The Law Today

National Forestry Corporation indicates in its Ord. No. 87/2022 requirements for favorable reports and certificates for the evaluation of management plans for civil works and work plans associated with the subdivision of rural land.

14 Mar 2022

Introduction

On February 9, 2022, the Executive Director of the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) Rodrigo Munita, issued Ord. No. 87/2022, in which he made a regulatory analysis regarding the concern of such institution regarding the development of real estate projects of subdivisions or subdivisions that intervene both native forests and xerophytic formations through the presentation of Work Plans for the cutting, destruction or clearing of xerophytic formations (PTFX) and the Management Plan for the cutting of native forest to carry out Civil Works (PMOOCC).

In consideration of the above, and with regulatory support in Articles 3° and 5° of the Constitutional Organic Law of General Bases of the State Administration; in addition to Articles 5, 31 and 37 of Law No. 19,880 on the Bases of the Administrative Procedures that Govern the Acts of the Organs of the State Administration, as they discuss the Principle of Coordination, CONAF informed that it will require the following background information for the entry and evaluation of PMOOCC and PTFX:

I. The objective established in the PTFX and PMOOCC must be clear and explicit with respect to the project or activity with which it is associated, in order to rule out the possibility that it corresponds to a subdivision or urbanization on land outside the urban limits, for purposes other than agriculture.

II. In the case of constructions necessary for the agricultural exploitation of the property, or to develop housing for the owner or his workers, the CONAF will process:

– PTFX, in accordance with Article 60 of Law No. 20,283;
– PMOOCC of native forest, in accordance with Article 21 of Law No. 20,283 under the cause “Cutting of native forest in connection with the change of use of rural land established in the General Law of Urbanism and Construction (LGUC), under the exceptionality of paragraph 1 of Article 55° of the aforementioned Law.

III. In the case of subdivision of rural or agricultural land for urbanization or development of real estate projects outside urban boundaries, prior authorization must be accredited in accordance with Article 55 of the LGUC, i.e., change of land use. As a consequence, CONAF will request:

– Certificate from the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG);
– Favorable Report from the Regional Ministerial Secretariat of Housing and Urbanism (SEREMI de Vivienda y Urbanismo);
– Favorable Report of the Regional Ministerial Secretariat of Agriculture; and
– Authorization from the respective Directorate of Municipal Works (when construction is contemplated).

If the above-mentioned background information is not submitted, the respective project may still be submitted for evaluation. However, in those cases in which it is confirmed through the information provided by the Agriculture and Livestock Service (through the CONAF-SAG Agreement), or other means of public access (web page, publications, press media, etc.), that the project corresponds to an urbanization or real estate project, CONAF’s Evaluation Office will carry out the following actions (emphasis added):

To send official letters to certain agencies to obtain the aforementioned background information (SAG, seremis, municipalities), based on the Coordination Principle.

The evaluation procedure will be suspended as a provisional measure, until a response is obtained from the offices mentioned in number ‘I’ above.

The resolution that decrees the suspension of the evaluation will have to be duly informed to the interested party by official means of CONAF. The suspension shall be lifted only once the respective reports have been received, and a new resolution shall be issued ordering the lifting of the suspension. On the other hand, if the complete background information is not provided, the respective application will be rejected.

Finally, CONAF indicated that in the event that violations of Article 55 of the LGUC and Decree Law No. 3.516 are detected, the respective Regional Directorate of CONAF must inform the SEREMI of Housing and Urban Development, SAG and the respective Municipality, so that they can exercise their supervisory powers.

Contact

If you require additional information on this matter, please contact Julio Trucco (jtrucco@jdf.cl) or Sven Herlin (sherlin@jdf.cl).

JDF