Federal Government Calls on Provincial and Municipal Authorities to Help Control Maximum Prices

In order to intensify the control of maximum prices set by Resolution 100/2020 of the Secretariat of Domestic Trade, the Argentine Government issued Decree 351/2020, which authorized the intervention of local authorities and set the rules to coordinate their activity. For such purpose, Decree 351/2020:

• Called on Municipal Mayors to control, jointly with the Argentine Government, compliance with the maximum prices in the cases regulated under Section 15 of the Supply Act (infractions that may affect commerce across jurisdictions) (Section 2).

• Provided that municipal authorities must enforce control proceedings following the rules set under Section 10 of the Supply Act, and that they may order actions under its Section 12 (e.g., assistance of public force, intervention of goods, closure of businesses), but that they will not decide on the infractions (Section 3).

• Provided that the Secretariat of Domestic Trade will decide on the infractions verified by municipal authorities, regulate the mechanism by means of which the municipal authorities will deliver those administrative proceedings and provide them with the necessary technical assistance (Sections 2 and 5).

• Called on Provincial Governors and the Chief of Government of the City of Buenos Aires to control and decide on maximum prices compliance in cases regulated under Section 3 of the Supply Act (infractions to regulations issued by provincial authorities under the Supply Act) and 18 (infractions occurred within the provincial territory that only affect local commerce) (Section 4).

• Ordered that the provincial authorities must coordinate with the municipal authorities controls measures in accordance with the applicable provincial and municipal regulations (Section 4).

However, there are still certain cases in which the rules set by Decree 351/2020 to coordinate the control activity of the different governmental authorities (national, provincial and municipal) may generate doubts. Such situations could be aggravated due to the different interpretations and enforcement criteria that each local authority may adopt on the national regulations and on the existing local regulations, as well as the ones that could be issued in the future. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to analyze in each particular case the applicable regulations and their interpretation to verify the validity of governmental controls and the measures that they may adopt.