MINISTRY OF HEALTH

DECREE WITH FORCE OF LAW No. 725

 

Published in the Official Gazette on January 31, 1968

 

Book Ten

Procedures and Penalties

 

Title I

INSPECTION AND SEARCH AND SEIZURE

 

Article 155 (146) – For due application hereof and regulations, decrees, and resolutions issued by the Director General of Health, the health authorities may inspect and search any place, building, house, store, and workplace, whether public or private.

            When it is a closed building or other place, entry and search shall first require a search warrant issued by the Director General of Health , and the support of law enforcement personnel if necessary.

 

Article 156 (147) -  The above action shall be taken by National Health Agency staff.  If in the course of such action a breach hereof or of the regulations hereunder is discovered, a statement shall be written describing the facts constituting such breach.

            Such statement shall be signed by the official in charge of the proceeding, who will act as sworn judicial officer.

 

Article 157 (148) – In the event of a search, notice shall be given to the owner or lessee of the place or building where the search is to take place, or to the caretaker or guard thereof.

            If none of the above can be found, notice shall be served on any person of legal age in such place or building; if no such person is found, this fact shall be noted in the statement to be written on the procedure.

 

Article 158 (149) – Having completed the procedure described above, the entry and search shall proceed, the owner, lessee, or person in charge being invited to attend and witness the proceeding. If no such person is able or willing to do so, the request shall be addressed to any family member or, ultimately, to any adult person.

            All those present who are able shall sign the statement, which shall include a list of all goods so seized, a copy whereof shall be delivered to the party concerned, upon request.

 

Article 159 (150) -  If in the course of such inspection, search, or seizure a breach of the law or regulations is discovered and the items  involved are found, the latter may be transferred to the deposits or warehouses of the National Health Agency, or the part of the building and furniture where such items were found may be closed and sealed  pending the decision of the authorities.

 

Article 160 (151) – To check correct compliance with the provisions hereunder and the regulations hereof, the National Health Agency, having issued a receipt and with no need for payment, may remove from customs and from the places where processed, distributed, or sold, such samples as need to be examined.

 

 

 

TITLE II

SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS

 

Article 161 (152) – Summary proceedings arising from breaches of this Code and regulations thereof, decrees, or resolutions issued by the Director General of Health, may be initiated ex officio or upon complaint from any person.

 

Article 162 (153) – The health authority shall be empowered to investigate and to take statements as required to clarify any facts in connection with laws, regulations, and health-related resolutions.

 

Article 163 (154) – In the case of summary proceedings initiated ex officio, the violator shall be summoned after the relevant statement is written.  The individual so summoned shall appear on the day and at the time specified, with all means of proof.  In the event of non-appearance, the procedure provided under article 159 hereunder shall be followed.

 

Article 164 (155) – In the case of summary proceedings initiated upon a complaint by private persons, the health authority will summon the violator as well as the denouncer,  will examine separately all witnesses and means of proof submitted, and will write a report of everything so done before two witnesses, and all necessary investigations shall be conducted to clarify the facts so denounced.

 

Article 165 (156) – Any notices required shall be served by officials with the National Health Agency or by police, who shall proceed according to instructions issued thereto and give written testimony of their actions.

 

Article 166 (157) – To establish the fact of a breach of health laws and regulations, the testimony of two persons who agree on the fact and the essential circumstances thereof shall suffice, or the report written by the Agency official upon discovering such breach.

 

Article 167 (158) – The breach having been established, the health authority shall issue judgment without further delay. 

 

Article 168 (159) -  Violators who are penalized shall prove payment of such fine to the health authority that so penalized them, within a period of five business days from the date of service of judgment.

 

Article 169 (160) – If when the period stated above expires, violator has failed to pay such fine, violator,  by way of substitution and to compel payment, shall suffer imprisonment for one day for every one-tenth of a monthly tax unit comprised in such fine.

            To carry out the above provision, the Director of the Health Agency concerned or the Chilean Institute of Public Health, as the case may be, shall apply to the Intendente or Governor, as the case may be, regarding the support of law enforcement staff, who shall arrest and imprison the violator, to which end the necessary order shall be given, pursuant to the general rules, with a report thereon to the health authority.

 

Article 170 (161) – Closure and other health measures ordered in the judgment shall not be revoked or suspended unless the Director General of Health should so order, or if so ordered by an ordinary court issuing final judgment and execution on the complaint so submitted.

 

Article 171 (162) – Penalties applied by the National Health Agency may be appealed before the ordinary civil courts within five business days following service of judgment, which shall be processed in brief and summary fashion.  For such appeal to be processed, violator shall be required to submit proof of payment of such fine.

            The court shall deny such appeal if the facts that caused the penalty are proved in the summary proceedings pursuant hereto, if such facts are indeed a breach of the health laws or regulations and if the penalty applied is the appropriate one for such breach.

 

Article 172 (163) – Judgments issued by the health authority may be enforced even though the appeal described in the preceding article be pending, notwithstanding the final judgment and execution issued by the ordinary courts thereon.

 

Article 173 (164) – In all judiciary proceedings arising hereunder, the National Health Agency shall enjoy the privilege of poverty and shall be exempt from making the deposits required by law.

 

 

 

 

TITLE III

HEALTH PENALTIES AND MEASURES

 

Article 174 (165) – Breach of any of the provisions hereunder or the regulations hereof and the resolutions issued by Directors of Health Agencies or the Director of the Chilean Institute of Public Health, as the case may be, except provisions involving a special penalty, shall be penalized with a fine equivalent to one-tenth of one monthly tax unit up to one thousand monthly tax units.  Reincidence may be penalized with up to twice  the original fine.

            The above breaches may be penalized, in addition, with closure of the establishments, buildings, houses, stores, workplaces where such breach is committed; cancellation of operation or other permits issued; suspension of work; seizure, destruction, and denaturalization of items, as appropriate.

 

Article 175 – (165) In cases where penalty entails cancellation of operation or other permits issued, the National Health Agency shall so notify the city council concerned so that the associated license may be cancelled.

 

Article 176 (167) – Assistance in kind, such as medicines, therapeutic food items or food supplements, that the National Health Agency delivers to the population under the programs thereof may not be marketed by the recipients thereof. 

            Notwithstanding the penalty applicable to any beneficiary breaching this provision, a special penalty shall apply to persons acquiring the item directly therefrom or from a third party, for whatever reason, and persons who possess such items without entitlement thereto.

 

Article 177 (168) – In the case of a first offense and where there is evidence to justify it, the Director General of Health may summon and warn the violator without applying the fine and other penalties, requiring removal of the defects that originated such breach, within  a specified period.

 

Article 178 (169) – The authority, as a sanitary measure and where justified, may also order closure, prohibit operation of houses, stores, or establishments, suspension of work, seizure, destruction, and denaturalization of items.

            Such measures may be ordered by the individual acting as judicial court officer based solely on the report written, whenever an imminent health hazard arises, which such individual shall report immediately to his or her direct supervisor.  A copy of such report shall be delivered to the interested party.

 

Article 179 (170) – Fines ordered on breaches of the provisions hereunder and regulations hereof or of resolutions issued by the Director General of Health shall inure to the benefit of the National health Agency and shall not be eligible for the extra charge provided by Law No. 10309.  Fines shall be paid in direct to the local Health Agency that applied such fines. 

 

Article 180 ((171) – All objects seized by the National Health Agency by virtue of the powers granted thereto hereunder, shall be for the benefit thereof, or such agency shall destroy them, as appropriate.

            Notwithstanding, the Agency may leave such objects in the hands of the owner thereof, provided they can be denaturalized and employed for other purposes with no risk to public health.  In such event, the party concerned shall fulfill all requirements directed by the Agency. 

            Items that, given the nature thereof or the condition they are in, are of no use to the institution, and in respect whereof the provisions under the previous paragraph have not been applied, shall be sold at auction through the Department of Chattel Mortgage and Auction and the product thereof shall be credited to the general funds of the National Health Agency.

 

Article 181 (172) – Items seized owing to a crime against public health shall be also addressed to the National Health Agency, which shall dispose thereof under the same conditions provided in the preceding article.

            Narcotics impounded in the course of a criminal process and not open to the penalty described in the previous paragraph because such process was dismissed or terminated in acquittal, shall be turned over to the National Health Agency, unless the individual in whose possession the item was found can show legitimate acquisition thereof and the associated permit for possession thereof pursuant to this Code and regulations thereof.

 

Article 182 (173) – Decree with Force of Law No.226 dated May 15, 1931 and amendments thereto are hereby revoked.

            Previous regulations regarding matters dealt with hereunder are hereby revoked only to the extent that they arte contrary hereto.

 

Transitional article – Individuals who on the effective date hereof were authorized to manage their own pharmacies in the capacity of pharmacy practitioners may continue to do so.

 

To be noted, registered, communicated, published, and entered in the appropriate compilation by the Office of the ComptrollerGeneral of the Republic.

E. FREI M. – Ramσn Valdivieso Delaunay.