Federal Justice regulated the jurisdiction of the Matanza - Riachuelo Basin Authority

1.    On May 22, 2009 the Judge in charge of the enforcement of the final decision rendered in the case known as the “Mendoza” case by the Argentine Supreme Court on July 8, 2008 (the “Supreme Court Final Decision”), ruled that:

a) ACUMAR is an inter-jurisdictional, autonomous and autarchic entity, with the characteristics of a regional entity, whose jurisdiction and duties are above the jurisdiction of the provinces members of the ACUMAR and their municipalities.

b) As a result of a), the Judge exhorted ACUMAR to fulfill its objectives laid out under Law No 26,168 and the Supreme Court’s Final Decision. Consequently, the Judge ordered ACUMAR to:

(i) Regulate all the rules and proceedings for the compliance of it obligations under the Supreme Court Final Decision;

(ii) Issue all the necessary resolutions and administrative decisions in order to clarify the applicable sanctions under ACUMAR’s Law No 26,168, as well as the conditions precedent that must be verified by ACUMAR in order for those sanctions to be applied;

(iii) Consolidate all the regulations and proceedings issued by this entity;

(iv) Inspect all the industrial facilities located within the territory of the Matanza – Riachuelo Basin, and report the inspection activity to the Judge every 15 days.

The Judge also stated that, in case of breach of or delay in the implementation of any of the given instructions, a daily fine as per indicated in the Supreme Court’s Final Decision will be applied to the president of ACUMAR, notwithstanding the possible administrative liability of the federal government and the provinces members of ACUMAR, plus the civil and/or criminal liability of the national and provincial authorities.

Lastly, in a departure from the norm,  the Judge ordered the publication of the Supreme Court Final Decision in the Official Gazette to allow the population in general to know its content and the legal consequences arising thereof.

2.    Recently, on June 12, 2009, the same Federal Judge of Quilmes issued a new ruling urging both ACUMAR and the Executive Branch to regulate the application of the environmental insurance provided by Section 22 of the Environment General Law No 25.675. In particular, the judge ordered the ACUMAR to include said insurance and related matters in its internal regulations, in order to make it mandatory for the companies located “within the area of its jurisdiction”.

Likewise this resolution provides that ACUMAR will be able to consider all the companies that, within the lapse of 30 days, voluntarily add to the Industrial Restructuring Plan and to the industrial control faculties of ACUMAR, as “Facility under Industrial Restructuring”. The rest of the companies must be identified as “pollutant agents” pursuant to the definition provided by the Supreme Court’s Final Decision.