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Coverage

Subscriptions

Chile — Ley 21.398 one-click cancellation and the Ley del Consumidor retracto

NationalCLDerived or secondary source

Chile

Rule id
subscription.cl-21398
Version
1.0.0
In force from
March 24, 2022
Last read against its sources
August 5, 2026
Countries bound
Chile

In plain language

What this regime says.

Chile requires that a service contracted online be cancellable online, by the same means, simply and directly, with no obstacles — the strongest exit right of any regime in this file. A ten-day retracto also applies unless the supplier expressly excluded it.

Who is covered

Consumers in Chile contracting by electronic means.

What you get

Same-means cancellation with confirmation, a ten-day retracto where not excluded, and SERNAC enforcement.

Where claims go wrong

  • Assuming the ten-day retracto always applies. Suppliers can and do exclude it for electronic contracts.
  • Not documenting the cancellation journey. The comparison between subscribing and cancelling is the case.

Authority

Every citation,
with its pinpoint.

A claim that cites “EU law” gets filed. A claim that cites Article 7(1)(c) gets answered. These are the exact coordinates this entry rests on.
  1. Ley 19.496 sobre protección de los derechos de los consumidores, as amended by Ley 21.398Ley 19.496 sobre protección de los derechos de los consumidores (Chile), as amended by Ley 21.398 ("Ley Pro Consumidor"), published 24 December 2021a service contracted through electronic means must be capable of being terminated through the same means, simply and directly, without the supplier interposing obstacles
  2. Ley 19.496, art. 3 bisLey 19.496 sobre protección de los derechos de los consumidores (Chile)art. 3 bis — derecho a retracto: the consumer may unilaterally terminate a contract concluded by electronic means within ten days, unless the supplier has expressly stipulated otherwise

Sources

Where a figure is indexed, converted or published by a regulator rather than fixed in the instrument, the provenance is recorded separately. Anything marked as a modelled estimate is exactly that — a model, not a statutory number.

  • SERNACServicio Nacional del Consumidorretrieved 2026-08-05

What it imposes

Clocks, defences and the ladder.

A rule module builds these while it evaluates, because a limitation period depends on which forum is open to you. What follows is the structure this regime produces — deliberately with no dates and no figures, because those belong to your facts rather than to the law.

The clocks it starts

  • Chile: withdrawal window (10 days)Article 3 bis of Ley 19.496 gives the consumer ten days to terminate unilaterally, without liability and without giving a reason, and requires the supplier to refund. It reaches: contracts concluded by electronic means and contracts where acceptance followed an offer received by catalogue, telephone or other distance communication — running from receipt of the goods or conclusion of the service contract. Note the significant carve-out: for contracts concluded by electronic means the retracto applies UNLESS the supplier expressly stipulated otherwise before the contract was concluded. Check the terms you accepted — if the supplier excluded it, the retracto is gone and the one-click cancellation rule below is the route instead.Ley 19.496, art. 3 bis (Chile)Filing window
  • General civil limitation period (varies — check locally)Limitation periods for consumer contract claims in the countries in this file range from about one year to ten and are not something we state per country. Two years is shown as a prompt to check, not as the law. A continuing course of charges usually restarts the clock, so a subscription still billing is rarely out of time.Limitation period

What it entitles you to, beyond money

  • Cancellation, effective from the date of your noticeSend a dated written cancellation naming the account, the subscription and the date you want it to end, and keep the proof. Say in terms that any further charge is unauthorised — that sentence is what turns the next debit into a payment dispute you can win without arguing about the subscription at all.a service contracted through electronic means must be capable of being terminated through the same means, simply and directly, without the supplier interposing obstacles
  • Revocation of the payment authority with your bankDo not rely on the merchant to stop billing. Tell the card issuer or bank to cancel the recurring authority and to block further authorisations from that merchant descriptor. This works even where the merchant is unresponsive and even where it is abroad.

What the other side will say

Each of these is a refusal this regime lets a counterparty attempt, paired with the answer to it. Reading them before you write is worth more than any amount of polish on the letter itself.

"You agreed to the terms, which set out the renewal"

high likelihood

The trader points at a terms page or a single acceptance checkbox at signup.

What answers it

Acceptance of general terms is not the same as informed consent to an automatic renewal, and in most of these jurisdictions the renewal term has to be presented clearly and close to the point of consent rather than behind a link. Ask the trader to produce the actual screen you were shown, with the date. If it produces today's checkout flow rather than the one in force when you signed up, say so.

Ley 19.496 sobre protección de los derechos de los consumidores, as amended by Ley 21.398 — a service contracted through electronic means must be capable of being terminated through the same means, simply and directly, without the supplier interposing obstacles

"Cancellation has to be done by telephone"

high likelihood

The trader accepts online signups and insists on a phone call, a physical letter or an in-person visit to cancel.

What answers it

This jurisdiction regulates the exit as well as the entry. A trader that lets you subscribe in one click and requires a phone call to leave is not complying, and the mismatch between the two journeys is the whole of the complaint. Describe both journeys, in order, in your letter and in the regulator complaint.

Ley 19.496 sobre protección de los derechos de los consumidores, as amended by Ley 21.398 — a service contracted through electronic means must be capable of being terminated through the same means, simply and directly, without the supplier interposing obstacles

"You have to give a notice period, so the next charge stands"

medium likelihood

The trader accepts the cancellation but insists on a further billing cycle under a notice clause buried in the terms.

What answers it

Ask for the clause, by number, and ask when and how it was brought to your attention. A notice period that was not clearly disclosed before you contracted is vulnerable as an unfair term in most of these jurisdictions, and a notice period longer than the billing cycle itself is vulnerable almost everywhere. Pay nothing pending the answer and revoke the payment authority.

"We are established abroad, so your consumer law does not apply"

medium likelihood

The trader is incorporated elsewhere and says the contract is governed by the law of its own seat.

What answers it

A choice-of-law clause in a consumer contract does not usually deprive a consumer of the protection of the mandatory rules of the country they live in, and a trader that directs its activities at consumers in a country generally answers to that country's consumer regulator. Say where you live, say that you contracted from there, and copy the regulator named in this result. Meanwhile the payment route works regardless of governing law.

Where to take it next

  1. Written cancellation and refund demand to the traderOne document: cancel, demand refund of anything taken after your first cancellation attempt, cite the instrument named in this result, and give a short deadline. Ask for written confirmation of the cancellation date — that document is what every later step needs.Claim directtypically 14 days
  2. Card dispute for the post-cancellation chargesRun this in parallel rather than afterwards. Scheme dispute windows are commonly 120 days from the charge, which is shorter than any consumer-protection route, and a reversal obtained here does not prejudice the rest of the claim.Claim directtypically 45 days
  3. SERNAC (Servicio Nacional del Consumidor)SERNAC takes individual complaints, requires the supplier to respond, and runs voluntary collective procedures ("procedimientos voluntarios colectivos") that have produced large refunds in exactly this kind of case. Filing is free and online. It will take your individual complaint, so file it as one: the merchant, the dates, the amounts, and what you want.Regulatortypically 45 daysofficial page
  4. Juzgado de Policía LocalBinding on themChilean consumer claims are heard by the local police courts, which apply Ley 19.496 and can fine the supplier as well as order compensation. A lawyer is not required.Small claimstypically 180 days

Documents

What this regime can produce.

Every one of these is a document you send yourself, in your own name. Duesday never writes to anybody on your behalf and is never anyone’s agent.

The same claim type elsewhere

EU Consumer Rights Directive — withdrawal, order-button and inertia-selling rulesEUSupranational30 countriesDirective 2011/83/EU (Consumer Rights Directive)Confidence: highNorway — Angrerettloven right of withdrawalNONationalNorwayLov om opplysningsplikt og angrerett (angrerettloven), LOV-2014-06-20-27Confidence: highRussia — Consumer Rights Protection Law arts. 26.1 and 32RUNationalRussiaЗакон РФ от 07.02.1992 № 2300-1 «О защите прав потребителей», ст. 32Confidence: mediumSwitzerland — Code of Obligations right of revocation (and the online gap)CHNationalSwitzerlandSwiss Code of Obligations, arts. 40a–40fConfidence: mediumTürkiye — Law 6502 distance contracts and the Subscription Contracts RegulationTRNationalTürkiyeTüketicinin Korunması Hakkında Kanun No. 6502, arts. 48 and 52Confidence: mediumUK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 (and the not-yet-commenced DMCCA subscription regime)GBNationalUnited KingdomConsumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/3134)Confidence: highCalifornia Automatic Renewal Law (Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17600-17606, as amended by AB 2863)US-CASub-nationalUnited StatesCalifornia Business and Professions Code §§ 17600-17606Confidence: highCanada — provincial consumer protection acts and the federal Competition ActCANationalCanadaLoi sur la protection du consommateur, RLRQ c. P-40.1 (Quebec)Confidence: medium

Other rights in the same countries

Does this one reach your facts?

The engine runs every regime that could apply at once and reconciles them, rather than making you guess which page to read.

Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You send it yourself. This page describes a law; it is not advice about your situation and no outcome is promised.