In this paper, it is argued that indigenous participation rights constitute fundamental mechanisms through which indigenous peoples participate in the formation of evidence during decision-making processes driven by the State. However, the way in which prior indigenous consultation has been codified in Chile has implied reversing the principle that operates at the international level in this regard, shifting the discussion on the effectiveness of the occurrence of an affectation (which should be the result of the consultation) at the time of the specific evaluation of its main trigger element: the susceptibility of direct affectation. This has prevented this procedural right from fulfilling its dual epistemic function: enabling the collective participation of indigenous peoples as agents of their own and valid knowledge, and operating as a mechanism for making visible impacts for the protection of indigenous rights. However, it is possible to observe some recent jurisprudential advances in which, despite not questioning in general terms the regulatory model of prior indigenous consultation that has been developed in Chile so far, they have begun to emphasize the epistemic function of the rights of indigenous peoples to prior consultation