Law 21.020 on companion animal ownership
Law & Regulation
In Effect
August 2, 2017
Summary
On 2 August 2017, Law 21.020 — Sobre Tenencia Responsable de Mascotas y Animales de Compañía (commonly known as “Ley Cholito”) — was published in Chile’s Diario Oficial, having been promulgated on 19 July 2017 by President Michelle Bachelet Jeria. The law establishes a comprehensive national regulatory framework for the ownership, breeding, sale, holding, and management of companion animals (mascotas o animales de compañía), defined as domestic animals of any species kept for companionship or security. The law originated as a Senate motion by Senator Guido Girardi Lavín and four former senators (Boletín 6499-11) and went through approximately seven years of legislative process including a Comisión Mixta to resolve Senate-Chamber disagreements.
Key provisions include: a definition of “responsible ownership” (tenencia responsable) as a set of obligations including identification, registration, food, shelter, buen trato, indispensable veterinary care, and non-subjection to suffering throughout the animal’s life; mandatory identification of dogs and cats through permanent devices (microchips meeting ISO 11784, 15-digit codes) linked to a national registry; six national registers administered by the Ministry of Interior and Public Security covering pets, potentially dangerous dogs, protection organisations, breeders and sellers; a prohibition on abandonment defined as maltrato y crueldad animal linked to criminal sanctions under Penal Code Article 291 bis; a prohibition on municipalities, public services, and registered protection organisations from using killing as a population-control method, requiring sterilisation and registration-based alternatives instead; a pre-transfer sterilisation obligation for breeders and sellers of dogs and cats before transfer at any title, with an exception for registered breeders selling to other registered breeders; prohibition of training companion animals to increase or reinforce aggression (with exceptions for Armed Forces, police, and Gendarmería dogs); prohibition on animal fights organised as spectacles; prohibition on street (ambulant) sale of all animals; and prohibition on transfer of protected or endangered species.
The law amends the Penal Code to introduce permanent disqualification from animal ownership as a penalty, increases penalties where maltreatment causes serious injury or death, and defines maltrato o crueldad as any unjustified action or omission causing damage, pain, or suffering. It requires municipalities to adopt ordinances on responsible ownership aligned with the law, and empowers them to rescue unidentified animals from public spaces for sterilisation and rehoming. The Ministry of Interior and Public Security must issue implementing regulations within 180 days. The national digital registry platform (Registra Tu Mascota) became available from 9 March 2018.
Background Context
Before Law 21.020, companion animals were governed primarily through Law 20.380 on animal protection (2009) and various sectoral and municipal laws, which were insufficient to address abandonment, stray-dog populations, or the lack of mandatory identification and registration systems. Legislative debate in May 2017 referenced high rates of animal abandonment, thousands of annual dog bite incidents (including 1,100 in Punta Arenas in the prior year), and the practice of municipal mass killing of dogs as population control. Civil society organisations including Proanimal Chile (grouping more than 60 animal-protection organisations) had campaigned for stronger companion-animal legislation. The law is designated as supplementary (supletoria) to sectoral statutes including Laws 18.892 (fisheries), 18.755 (SAG), 19.473 (hunting), and 19.162 (livestock), meaning it does not apply to animals regulated by those instruments. SAG Decrees 28, 29, and 30 (2013), implemented under Law 20.380, govern industrial production, transport, and slaughter of production animals — documented in a separate Development record. Law 21.020 extends the companion-animal regulatory framework beyond Law 20.380 with specific mechanisms for identification, registration, and sector-specific obligations.
System Impact
Direction
Neutral / Administrative
Type
Modifies Conditions
Significance
Moderate
Law 21.020 published in the Diario Oficial on 2 August 2017, with transitional deadlines requiring regulations within 180 days, national registers available within 90 days of regulations, registration obligations within 180 days of registry availability, and municipal ordinances within seven months. The national digital registry platform (Registra Tu Mascota) was made available from 9 March 2018, with SUBDERE as registry administrator and municipalities responsible for local validation. ChileAtiende and SUBDERE’s registry portal confirm the registration system as active and free of charge through at least early 2026, with dogs and cats required to have ISO 11784-compliant microchips and veterinary certificates. The Ministerio Público, Carabineros, and Policía de Investigaciones are designated as complaint recipients for animal maltreatment. Registered non-profit protection organisations have standing to file criminal complaints in maltreatment cases. Municipalities are required to adopt compliant ordinances and may contract with SUBDERE-funded third parties for sterilisation and rehoming programs. The veterinary sector documented the 12 February 2019 deadline for microchip registration after which fines of 1–30 UTM would apply. Legislative debate in 2026 references proposals to increase penalties and modify identification requirements, indicating ongoing policy attention to the law’s implementation.
Anticipated Effects
If the prohibition on killing as population-control method is consistently enforced and sterilisation programs are adequately funded, municipal stray-animal management would shift from lethal methods to sterilisation, registration, and rehoming pathways.
If the pre-transfer sterilisation obligation for breeders and sellers is consistently applied, the number of intact companion animals placed with typical pet-keepers (outside registered breeding operations) would be reduced, tending to lower uncontrolled reproduction among the companion-animal population.
If mandatory microchipping and registration are fully implemented and enforced, traceability of owned dogs and cats would increase, enabling more direct attribution of civil liability for animal-caused damages and supporting enforcement of abandonment prohibitions.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Neutral / Administrative (impact direction) because the law restructures legal obligations and administrative frameworks for companion-animal keeping without mandating changes in the scale of companion-animal keeping itself. The system of dog and cat keeping continues; the law conditions how it operates, through identification, registration, sterilisation, care, and sale requirements.
Assigned Modifies Conditions (impact type) because the primary mechanism is specifying how companion animals must be kept, identified, registered, sold, and managed — including mandatory microchipping, pre-transfer sterilisation obligations, care standards for holding centres and breeding establishments, and prohibitions on specific practices (abandonment, aggression training, street sale). The prohibition on killing as population control and the prohibition on street sale also alter the legal basis for those specific activities, but Modifies Conditions captures the dominant character of the instrument.
Assigned Moderate significance because the law applies nationwide across Chile’s entire companion-animal sector, covering all domestic species kept for companionship with specific focus on dogs and cats, and regulating breeders, sellers, shelters, veterinary clinics, training centres, and research establishments. The law is comprehensive within its domain but limited to one country’s companion-animal system.
Impact direction is Neutral / Administrative; the trajectory sentence is not applicable.
Within The System
Key Actors
Senator Guido Girardi Lavín authored the bill; President Michelle Bachelet Jeria promulgated the law. The Ministry of Interior and Public Security administers the national registry systems and is responsible for central regulations. The Ministry of Health co-signs regulations and oversees sanitary conditions for holding centres and sale establishments. SUBDERE funds and administers municipal sterilisation and rehoming programs. Municipalities adopt ordinances and administer local registration. Kennel Club de Chile and breeder organisations opposed early-sterilisation provisions in legislative deliberations; Proanimal Chile and allied organisations supported the bill. The Ministry of Education promotes responsible ownership in educational settings. ONEMI integrates companion-animal rescue into disaster protocols.
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