Chile’s Community Radio Stations and Their Criminalization

Abstract

The article examines the application of criminal sanctions to unauthorized radio broadcasting in Chile. The origins of the current state of affairs can be dated back to 1991, when fines, seizure of equipment and even imprisonment were incorporated into the General Law of Broadcasting (Bill Number 20.433). These sanctions have remained in effect in spite of the criticism leveled against Chile by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights in its annual reports. In 2010 a community and citizens radio stations Bill was passed (Law Number 20.433) to address the demand of these broadcasting entities for better broadcasting conditions, thus replacing previous legislation on minimum broadcasting radio stations. However, an analysis of existing data shows that five years after the bill was passed, the number of criminal sanctions applied is greater than the number of licenses issued to new stations. The organisations in the industry have (since then) put forward complaints, which have contributed to current discussions in Congress about the possibility of modifying Article 36 B, Letter a) of the Law Number 18.168. That there is an incompatibility between this legislation and international human rights treaties is evident given the repeated mentions of Chile in the reports of the Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, which suggests replacing criminal sanctions with administrative ones. The senators who debated the Bill to modify Article 36 B agreed on eliminating imprisonment, but there was a lack of consensus as to whether other criminal sanctions such as equipment seizure should remain in effect. This paper suggests that seizure should be eliminated as it is a disproportionate measure. As such, it also opposes Inter-American standards, which view unauthorized radio broadcasting as an infraction that needs to be addressed with administrative sanctions.