Chile’s Ministry of Finance presented 45 executive amendments to the bill creating an Economic Intelligence Subsystem, with a central change reinstating the Financial Analysis Unit’s exceptional power to lift bank secrecy through an administrative process in limited circumstances to complete analysis of suspicious transaction reports. The proposed administrative access would be available for three types of suspicious transaction reports: those filed by a bank, those concerning a public official, and those concerning a legal entity. For bank secrecy access requiring judicial authorisation, the amendments would allow the Financial Analysis Unit to file requests covering multiple persons involved in the same suspicious operation, reflecting recommendations from the Supreme Court. The package adds controls and transparency around the exceptional administrative power, including an internal audit review each time it is used, deletion of information obtained if the legal conditions were not met, an annual confidential report to the Chamber of Deputies’ Finance Committee, and an annual public disclosure of usage statistics and outcomes. The amendments also adjust information-sharing and data protection within the subsystem and towards the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Intelligence Agency, including removing the Financial Analysis Unit’s ability to share with other subsystem members the financial intelligence reports it sends and other inter-agency communications, given their secret nature. Further changes cover tax administration powers to limit authorisation of tax documents where there is evidence of fraudulent use, restoring the Financial Market Commission investigation prosecutor’s ability to access bank information without judicial authorisation, and amendments to the casino law on the definition and import of gambling machines and the application of smuggling offences. The bill is in its second legislative stage and is being considered under an immediate-urgency procedure.

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