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ESTABLISHES A SYSTEM OF INCENTIVES FOR AGROENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF AGRICULTURAL SOILS

Original Language Title: ESTABLECE UN SISTEMA DE INCENTIVOS PARA LA SUSTENTABILIDAD AGROAMBIENTAL DE LOS SUELOS AGROPECUARIOS

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LAW NO. 20,412 ESTABLISHES A SYSTEM OF INCENTIVES FOR THE AGROENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF AGRICULTURAL SOILS, bearing in mind that the H. National Congress has given its approval to the following Bill: " Article 1.-Set up, for a period of time. For 12 years since the law has been in force, a system of incentives to contribute to the environmental sustainability of the soil resource, whose objectives will be to recover the productive potential of degraded agricultural soils and the maintenance of the levels of improvement achieved, the one that will be governed by the norms of this law. Article 2.-For the purposes of this law, the following definitions shall apply: (a) Agricultural soils: those soils of use, preferably current or potential agricultural crops. (b) Predium: that surface intended mainly for agricultural production, whatever its location. This definition is considered to be those productive units composed of one or more roles, and real property or real rights on those assets owned by the indigenous communities, the allocatarios of individual goces and the holders of other actual rights of use in accordance with Law No 19.253. (c) Sustainability: the capacity of soils to maintain their fundamental chemical physical conditions, which are necessary to sustain the processes of agricultural production, without suffering deterioration that makes them impossible for their use for future generations, on the basis of which they require the implementation of appropriate measures for their recovery, conservation and maintenance. (d) Recovery of degraded agricultural soils: those measures intended to repair the chemical, physical or biological deficits that have a particular soil in order to take them to the minimum technical level to adequately and sustainably cope with the production process. These deficits will be defined by specific technical parameters, which will be laid down in the regulation, for each practice or sub-programme. (e) Maintenance of agricultural land: practices that prevent soils from being rolled back below the minimum technical level achieved, associated with the bonifiable activities referred to in Article 3 (a), (b) and (c). The incentive scheme will provide a bonus for this type of activity, for up to two years, to the beneficiaries referred to in point (g) of this Article. The regulation will establish a mechanism that, in case of equivalent scores, will allow for the preference of management plans for recovery, for those of maintenance. The regulation will provide for minimum and maximum technical standards for maintenance practices, as well as the maximum quantity of inputs per hectare per year, the costs of which can be subsidised by the system, according to the percentages regulated in the Article 10. f) Plan of management: detailed description of the activities by which the producer undertakes to achieve the objectives of raising the current condition of the soil, assuring its environmental sustainability. This plan shall consider the description of the practices, input doses, deadlines and dates of implementation. The management plan will make explicit the commitment between the State and the farmer to guarantee the minimum technical levels that have been achieved in the recovery practices, and for the execution of those practices, with clear objectives of environmental protection, the implementation of which involves a higher cost or a reduction in the farmer's income. (g) Small agricultural producer: a person who has this quality according to law No 18.910, Organic of the Agricultural Development Institute; that agricultural producer with a maximum income from sales of 2,400 units of promotion The members of the agricultural communities governed by the decree with force of law No. 5, of the Ministry of Agriculture, of 1968, and the members of the indigenous communities governed by Law No. 19,253, whose income from sales is less than 2,400 promotion units per year. (h) Medium agricultural producer: a person who has this condition for having an annual level of sales exceeding 2,400 units of promotion and does not exceed 25,000 units of promotion. (i) indigenous peoples: those referred to in the second indent of Article 1 (1) of Law No 19.253. (j) Technical minimum level: the concentration of nutrients (chemical elements) involved in soil fertility, below which the plant cover is not self-sustaining and the risk of soil degradation is increased. Except for those elements considered toxic to plants. It will be for the regulation to determine the concentration of nutrients and other indicators that will be considered in the "minimum technical level" determination for different types of soils and practices. Article 3.-The incentive system shall consist of a state subsidy of the net costs of the bonifiable activities recorded and defined in this law. In the case of small agricultural producers referred to in Article 2 (g), the costs of technical assistance to support them in the preparation and implementation of their management plans may be provided. For the purpose of achieving the objectives set out in Article 2 (d) and (e), the following activities shall be provided: (a) Incorporation of phosphorous-based fertilizers. b) Incorporation of essential chemical elements. (c) Establishment of a plant cover on uncovered or damaged soil. (d) Use of soil intervention methods, including crop rotation, aimed at preventing loss and erosion and promoting conservation. (e) Removal, cleaning or confinement of physical or chemical impediments. Applicants for the kind of activities referred to in points (a), (b), (c) and (e) above must prove that the bonus will be used for productive purposes. The values of the activities that will be bonified will be fixed in a Table of Costs that will be established annually by decree of the Ministry of Agriculture, which will have to have the visation of the Ministry of Budgets of the Ministry (') This table will have to consider the particularities of the zones and sectors where the program is deployed within each region, and it may be modified when the market conditions or the agricultural sector so warrant. Article 4.-In each contest, the selection of the postulated management plans will determine for each of them a score that will define their order of priority. This score will take into account the weighting of the following variables: financial contribution; cost per hectare; initial level of phosphorus; variation of phosphorus level; initial level of other chemical indicators; variation of other indicators chemical; percentage of surface with grassland recovery; percentage of surface with soil conservation; percentage of surface with soil rehabilitation, and others directly linked to soil properties. The selection of management plans elaborated under criteria of expansion of the coverage to degraded soils that have not had previous access, repeated and systematic to the incentives that establishes this law will be favored. These criteria will be contained in the regulation. The Regulation shall determine the specific practices and tasks which correspond to each of the eligible activities referred to in the first and second points of the preceding Article, the score ranges to be assigned to each of the variables mentioned in the first paragraph of this article, the requirements for drawing up the bases of the competitions, the content and the procedure for approval of the management plans, and the maximum amounts to be paid for each management plan and for the technical assistance. Article 5 °.-The incentives will be granted through the Agricultural and Agricultural Service and Livestock Development Institute through public competitions. In the case of practices aimed at the recovery of agricultural soils, all agricultural producers covered by this law may participate. For those practices that aim to maintain agricultural soils, only small agricultural producers may apply. The competitions shall be administered in a decentralised manner in each region, by the Regional Directors of the Agricultural Development Institute in respect of the small agricultural producers defined in Article 13 of Law No 18.910, and by the Regional Directors of the Agricultural and Livestock Service for the rest of the producers. Competitions may have regional or provincial coverage. The Regional Directors of the Agricultural Development Institute and the Agricultural and Livestock Service will be advised for these purposes by a Regional Technical Committee, made up of public sector and private sector personnel. related to the activity, in the manner determined by the regulation. This Committee shall be chaired by the respective Regional Minister of Agriculture and its powers shall be laid down in the Regulation. For the private sector, representative farmers of small and medium-sized producers ' organizations will participate, as defined by this law, designated by the Regional Ministerial Secretary for Agriculture, on the basis of proposals made by the agricultural producer organisations in the Region. Exceptionally, in cases of agricultural emergency or disaster declared by the competent authority, or emergencies qualified by the Institute of Agricultural Development pursuant to Law No 18.910, this Service may grant the directly relevant incentives, in the form provided for in the regulation, to those who, in accordance with their organic law, have the quality of small producers is agricultural. The regulations and the bases of the competitions must incorporate measures that, in the case of equality of scores, promote access to the incentives that the law establishes for women and members of indigenous communities. Article 6.-Those interested in opting for the incentive must submit to the Agricultural Development Institute or to the Agricultural and Livestock Service, as appropriate, a management plan, which must be approved by these agencies. The management plans will be made by accredited operators. The natural or legal persons who are registered in the Registry of Operators will have this quality both the Agricultural Development Institute and the Agricultural and Livestock Service. The registration in one of these registers shall be sufficient to acquire the quality of the accredited operator. Natural or legal persons who comply with the following requirements may be registered with the Register of Operators and maintained with their existing registration: (a) a professional or technical degree in the agricultural or natural resources management field, awarded by a State institution or recognized by the State; b) To provide proof of sufficiency in the specialties to be credited; Maintain the validity of their accreditation every two years, through a test of proficiency and accreditation of participation in training, and d) Accept a system of performance evaluation based on the results of surveys that collect the opinion of the users, along with the background of rejected management plans, questioned and approved. In the case of legal persons, the requirements set out in points (a) and (b) shall be met by those who lead the respective technical programmes. If there are no operators interested in making them in any region or locality, the Agricultural Development Institute or the Agricultural and Livestock Service, as appropriate, shall contract regionally, via public tender, the services professionals needed to ensure the supply of this service. If the call does not exist or if there is no need for them not to meet the necessary technical conditions, the elaboration of the management plans will be carried out by authorized officials of the Institute of Agricultural and Agricultural Development Agricultural and Livestock Service, as appropriate, which must meet characteristics of technical suitability similar to those required of operators in this law or in the regulation. In the latter case, the official who prepares a management plan will be, for that fact, only disabled to participate in the evaluation process. Article 7 °.-The laboratories which carry out the necessary analyses to obtain the incentives must prove, in the form provided for in the regulation, that they have the necessary facilities, the methodologies and the professional staff suitable for making them. Once accredited, the laboratories will become part of a public register, in charge of the Agriculture Secretariat, for the purposes of its audit. In respect of the laboratories previously accredited by the National Institute of Standardisation, the accreditation shall be awarded on the merit of the certificate issued by the aforementioned body. Article 8 °.-They may apply to the incentives referred to in this law by those persons, both natural and legal, who own, use, and make use of the soils that they propose to intervene. For the purposes of this law, they will also have the quality of owners of the hereditary communities, in proportion to their hereditary quota; the members of agricultural communities regulated by the decree with force Law No 5, of the Ministry of Agriculture, of 1968, for the individual goces of the land they own in common and for the actual rights of use in common that correspond to them in accordance with this legal norm; the members of the communities Indigenous peoples governed by law No 19.253, by the individual goces of the land they possess in common and by the actual rights of use in common that correspond to them in accordance with this law; the indigenous communities and associations recognized by law N ° 19,253; the spouse who exploits the property of his or her spouse, and those persons who have obtained the registration of the resolution which granted them the regular possession of the property in the Conservative of the respective Real Estate, according to the procedure laid down in Decree Law No. 2,695, 1979. Article 9 °.-The incentives granted by this law will be compatible with those established in other legal or regulatory bodies on the promotion of agricultural and forestry activities. The regulation may provide for incompatibilities which involve a double benefit in respect of the same person concerned, in advance and in practice. Article 10.-The State allowance referred to in this Law shall apply as follows: (a) Small agricultural producers as defined in Article 13 of Law No 18.910 shall be entitled to a maximum allowance of 90% of the costs net of practices approved in the management plan. Up to 62% of the annual resources available for subsidies will be allocated to this group of producers. (b) Agricultural producers who are not defined by Article 13 of Law No 18,910 shall receive up to 38% of the available annual resources, of which up to 2% of the total available resources shall be allocated to those producers whose annual gross sale is higher than the 25,000 units of promotion. If, during a call for tenders, all the projects submitted by the producers of one of the categories referred to in (a) and (b) above require resources less than the maximum amount available for that tranche, the remaining resources may be reallocated to the other category. However, the Budget Law may, on an annual basis, amend the allocation rates referred to in points (a) and (b) of this Article. Article 11.-Those interested who have obtained incentives from the system may only apply again for the benefit for the same provision once they have fully complied with the previously approved management plan. Article 12.-Those considered to be harmed in the selection process for obtaining incentives shall be entitled to request the review of their situation before the Regional Director of the Agricultural Development Institute or before the Regional Director of the Agricultural and Livestock Service, as appropriate, in the form established by the Regulation. As long as such resources are not resolved, the list of selected will not be understood. Article 13.-Those who do not comply with the approved management plan, for reasons that do not constitute force majeure qualified by the respective Regional Director of the Agricultural Development Institute or by the Regional Director of the Agricultural Service and Livestock, as the case may be, are not the result of a disaster or agricultural emergency declared by the competent authority, they may not apply for the benefits of this legal body in the next two contests to be called after the failure. In cases where partial compliance with the management plan is justified, the incentive shall be paid in proportion to the execution. Article 14.-For the purpose of benefiting from the incentives provided for in this law, to provide false or adulterated antecedents or to carry out any other fraudulent act aimed at unduly obtaining some of such incentives, it shall be a penalty of up to 100% of the amount requested for the bonus. If the offender has received the incentive, a fine of up to 200% of the amount collected will be applied to him and will be disabled in order to apply again to the benefits of this law for the following three contests after the one in which the fraudulent act was found. Article 15.-The accredited operator who will make a management plan using maliciously false antecedents or who will produce a technical report without considering the results of the tests carried out by an accredited laboratory, and I will falsely certify facts that constitute budgets for the payment of the incentives that this legal body establishes, they will be punished with a fine of 50 to 200 monthly tax units. The accredited laboratory, which shall issue a certificate without having carried out the examination concerned or shall record in the data other than the results obtained in the analysis carried out, shall be punished with a fine of 200 tax units. monthly. The offenders referred to in the preceding cases, whether natural or legal persons, will be punished, in addition, with the perpetual disablement to participate in future competitions of the incentive system that regulates this law. If the infringer is a legal person, it shall also, in the manner indicated in this paragraph, be punished to those who have supplied the background or false information which served as the basis for issuing a management plan, technical report or false certificate, and to those who have consented or acted in concert on the issue of such documents. The fines set out in this law will be enforced by the relevant local police judge. Article 16.-Create a Register of the producers that access the benefits of this system, which will be integrated from the records that for purposes of this system will have to maintain the Institute of Agricultural Development and the Agricultural Service and Livestock. The Office of Agrarian Studies and Studies shall be responsible for the management of this Register, which shall be publicly accessible on the website of that entity. . The Ministry of Agriculture, through the Secretariat of Agriculture, shall evaluate the implementation of this law, study and propose the improvements that correspond, ensure that its provisions are completed, and monitor the different activities for the implementation of the system of incentives which it regulates, both with regard to the public bodies involved in its administration, and with regard to the users of the system, without prejudice to the powers of audit in respect of its own users correspond to the public bodies which administer the competitions of this system. For such purposes, it shall be responsible for the performance of the activities necessary for such purposes, such as the carrying out of studies assessing the activities carried out and the results of the programme's intervention, to raise information to verify the activities carried out and the amounts delivered, and to recommend corrective actions for the incentive system. The terms of reference for the evaluations must be agreed with the Budget Directorate of the Ministry of Finance. Copies of the aforementioned reports will be sent to the Finance Committees of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The first comprehensive assessment must be carried out no later than the first six years, and the second at the end of the instrument. However, evaluations may be carried out in less time. These studies will be published on the website of the services mentioned in this law. Article 17.-The costs arising from the application of the incentives referred to in this law shall be charged to the resources which, for these purposes, are recorded annually in the budgets of the Institute for Agricultural and Agricultural Development Agricultural and Livestock, respectively. Article 18.-The regulation referred to in this law, and its amendments, must be dictated by the Ministry of Agriculture and also signed by the Minister of Finance. Article 1.-The management plans that, according to the rules of the decree with force of law Nº 235, of the Ministry of Agriculture, of 1999, will be found approved to November 15, 2009, will be able to be executed and paid after that date by the Agricultural and Livestock Service or by the Agricultural Development Institute, as appropriate, with the resources contemplated for these purposes in the Budget Law for the year 2009. Article 2.-By decree of the Ministry of Agriculture, which shall be issued within one hundred and eighty days after the date of publication of this law in the Official Journal, the classification of agricultural soils shall be made official. all over the country. Within the period between the publication of this law in the Official Journal and the ruling of the supreme decree referred to in the preceding paragraph, it shall be used as a reference for the purposes of the allocation of incentives. of agricultural soils contained in Resolution Exenta No. 57 of the Internal Revenue Service, 2004. Article 3.-In the preparation of the regulation referred to in this law, and at least 30 days before its adoption, the Ministry of Agriculture shall request the opinion of each of the Regional Technical Committees in force, According to the decree with force of Law No. 235, of the Ministry of Agriculture, 1999. " Having complied with the provisions of Article 93 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of the Republic, and because I have had to approve and sanction it; therefore, promulgate and take effect as the Law of the Republic. Santiago, 5 January 2010.-MICHELLE BACHELET, President of the Republic.-Marigen Hornkohl Venegas, Minister of Agriculture.-Andres Velasco Branes, Minister of Finance. What I transcribe to you for your knowledge.-Salutes intently to Ud., Ivan Nazif Astorga, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. Constitutional Court Draft law establishing a system of incentives for agroenvironmental sustainability of agricultural soils (Bulletin No. 6580-01) The Substitute Secretary of the Constitutional Court, who subscribes, certifies that the Senate of the Republic sent the bill enunciated in the rubric, approved by the National Congress, in order for this Court to exercise the control of constitutionality with respect to the norms that regulate matters of constitutional organic law that that contains, and that by judgment of December 10, 2009 in the cars role No. 1.561-09-CPR, It is declared: That the fourth paragraph of article 15 of the draft law submitted for preventive control is constitutional. Santiago, December 15, 2009.-Marta de la Fuente Olguin, Substitute Secretary.