State-owned societies in the chilean legislation: nature, limits and control of their activities

Abstract

State-owned societies are the ones that participate in one body of the State Administration, empowered by a qualified quorum law to develop entrepreneurial activities. Said societies are constituted and work in accordance with the stipulations of the civil law and differ from the public companies created by law. However, as a general rule, although they are not governed by a regulatory framework of public Law, the presence of a state body grants them especial characteristics which become evident in their aim, in the limits imposed to their line of business and in the control regime which they are subject to. The legislation has prepared a special regime regarding all these aspects. Its final objective is to ensure the protection of the public interest that supports the participation in the State Administration in these types of societies, which do not integrate the State Administration, but that they are part of the so called invisible administration of the State.