Phone Number Prefix Normative

The Phone Number Prefix Normative (in Spanish: Norma de Prefijos Telefónicos), also known as the "anti-spam law" is a modification of the Chilean Telecommunications Subsecretary (Subtel) Exempt N° 1319, a group of legislations and normatives that involve phone number structuration and management.^[1][2] The number prefix normative was announced by the Chilean government in March 2025^[3] and has been taking effect since August 13, 2025. The purpose of this law is to mandate commercial phone numbers to add fixed number prefixes to be easily identified by Chilean consumers and prevent scams and malicious phone calls disguised as commercial calls. ^[4]

Researches done in the country have reported the average monthly amount of undesired publicitary phone calls ("spam calls") received by a Chilean have been increased during the last years. Along with this, the amount of reports to police about fraudulent calls have also increased.

Researches and reports by Hiya done in 2024 stated that in Chile, a person receives an average of 28 spam calls per month, with Brazil also sharing this amount. This was the highest number of average monthly spam calls registered in Latin America during that year. Hiya's research also stated 25% of these calls were meant to be fraudulent phone calls. The same research done in 2023 showed the average quantity of monthly spam was lower, with 20 calls per month. ^[5]

According to a research of the Chilean Investigation Police (PDI) done in 2024, the total amount of reports of fraudulent phone calls was of 4,533. This quantity was 19% higher than the amounts of reports that were done in 2023. ^[6][7]

All phone numbers that belong to telecommunications companies that do commercial or massive phone calls, SMS or MMS messages to users or subscribers, with publicitary or informative purposes about a product, service, scheduling or activity confirmation, are mandated to add fixed number prefixes to their phone numbers in order to be recognizable for the consumers. Any company that does not comply will have to pay a fine between 5 and 5,000 UTM (approximately between $406 and $405,784). Consumers are able to report to Subtel if they find a company that is not complying with the norm.^[4]

The prefix 600 is a prefix number that indicates a phone number is dedicated to do consented or requested calls or messages to an user or subscriber.

The prefix 809 is a prefix number that indicates a phone number is dedicated to do unrequested or unconsented publicitary calls or messages to an user or subscriber. ^{[8] [9]}

The law does not mandate phones that send messages via WhatsApp or similar applications to modify their prefixes.^[2]

In March 2026, the Chilean Supreme Court stated the law will no longer affect phone numbers belonging to retailers, due to their claim the prefixes modification affected their ability to contact with in-debt customers.^[10]

According to a survey of CADEM, a national research company, 80% of Chileans can recognize commercial calls from the number prefixes and 79% of them do not answer these calls after the implementation of the law. ^[11]