On November 3, 2023, the Council of Ministers for Sustainability unanimously approved the decree that sets the collection and recovery targets for used lubricating oils (ALU), one of the six priority products established in Law No. 20,920, which establishes a framework for waste management, extended producer responsibility and the promotion of recycling, known as the REP Law. The Supreme Decree must be submitted to the President of the Republic and submitted to the Comptroller General of the Republic for approval.

The main novelties are:

A. Purpose: To establish collection and recovery goals and other obligations associated with the priority product lubricating oils introduced in the national market, in order to prevent the generation of waste and promote their recovery.

B. Categories of lubricating oils: (i) Non-recoverable and (ii) Recoverable. Regarding these categories, the decree determines that the extended producer responsibility will not apply to lubricating oils corresponding to the non-recoverable category.

C. Exception: Producers who introduce into the national market a quantity equal to or less than 66 liters of lubricating oils per year shall not be subject to extended producer responsibility.

D. Obligations of producers: (i) register in the PRTR and deliver the information requested; (ii) organize and finance the collection of ALU throughout the national territory, as well as its storage, transportation and treatment; (iii) comply with the collection and valorization goals of ALU; (iv) comply with the associated obligations that correspond to them; (v) ensure that the management of ALU is carried out by authorized and registered managers; and, (vi) ensure that the sensitive commercial information that is shared on the occasion of compliance with the Law cannot be known by other producers.

E. Management systems:

1. Individual management systems shall meet their collection and recovery targets only with the waste into which the lubricating oils placed on the market by the producers that make up such management systems are converted. This does not apply to collective management systems, which may meet their collection and valorization goals with any ALU.

2. They must be authorized by the Ministry by means of a substantiated resolution, upon presentation of a management plan.

3. As obligations of the management systems it is established that they must: (i) enter into the necessary agreements with authorized and registered managers, which could include municipalities or municipal associations with legal personality; (ii) submit to the Ministry the progress and final reports on compliance with the goals and other associated obligations; and, (iii) provide the Ministry or the Superintendency with any additional information that may be required.

It also establishes additional obligations for each management system. In the case of individual systems, they must demonstrate that the ALU coming from lubricating oils introduced into the national market are not mixed with ALU from other producers. The collective management systems, in addition to the above obligations, must (i) carry out open bids to contract with managers for waste management services; (ii) constitute and maintain in force a bond, insurance or other guarantee to ensure compliance with the goals and associated obligations; and, (iii) ensure that the sensitive commercial information that is shared in compliance with the law cannot be known by other producers, managers, industrial consumers or others.

4. The producers that integrate a collective management system shall finance such system in proportion to the amount of lubricating oils introduced into the national market by each producer.

F. ALU collection and recovery goals:

G. Depending on the ALU they generate, industrial consumers must choose between the following options: (i) deliver them to a management system; (ii) recover them themselves or through authorized and registered managers.

H. Some of the associated obligations:

1. The management systems must provide information on the costs of waste management to distributors, marketers, managers, consumers and/or other stakeholders, as well as specify the operations to which the ALU will be subjected.

2. Producers that introduce lubricating oils into the country must inform the National Customs Service whether or not they have an authorized management system or if they are not subject to extended producer responsibility.

3. The marketers of recoverable lubricating oils shall receive from the consumers, free of charge, the ALU delivered to them. In turn, they shall deliver them free of charge to the collection service provided by a management system authorized by the Ministry.

4. Obligation to label recoverable lubricating oils marketed within the national territory, within 3 years from the publication of the decree.

I. Obligations of consumers: All consumers shall be obliged to deliver the ALU to a management system, without prejudice to the alternatives indicated above for industrial consumers.

J. Supervision and sanction: The Superintendency shall be responsible for the supervision of compliance with the established obligations.

K. Entry into force: publication of the decree in the Official Gazette, with the exception of Title III on ALU Collection and Recovery Goals and Title IV on Associated Obligations, which will enter into force within 24 months from the publication of the decree. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is established that until the above titles enter into force, all producers of lubricating oils must submit annually through the PRTR, the information indicated in the second transitory article of the Law, regarding actions carried out during the previous year.

Should you require additional information on this matter, please contact Javier Naranjo (jnaranjo@jdf.cl), Martín Esser (messer@jdf.cl) or María Paz Valenzuela (mpvalenzuela@jdf.cl).