Abstract

MORAGA SARIEGO, Pilar. Defining new standards on citizen participation in the Chilean environmental assessment. Rev. Derecho Estado [online]. 2017, n.38, pp.177-198. ISSN 0122-9893.  https://doi.org/10.18601/01229893.n38.07.

The Law 19,300 on the General Bases of the Environment (1994) provided the first legal framework for environmental protection in the country, in the context of the Rio Summit held two years earlier. Following the recommendations of oecd to strengthen environmental institutions (2005), the legislator passed Law No. 20,417 introducing environmental reform (2010) and Law No. 20,600 creating the Environmental Tribunals (2012). The first one extends the scope of citizen participation in the environmental impact assessment system, however, it is the jurisprudential work of the Second Environmental Court that will make it possible to understand the real scope of the legislative amendment. This specialized judiciary develops new standards of citizen participation in the framework of the project of the State Railway Company. This is a broad interpretation of the principle with a view to a real and not only formal application of it, which contributes to the strengthening of this institution in relation to the principle of access to information and justice in environmental matters.

Keywords : Participation principle; environmental assessment system; environmental assessment declaration; citizen observation; environmental tribunal.

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