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PREFATORY NOTE. 
The following pages contain a translation of a Bill embodying a new Customs 
Tariff for Chile which is the outcome of the deliberations of a Commission consisting 
of certain members of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies appointed in 1909 to elaborate- 
a scheme for the reform of the existing Customs Tariff Law of the 23rd December, 1897. 
The proposed new Tariff, as framed by the Commission (with a few modifications which 
were introduced subsequently), has recently been approved by the Chamber, which, in 
passing the measure, also adopted a proposal that the new rates of duty to be established 
by the Tariff shall be subject to a surtax of 10 per cent. The proposed rates of 
duty shewn in this Return do not include this surtax. There is some doubt whether 
the Bill is likely to be passed by the Senate in its present form, though it may be 
approved by that body without the surtax of 10 per cent.; and, in any event, it is 
understood that some considerable time may elapse before the new Tariff Law takes 
definitive form and receives the sanction of both Houses of the Legislature. 
The new Tariff has been framed on a directly specific basis: the existing Tariff 
duties, except in a few instances, are also in effect specific though in form they are 
ad valorem, being levied on the basis of a percentage on official valuations assigned to 
the various classes of merchandise in the * Valuation Tariff,” which is a comprehensive 
list of goods classified under about 3,000 distinct headings. The existing rates of 
duty, shown in this Return (as far as possible) for purpose of comparison, have been 
computed from the percentage rates and official values established for the various 
articles, and they include the additional duties mentioned in the following paragraph. 
The Tariff Law of 1897 (which is the basis of the Tariff now in force) fixed 
specific rates of duty in respect of a limited number of classes of goods only (spirits, 
wines, beer, sugar, coffee, tea, tobacco, and a few other articles), and provided that 
other articles—except duty-free goods—should pay duty at the rate of 5, 15, 25, 35, 
or 60 per cent. on the valuations fixed by the “ Valuation Tariff.” By a Law 
which came into operation on the 15th April, 1912, an additional duty of 5 per cent. 
ad valorem was imposed on goods subject to percentage rates of duty, making the 
rates 10, 20, 30, 40 or 65 per cent. respectively ; a surcharge of 10 per cent. was 
imposed on the specific duties leviable under the Law of 1897, except on sugar and 
wheat flour ; and a duty of 5 per cent. was imposed, with certain exceptions, on goods 
which were free of duty under the Law of 1897. This last-named charge was to be 
permanent ; the other surcharges were imposed for a period originally intended to 
terminate on the 14th April, 1915, but afterwards extended for a further term of 
eighteen months. 
The duties are expressed in pesos of eighteen pence. The kilogramme is equivalent 
to 2:2046 pounds avoirdupois. 
Gro. J. STANLEY. 
Board of Trade, 
Commercial Department, 
June, 1914.