutional law will regulate the convocation for the convention on behalf of the Congress, the composition of the convention, the system of nominations and the election of its members, its organization, functions and attributes, as well as the mechanisms of public participation that, for this purpose, the Constitutional Convention will establish in the process of creating the New Constitution.

Once the New Constitution is approved in the Constitutional Convention, it will be sent to the President of the Republic for the President to consult the citizens through a plebiscite in which the absolute majority of the validly cast votes will determine whether it is approved or rejected. For this purpose, the vote will be obligatory. Once the proposal is sent, the Constitutional Convention will disband.

The convocation for a plebiscite must take place within thirty days following the date on which the proposal for a New Constitution sent by the Constitutional Convention is received and it will be ordered through a supreme decree that will set the date of the plebiscite, which must be held within ninety days after the publication of said decree if this day is a Sunday. If it is not a Sunday, the plebiscite will be held on the following Sunday. The decree to convoke the plebiscite will contain the options “accept” or “reject.”

The Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones will communicate to the President of the Republic the result of the plebiscite, and the President will specify the option decided by the citizens. If this is approved, the President of the Republic will promulgate the text of the New Constitution within ten days after the having communicated the result and the publication will take place within five working days after the date on which the promulgation decree is completely processed.

The provisions of the present constitutional reform will enter into force, with the prior approval of a plebiscite convened by the president of the Republic for this purpose and according to the following rules.

Once the constitutional reform is approved, it will be sent to the President of the Republic so that the President may consult the citizens through a plebiscite in which an absolute majority of the validly cast votes will determine whether the plebiscite approves or rejects it. For this purpose, the vote will be obligatory.

The convocation to a plebiscite must take effect within the thirty days following the date on which the proposal for constitutional reform sent by the National Congress is received and will take place through a supreme decree that will set the date of the plebiscite, which will take place ninety days after the publication of said decree if this day is a Sunday. If it is not a Sunday, the plebiscite will be held on the next Sunday. The decree to convoke a plebiscite will include the options to “approve” or “reject.”

The Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones will communicate the results of the plebiscite to the President of the Republic and will specify the option chosen by the citizens. If this is “approved,” the President of the Republic will promulgate the text of the constitutional reform within ten days after communicating the results and the publication will take place within five working days following the date on which the promulgation decree is completely processed.

The actual laws in force comply with the requirements that this Constitution establishes and will continue applying in that which is not contrary to it, as long as the corresponding legal bodies do not issue amendments or repeals.

All authorities elected through a popular vote that are in office at the moment the present constitutional reform takes effect will remain in office for the remaining time until the next popular election.

The President of the Republic in office at the moment this constitutional reform enters into force will be subject to the provisions of the second clause of article 24 with regard to no reelection nor nomination.

For the purpose of the provisions of the first clause of article 51, the first period as a parliamentarian will be that which is initiated with the first elections realized after the present constitutional reform comes into force.

Without prejudice to the provisions of the prior article, all members of the organizations of the State regulated by the extant Constitution during the exercise of their function, will remain in their positions upon the entrance into force of the present constitutional reform, and these positions will be filled as they cease their functions in accordance with the constitutional norms in force.