On 9 July 2026 Chile's Contraloría General de la República published Resolución N°14/2026 in the Diario Oficial, modifying its prior toma de razón exemption framework for corporate acts of state copper producers Codelco and Enami. Instead of requiring preventive review (toma de razón) before corporate acts of affiliates take effect, the resolution lets Codelco/Enami adopt the acts first and submit supporting documentation (board minutes and background materials) for ex-post Contraloría review within 10 business days. The change ends a dispute that began when Contraloría required preventive review of Codelco's formation of Minera Ascotán SpA (Codelco 34% / Quiborax 66%, for the Salar de Ascotán lithium project), which had stalled that CEOL's corporate structuring; Codelco withdrew its recurso de amparo económico against Contraloría after the resolution was published.

Analyst notesShow

Mechanism

Contraloría's 2024 framework (Resolución N°36) required preventive toma de razón — a legal-conformity check before an administrative act takes effect — for certain corporate acts of Codelco and Enami affiliates. Applied to Codelco's February 2026 formation of Minera Ascotán SpA (the Codelco 34% / Quiborax 66% vehicle for the Salar de Ascotán lithium CEOL), this stalled the joint venture's corporate structuring and led Codelco to file a recurso de amparo económico against Contraloría, arguing the requirement was unprecedented in the corporation's 50-plus year history.

Resolución N°14/2026 resolves the dispute by creating a replacement control mechanism specific to state copper producers: corporate acts proceed without prior toma de razón, but Codelco/Enami must submit board minutes and supporting documentation within 10 business days for Contraloría's ex-post review of compliance with corporate purpose and operational regularity. Codelco withdrew its legal action once the resolution was published.

Downstream implications

Removes a process bottleneck for Codelco/Enami's lithium and copper

joint-venture structuring, including the Ascotán CEOL pipeline with Quiborax.

Establishes a precedent for ex-post rather than preventive Contraloría

oversight of state copper-company corporate acts generally.

Distinct from, but process-adjacent to, the Salar de Maricunga CEOL

(Codelco–Rio Tinto) and the broader Chile CEOL batch tracked in upcoming.md.

Open questions

Whether the 10-business-day ex-post review has, in practice, ever

resulted in Contraloría objecting to and unwinding a Codelco/Enami corporate act.

Full text of Resolución N°14/2026 was not independently retrievable

(Diario Oficial PDF is image-based); filed on convergent secondary reporting (La Tercera, Diario Financiero, Ex-Ante, Emol) that agrees on resolution number, date, and substance.

Sources

Primary: Diario Oficial de Chile — edición del 9 de julio de 2026 (N°44.495)

Secondary: La Tercera Pulso — Codelco se desiste de recurso contra Contraloría tras publicación de nueva resolución en el Diario Oficial · Diario Financiero — Contraloría establece sistema de control alternativo para operaciones societarias de Codelco y Enami

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Mechanism

Downstream implications

Removes a process bottleneck for Codelco/Enami's lithium and copper

joint-venture structuring, including the Ascotán CEOL pipeline with Quiborax.

Establishes a precedent for ex-post rather than preventive Contraloría

oversight of state copper-company corporate acts generally.

Distinct from, but process-adjacent to, the Salar de Maricunga CEOL

(Codelco–Rio Tinto) and the broader Chile CEOL batch tracked in upcoming.md.

Open questions

Whether the 10-business-day ex-post review has, in practice, ever

resulted in Contraloría objecting to and unwinding a Codelco/Enami corporate act.

Full text of Resolución N°14/2026 was not independently retrievable

(Diario Oficial PDF is image-based); filed on convergent secondary reporting (La Tercera, Diario Financiero, Ex-Ante, Emol) that agrees on resolution number, date, and substance.