Inputs clear almost duty-free, but fuels carry a specific tax reset every week, precursors need prior registration and hazardous chemicals follow the GHS rules of Decree 57. Here is what applies, with the March 2026 MEPCO figures.
For industrial inputs Chile is close to a free port: the duty is 6%, or zero under a trade agreement, and 19% VAT is recoverable. There is no import licence for most chemicals, plastics, metals or fertilisers. What matters is who may handle the product: controlled chemical precursors require prior registration with the government; hazardous substances must be classified, labelled and notified under the GHS-based Decree 57; and fuels pay a specific tax adjusted every week through the price stabilisation mechanism MEPCO, with quality certification required by the fuel regulator, the SEC.
This guide covers those layers. For the general tax stack, the broker rule and how a foreign supplier reaches Chilean buyers, see our Chile customs guide.
Chemicals (HS chapters 28–38), plastics and resins (39), fertilisers (31), iron, steel and other metals (72–81) and petroleum products (27) all pay the uniform 6% on CIF, reduced to 0% for origins with a trade agreement. Since China, the US, the EU, Korea, Japan and Mercosur all have agreements with Chile, most industrial inputs enter duty-free.
Anti-dumping
Rare, and concentrated on steel. In 2024 Chile imposed provisional surcharges on Chinese steel bars for grinding balls (24.9%) and grinding balls (33.5%); the bars case was closed in August 2024 without definitive measures after Huachipato suspended steelmaking. Check the Comisión Antidistorsiones for measures currently in force on your line.
Used goods
3% surcharge where used goods may be imported; relevant for second-hand machinery, not inputs.
Drawback
Inputs incorporated in exported goods can recover duty under the general drawback regime.
Law and practice: Law 18.525; Comisión Antidistorsiones decisions of March and August 2024.
Fuels pay a specific tax under Law 18.502 on their first sale or import, expressed in monthly tax units (UTM) per cubic metre. It has a fixed base component — 6 UTM/m³ for gasoline, 1.5 UTM/m³ for diesel and 1.4 UTM/m³ for vehicle LPG — and a variable component under MEPCO (Law 20.765), which the Finance Ministry sets by decree each week on the basis of reports from the National Energy Commission (CNE). When international prices rise, the variable component falls, and it can even turn the total tax negative.
| Fuel (UTM per m³) | Base component | Variable component (MEPCO) | Tax for the week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline 93 octane | 6.0000 | −1.6754 | 4.3246 |
| Gasoline 97 octane | 6.0000 | −1.7020 | 4.2980 |
| Diesel | 1.5000 | −3.3940 | −1.8940 |
| Vehicle LPG | 1.4000 | +0.0004 | 1.4004 |
The table shows the values for the week from 12 March 2026: diesel effectively carried a negative tax that week. The point for an importer is that the tax is not a stable number — it is published weekly in the Diario Oficial and applies from the following Thursday. Budget on the week of arrival, not the week of purchase.
Industrial users
VAT-registered companies that use diesel outside vehicles on public roads — mining, industry, construction, power — can recover the diesel tax as a VAT credit under Article 7 of Law 18.502.
Freight transport
Owners of heavy trucks recover part of the diesel tax under Law 19.764.
Law and practice: Law 18.502; Law 20.765 (MEPCO) and Law 20.794; Decree 1119 of 2014; Exempt Decree 98 of the Ministry of Finance (Diario Oficial, 11 March 2026).
| CIF US$100,000 | Resin or chemical, non-agreement origin | Same, agreement origin (e.g. ACE 35) |
|---|---|---|
| Duty | 6,000 | 0 |
| VAT 19% | 20,140 | 19,000 |
| Total at clearance | 26,140 | 19,000 |
| Pure cost for a VAT-registered importer | 6,000 | 0 |
For non-fuel inputs the pure cost is at most the 6% duty, and usually nothing. For fuels the specific tax dominates and changes every week, so a fixed worked example would be misleading: ask the broker to model the week of arrival, and check whether the end user can recover the diesel tax.
Chile’s fuel market is open to private importers. The state company ENAP refines and imports, and the large distributors import directly, mostly diesel and gasoline by sea. Two regulators matter:
SEC quality certification
Under Customs Resolution 158 of 2007, imports of fuel oil, diesel, kerosene, motor gasoline and aviation gasoline (HS 2710.1121–2710.1959) must be backed by a quality certification from a laboratory or certification body. At import a simple declaration signed by the importer and the laboratory is enough; the certificate must reach customs through the broker within 40 business days.
SEC installations
Storage, transport and dispensing of liquid fuels must meet the SEC’s safety regulation (DS 160 of 2008); distributors report their installations and the SEC samples fuel quality at stations through accredited laboratories.
CNE
Sets the parity prices used by MEPCO and monitors the market; it does not license importers.
Lubricants
Lubricating oils are a priority product under the extended producer responsibility law. The goals decree (DS 47) was annulled by the Second Environmental Tribunal in 2026 and a new one is pending; importers should still expect collection obligations.
Law and practice: Customs Exempt Resolution 158/2007 (Compendium of Customs Rules, Chapter III); SEC Exempt Resolution 11.898/2022; Second Environmental Tribunal ruling on DS 47 (2026).
Three sets of rules apply to chemicals, independent of the tariff:
Controlled precursors
Under Law 20.000 (narcotics law) and its regulation, Decree 1358 of 2006, anyone who produces, imports, exports, stores or sells listed precursors and essential chemicals — acids, solvents and others used in drug manufacture — must be enrolled in the Registro Especial de Usuarios de Sustancias Químicas Controladas before operating. The application, with corporate documents, municipal licence and criminal-record certificates of representatives, is decided within 60 business days; customs and the registry work together on import controls.
GHS classification and labels
Decree 57 of 2019 (Ministry of Health, published February 2021) introduced the Globally Harmonized System: hazardous substances and mixtures need GHS labels with pictograms, signal word, hazard and precautionary statements and the name, address and phone of the Chilean supplier, plus a safety data sheet. Obligations enter into force in phases of one to six years from publication, the last of them in 2027.
Notification
Manufacturers and importers of hazardous substances of one tonne or more a year, including substances in mixtures, must notify them to the Ministry of the Environment every two years. The 2027 round (by 30 August 2027) covers industrial-use substances imported in 2025 and 2026, and is the first for substances in mixtures.
Storage
Warehouses holding hazardous substances must meet the health regulation on storage (DS 43 of 2015), enforced by the SEREMI de Salud.
Law and practice: Law 20.000, Article 55; Decree 1358/2006; DS 57/2019 of the Ministry of Health; DS 43/2015.
Fertilisers and soil amendments of mineral origin generally enter with the normal customs procedure; products of animal or plant origin (organic fertilisers, bone meal, compost) and anything that could carry pests need SAG import conditions. Plastics and resins carry no special permit but are the backbone of packaging subject to the extended producer responsibility law at the stage of the finished product. Metals clear freely except where trade remedies apply.
A chemical that is also a hazardous good for transport needs the usual dangerous-goods documentation for the ship or truck, and a Chilean consignee with suitable storage — the SEREMI can refuse storage that does not comply.
Paraguay sells Chile beef first, but also agricultural raw materials such as soybean meal; it does not export refined fuels to Chile. Under ACE 35, Paraguayan-origin inputs enter at 0% with a certificate of origin. For processed goods made in Paraguay with imported components — plastics converted under the maquila regime, for instance — check that the product meets the ACE 35 rule of origin; Paraguay has not yet ratified the new origin protocol, so the old rules apply.
Road route
Trucks cross Argentina to the Andean passes; Antofagasta also has a Paraguayan free warehouse.
Precursors in transit
Controlled chemicals in transit through Chile still meet the registry and customs controls.
Documents
Certificate of origin, SDS in Spanish and GHS labels for hazardous products.
HS line, any anti-dumping measure, and whether the product is a precursor.
Precursor registry before the first import; Chilean supplier details on GHS labels.
Laboratory contract and simple declaration for each fuel import.
Week-of-arrival specific tax and whether the buyer can recover it.
SEC-compliant fuel installations; DS 43-compliant chemical warehouse.
ACE 35 or other agreement certificate for 0% duty.
Diario Oficial — Exempt Decree 98/2026 (MEPCO) · Nubox — specific tax on fuels · Chilean Customs — Resolution 158/2007 · Diario Oficial — SEC Resolution 11.898/2022 · Decree 1358 — precursor registry · Carey — DS 57 classification and labelling · ChileAtiende — notification of hazardous substances · La Tercera — steel anti-dumping case closed · Diario Constitucional — lubricants decree annulled
6% on CIF, or 0% under a trade agreement with proof of origin. Steel is the main sector with occasional anti-dumping measures.
A specific tax per cubic metre in UTM under Law 18.502, with a fixed base (6 UTM gasoline, 1.5 UTM diesel) and a variable MEPCO component set weekly by decree.
Chile’s fuel price stabilisation mechanism (Law 20.765): the variable component of the specific tax moves weekly to cushion international price swings, and can make the total tax negative.
VAT-registered users who burn diesel outside vehicles on public roads can recover it as a VAT credit; heavy-truck owners recover part under Law 19.764.
Imports of diesel, gasoline, kerosene and fuel oil must be backed by a quality certification from a laboratory, under a 2007 customs resolution requested by the SEC.
Listed precursors and essential chemicals under Law 20.000: importers must be enrolled in the special registry of controlled chemical substances before operating.
The Ministry of Health regulation applying the GHS: classification, labelling and safety data sheets for hazardous substances and mixtures, and notification by importers of one tonne or more a year.
A flat 6%, mostly zero; broker rule and online sales.
Tariffs, VAT and border charges compared.
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