Legislative Advances regarding Class Action in Argentina

The opinion was based on the national bill on Access to Collective Justice presented by Representative Ramón, from the Partido Intransigente of the Province of Mendoza. Such draft was a result of extensive debates with numerous consumer and environmentalist NGOs and Justice 2020 members. The Committee acknowledges that the bill is still subject to modifications and it is in the House’s interest to give the project preliminary approval before the end of the year.

Since 2009 a regulation for this type of proceedings has been expected. In that year, the Argentine Supreme Court (the “CSJN” after its acronym in Spanish) recognized these types of rights in the landmark ruling "Halabi" and urged the Argentine Congress to regulate class actions. Subsequently, the CSJN through agreements created the Public Registry of Collective Actions and the Regulation for Class Actions’ Performance. At least 28 drafts have been submitted aiming to regulate the subject but each lacked consensus to be treated. The preliminary bill on Class Actions presented by Justice 2020 under the scope of the Argentine Ministry of Justice and Human Rights seems to have been replaced.

The bill presents innovations to be noted, such as creating a dedicated website for each trial to facilitate public access; the creation of a Public Fund managed by a mixture of civil servants, unions and NGOs to promote the investigation, broadcasting of knowledge and education regarding collective rights among other duties. Another substantial novelty is the explicit regulation of punitive damages. Furthermore, this law is retroactively applicable on all ongoing class actions proceedings.

It is expected that legislators will analyze this bill thoroughly so that the regulation passed provides for balanced rules that will maintain the equality of the parties and prevent abuses.