Argentine Supreme Court of Justice, 07/10/2012, Minera del Altiplano SA v. Estado Nacional – PEN et al, in re: amparo

Minera del Altiplano filed an amparo (accelerated proceedings) to have Resolution 288/07 (Secretary of Domestic Trade) and Resolution 130/07 (Secretary of Mining) rendered ineffective. These resolutions ordered to collect export taxes from the claimant, even though Minera del Altiplano was a beneficiary of the fiscal stability regime set out by Law 24196 (Mining Investments Law). The claim was rejected by the judge in charge of Federal Lower Court No. 2 of Salta, while the Federal Court of Appeals revoked this decision and sustained the petition. Within the extraordinary appeal filed by the Federal Government, the Supreme Court revoked the Court of Appeals’ decision. The Supreme Court considered that “fiscal stability” means that total tax burden may not be increased for companies that benefit from the regime set by the Mining Investments Law, and that the beneficiaries of the regime have to prove in each case that the tax burden has been increased. The Court, however, understood that the Mining Investments Law does not prohibit the introduction of new taxes or duties. But Decree 2686/93 provides that the beneficiaries of fiscal stability that bear a heavier tax burden may request compensation or a refund of the amount paid in excess. The Court considered that the claimant had not proved that the total tax burden had been increased, nor that the proceedings to request the compensation or refund had been followed. Thus, it dismissed the claim.