EU-Chile Interim Trade Agreement
The Agreement at a glance
The EU-Chile Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) entered into force on 1 February 2025. The ITA was signed on 13 December 2023. It can now enter into force after the completion of Chile’s ratification process. The Agreement will strengthen the EU-Chile excellent bilateral relations and foster trade and investment opportunities.
The EU and Chile negotiated between 2017 and 2022 to modernise the EU-Chile Association Agreement (in force since 2003), so as to be able to better address all relevant areas of the relationship between the EU and Chile, in the face of a changing geopolitical and economic global environment.
The Parties reached the political conclusion of the negotiations on 9 December 2022 and signed the modernised Agreement on 13 December 2023.
The modernised EU-Chile Agreement is composed of two parallel legal instruments:
- the Advanced Framework Agreement (AFA), that includes a) the Political and Cooperation pillar, and b) the Trade and Investment pillar (inclusive of investment protection provisions), subject to ratification by all Member States, and;
- the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) covering only those parts of the trade and investment pillar of the AFA that are of EU exclusive competence (i.e. not including the investment protection provisions), adopted through the EU-only ratification process.
The ITA entered into force on 1 February 2025. The AFA will enter into force when all EU Member States have completed their respective ratification processes. The ITA will then cease to exist and will be replaced by the AFA.
More Information
For further details on the EU-Chile Interim Trade Agreement, please refer to the Summary of the Trade and Investment Pillar
To explore the comprehensive text of the Agreement, please navigate the page EU-Chile: Text of the agreement.
Highlights of the EU-Chile Trade and Investment Relations
- The EU is Chile’s 2nd biggest market for goods exports.
- Chile is the 3rd biggest EU trading partner in Latin America.
- Trade in goods between the EU and Chile grew by more than 160% under the 2002 EU-Chile Agreement.
EU exports to Chile
Goods €10.7bn in 2023
- Plastics, rubber (4,5%)
- Base metals (5,3%)
- Prepared foodstuff (7,6%)
- Chemicals (14,8%)
- Transport equipment (20%)
- Machinery (28%)
- Transport equipment (20%)
- Other (20%)
Services €6 bn in 2023
- Other business services (28%)
- Information technology, telecommunications (15%)
- Intellectual property charges (10,5%)
- Financial Services (6,5%)
- Other (13%)
- Transport (29%)
Key Agri-food exports in 2023
- Beverages, spirits & vinegar about €200 million
- Preparations of vegetables, fruits & nuts about €130 million
- Miscellaneous edible preparations about €116 million
- Meat about €118 million
Investment (2022)
- EU investment in Chile €64.9 billion (EU N.1 source of Foreign Direct Investment into Chile).
- Chilean investment in EU €5.5 billion.
Companies involved in the bilateral trade
- 27000 EU exporters to Chile (80% SMEs)
- 6000 Chilean exporters to the EU (76% SMEs)
Lithium: key for the green transition
Chile is the EU’s top lithium supplier.
Main EU lithium suppliers (2019-2022)
- Chile 62.9%
- USA 3.05%
- United Kingdom 3.89%
- China 2.62%
- Argentina 7.44%
- Russia 9.72%
- Switzerland 9.72%
Key Elements of the Agreement
More exports, easier investment and sustainable flow of critical raw materials
The ITA will deepen the EU-Chile bilateral trade and investment relations and provide new opportunities for businesses by:
- Eliminating tariffs on 99,9% of EU exports and providing a level playing field for EU goods on the Chilean market, expected to increase by 4,5 billion euros over time.
- Simplifying and making more flexible of the rules of origin compared to the old agreement, reflecting the industry's integration into the global value chain and easing compliance for exporters.
- Ensuring more effective and sustainable flow of raw materials and derived products, as well as clean fuel such as lithium, copper, and hydrogen, crucial for the transition to the green economy.
- Making it easier for EU companies to provide their services in Chile, including in delivery, telecommunications, maritime transport and financial services.
- Ensuring EU investors in Chile are treated the same way as Chilean investors, and vice versa.
- Improving access for EU companies investing and bidding for government procurement contracts in Chile, Latin America’s fifth largest economy.
- Ensuring that both EU and Chilean small businesses fully benefit from the opportunities offered by the Agreement.
A strong commitment to sustainability
The agreement will contribute to achieving the EU’s and Chile’s shared ambition to make their bilateral trade and investment sustainable, through:
- An ambitious Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD), chapter confirming the Parties’ commitment to International Labour Organization (ILO) standards and to the Paris agreement on climate change.
- An Energy and Raw Materials chapter that will foster investment and provide the EU with steady, reliable and sustainable access to critical raw materials, while at the same time giving Chile all the policy space it may need to pursue its industrial policy objectives. By doing this, the ITA will help deliver on the objectives of the Green Deal.
- A dedicated Trade and Gender chapter, a first in an EU trade agreement, which includes commitments to eliminate all discrimination against women.
- A chapter on Sustainable Food Systems, also a first in an EU trade agreement, with the objective of making food supply chains more sustainable and resilient.
Protecting intellectual property
The agreement also gives legal certainty to EU business by:
- Safeguarding intellectual property rights, including through strong provisions on copyright.
- Protecting a total of 234 typical European and Chilean food and drinks products (geographical indications), with the possibility to add others in the future.
Origin Regulation
In order to qualify for preferential treatment, your product will need to satisfy the rules of origin under the agreement.
The rules of origin of the EU-Chile Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) have been modernised : the product specific rules have been simplified and made more flexible in accordance with the latest standards taking into account the use of global value chains and the administrative burden of origin procedures have been reduced by moving to self-certification.
Please check the interactive “Rules of Origin Self Assessment tool (ROSA)” in My Trade Assistant to assess whether your product fulfills the rules of origin and find out how to prepare the correct documents.
General information about the new rules and the procedural aspects to claim preference can be found below :
Regulations concerning the rules of origin are and origine procedures outlined in Chapter 3, Sections A to C of the agreement, including the introductory notes in Annex 3-A, the product-specific rules of origin in Annex 3-B, the statement in Annex 3-C and the explanatory notes in annex 3-E.
Rules of Origin
- General Tolerance: 10% of the ex-works price, except for products falling under HS Chapters 50 to 63, which are subject to the specific provisions of Annex 3-A and specific subheadings of ch 16.
- Cumulation: Bilateral cumulation is allowed between the EU and Chile.
- Threshold for Sets: 15% of the ex-works price for non-originating components.
- Principle of Territoriality: Compliance is mandatory.
- Prohibition of Drawback: Not applicable.
- Accounting Segregation: Applicable for fungible materials.
- Transport conditions: Some operations such as preserving products in good conditions, storage, splitting of consignments can be conducted in a third country if the products are kept under customs supervision.
Proofs of Origin
- The ITA introduces a simpler approach to establishing preferential origin : As from the 1 February 2025, the exporters self-declare the origin by making out a statement on origin. When the total value of originating products in a consignment exceeds € 6 000, the EU exporters should be registered in the Registered Exporter System (REX)
- The claims for preferential origin should be based on a statement on origin or importer’s knowledge, as appropriate.
- As from 1 February 2025, the EUR.1 movement certificates and the invoice declarations issued in accordance with the (old) EU-Chile Association Agreement will no longer be accepted as proof of preferential origin in the European Union or Chile.
- Text of Statement: References Annex 3-C (OJ L, 2024/2953, 20.12.2024). Statements on origin are permissible for multiple shipments within a 12-month period.
- Validity: Statements on origin are valid for 12 months.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
The SME Chapter:
- Requires both the EU and Chile to provide SME-relevant information on how to access and do business on each other’s markets. Such information is to be provided on one publicly-accessible digital platform, such as an SME-specifc website; and
- Requires the appointment of SME contact points on each side, who will cooperate in identifying ways for SMEs to benefit from the opportunities offered by the agreement.
This will ensure that SME Contact Points on each side, who will carry out government-to-government work to ensure that SMEs’ needs are taken into account so that they benefit from the opportunities created by the ITA.
Useful links and contacts
DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TO CHILE
delegation-chile@eeas.europa.eu
Tel: +56 224286800
Av. Apoquindo 2929, piso 15, Las Condes, 7550246 Santiago
Opening hours: From Monday to Thursday 08:30 - 17:30
Friday 08:30 - 14:00