Solicitud de Comentario Público sobre el Acuerdo de Libre Comercio entre Estados Unidos y Chile

A coalition of environmental NGOs urges the U.S. and Chile to ensure their Free Trade Agreement does not weaken environmental laws or stimulate damage in sensitive sectors like forestry and mining. They propose incorporating the Precautionary Principle, rejecting investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms similar to NAFTA, and establishing mandatory reporting for pollutant emissions by foreign investors.

• The authors express concern that the FTA could undermine existing legal protections for the environment in both the U.S. and Chile and stimulate damage in sectors such as shipping, mining, and forestry.
• The coalition recommends that the FTA explicitly recognize the Precautionary Principle, allowing both nations to adopt health and environmental measures even when scientific evidence regarding risks is incomplete or inconclusive.
• The document strongly opposes the inclusion of an investor-state dispute settlement process, citing the 'deeply flawed' provisions of NAFTA that allow foreign investors to challenge environmental regulations and seek compensation for decreased property value.
• To prevent a 'downward harmonization' of standards, the authors propose a binding commitment that neither country decrease environmental, health, or safety standards to attract foreign investment or increase exports.
• The coalition suggests that foreign investors be required to report pollutant emissions from their facilities to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Chilean environmental officials, and the FTA's Joint Commission.
• The document warns that trade liberalization in the forestry sector specifically threatens the temperate rainforests of southern Chile, where a third of the world's largest relatively undisturbed temperate forest region is at risk due to export-driven logging.
• The authors argue that shipping pollution is a significant global threat, noting that shipping accounts for 14% of global nitrogen pollution and 16% of global sulfur pollution from oil sources.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2001). Solicitud de Comentario Público sobre el Acuerdo de Libre Comercio entre Estados Unidos y Chile. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/USChileFRCommentsSpanish.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Solicitud de Comentario Público sobre el Acuerdo de Libre Comercio entre Estados Unidos y Chile. 2001. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/USChileFRCommentsSpanish.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Solicitud de Comentario Público sobre el Acuerdo de Libre Comercio entre Estados Unidos y Chile |date=15 January 2001 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/USChileFRCommentsSpanish.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2001solicitud, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Solicitud de Comentario Público sobre el Acuerdo de Libre Comercio entre Estados Unidos y Chile}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2001}, month = jan, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/USChileFRCommentsSpanish.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }