Lower Court on Civil, Commercial, Labor, and Mining Matters of Zapala, Province of Neuquen, Clerk Office No. 2, 08/16/2011, “Terra Minera S.A. v. Dirección de Minería in re: Amparo” (File No. 10,701/10)

Terra Minera S.A. holds mining concessions for the exploitation of a dolomite and calcium carbonate quarry. In 2010, several levies were imposed on the company, mainly the mineral transport bill duty (the purpose of this bill is to identify the owner of the mineral being transported, establishing a presumption of ownership before the public authorities during the economic and territorial circulation of the goods). Such duty applied a different amount to the minerals to be exported. Therefore, the claimant requested the Court to declare the duty unconstitutional.

On August 16/2011 the Court decided to rule in favor of the mining company, and therefore declared that the duty is unconstitutional (cf. Section 22, Subsection 6.C.1.b of Law No. 2,681), based on the following grounds: (a) it alters the nature of the concept of duty, as it considers the destination of the mineral (export, in this case) , hence constituting a tax, not a duty; and (b) by stating as basis that the mineral is exported, the Provincial Government has entered into a field that belongs to the Federal Government, as foreign trade is a federal matter.