Choice of Court Agreements in International Consumer Contracts Their Efficacy Under Law No. 19.496

This study is divided into two parts. The first part analyzes the rationale for choice of court agreements, the roles they play in international contracts, and the difficulties arising when recognizing them in agreements between parties with unequal bargaining power, specifically in international consumer contracts. The second part analyses the national rules of international jurisdiction applicable to these contracts. Bearing this in mind, first, the current state of the discussion about their validity in Chile is explained; then the effect in this discussion of applying the provisions of Law No. 19,496-on consumer rights protection (LPDC by its Spanish acronym), is studied. The international interpretation of the rules of jurisdiction set forth by this law, and the control it provides over abusive terms in consumer contracts are studied as possible solutions to stablish the validity of these contracts. The foregoing, in order to seek a solution that harmonizes, both, the purposes of international consumer protection and to recognize the international nature of their consumer relationship, which allows to consider these contracts as valid if some specific requirements are met.