The Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Chile is intended to promote investment and ensure that the necessary infrastructure, systems and procedures exist for enhancing trade and investment between the two countries.
Investments
U.S. investors in Chile can count on a secure and predictable legal framework. Unless specifically stated otherwise, U.S. investors can establish, acquire, and operate investments in Chile, on an equal basis with Chilean investors. The types of investments protected under the agreement include enterprises, contracts, debt concessions, and intellectual property. The agreement provides U.S. investors in Chile the same substantive protections that Chilean investors have in the U.S. These include due process protections and the right to receive fair market value for their property in the event of an expropriation.
Dispute Settlement
Investors’ rights are backed by an effective and impartial system for settling disputes, with open and transparent procedures including dispute panel hearings that are open to the public, and where interested parties have the opportunity to express their views.
Intellectual Property Rights
Intellectual property protection, such as on patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, exceeds the normal standards in the region and is considered to be state-of-the-art. The agreement calls for non-discriminatory protection on U.S. intellectual material transmitted over the Internet. Trademarks and Internet domain names are protected to avoid “cyber-squatting”, ensuring government involvement to settle disputes. The agreement applies the principle of “first-in-time, first-in right” to trademarks and geographical place-names.
Protection of copyrighted material ensures that only authors, composers, or other copyright owners have the right to make their work available online. Copyright owners maintain all rights, including rights to temporary copies of their work on computers, to prevent unauthorized sharing over the Internet. Copyright protection is for extended terms, in accordance with U.S. and international standards and trends.
As part of the protection on patents and trade secrets, the agreement provides that test data and trade secrets that are submitted to a government product-approving agency will not be disclosed for a period of five years for pharmaceuticals and ten years for agricultural chemicals. Also, these agencies will not grant approval to products that infringe on patents.
For purposes of enforcing the intellectual property rights, the agreement calls for tough penalties for piracy and counterfeiting, with criminal penalties for end users and the government’s right to seize, forfeit, and destroy pirated or counterfeit goods and the equipment used to produce them.