Amendments in Administrative Law Matters

The Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of the Argentine People (Bases Law) has 238 articles and an annex. Its text is significantly more limited than the original proposal the current Government had submitted to Congress in December 2023.

1. Declaration of Emergency and Delegation of Legislative Powers

The Bases Law declares the public emergency on administrative, economic, financial, and energy matters for one year. The emergency declaration serves as a basis to delegate legislative powers on the Executive Branch, as provided in article 76 of the Argentine Constitution.

The delegation of powers aims to:

• improve the functioning of the State to achieve transparent, agile, efficient, effective, and quality public management for the common good;

 

• reduce the State structure to decrease deficit, ensure transparent spending, and balance public accounts;

 

• ensure effective internal control of the federal public administration to guarantee transparency in the administration of public finances.

 

The Executive must report monthly to Congress on the exercise of the delegated powers and its results.

Nevertheless, all decrees the Executive issues under these delegated powers will be subject to legislative control, pursuant to article 100, paragraph 12 of the Argentine Constitution and in accordance with the procedure in Law 26122.

2. Administrative Reorganization of the Federal Public Sector

 

The Bases Law promotes the reorganization of the Federal Public Sector in the context of the declared emergency.

Regarding the central administration and decentralized agencies created by statues or regulations with the force of law, the Bases Law empowers the Executive Branch to modify or eliminate their powers, functions, or responsibilities, and to reorganize, modify, or transform their legal structure, with the possibility of providing for their centralization, merger, dissolution or transfer to the Provinces or the City of Buenos Aires. 

For State-owned companies and corporations, the Bases Law authorizes the Executive Branch to modify or transform their legal structure, as well as to carry out mergers, spin-offs, reorganizations, or transfers to the Provinces or the City of Buenos Aires.  The Bases Law also authorizes the Executive Power to intervene decentralized agencies and State-owned companies and corporations for one year.

These powers do not extend to national universities, bodies of the Judicial or Legislative Power, the Public Prosecutor's Office, and other specified entities, including the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT); the Argentine Securities Commission (CNV); the Financial Information Unit (UIF); and the Argentine Communications Agency (ENACOM).  

The Law also authorizes the Executive to modify, transform, unify, dissolve, or liquidate public trust funds.

3. Privatization of State-Owned Companies

The Bases Law declares a total of eight companies and corporations wholly or majority-owned by the Federal Government as “subject to privatization” under the terms of Chapters II and III of Law 23696 (the State Reform Law). The Bases Law also amends this law. For more information on the provisions of the Bases Law regarding privatizations, see this article.

4. Amendments to the Administrative Procedure Law

The Bases Law provides significantly reforms the Administrative Procedure Law. These modifications strengthen the guarantees of individuals and private parties vis-à-vis the Public Administration. For more information on the provisions regarding amendments to the Administrative Procedure Law, see this article.

5. Renegotiation or Termination of Public Contracts

The Bases Law also authorizes the Executive Branch, for emergency reasons, to renegotiate or terminate:

1. 1. contracts for public works, concession of public works, construction, or supply of goods and services,
   2. contracts with a value exceeding certain amounts,
   3. contracts entered into before December 10, 202

The Bases Law also establishes that suspending or terminating public works contracts that are 80% executed or have international financing will be considered inconvenient. If such contracts have been suspended, they will resume upon an agreement between the principal and the contractor, which must be approved by the relevant enforcement authority and signed within 90 days from the publication of the Bases Law.

Contracts resulting from the privatization processes carried out in the 1990s under the State Reform Law are excluded from these provisions on renegotiation or termination, as well as those executed within the framework of promotional regimes.

6. Transactional Agreements

The Bases Law provides that, in cases of disputes or claims for breach of contractual obligations by the Government, the Executive Branch is empowered to negotiate settlements. The procedure will be established in the implementing regulations. The intervention of the Attorney General’s Office and the General Auditor will be mandatory.

7. Amendments to the Public Works Concession Law

The Bases Law also introduces important amendments to the Public Works Concession Law to enhance flexibility, legal certainty, and stability in the contracts entered into under this regime. For more detailed information on the provisions of the Bases Law regarding the Public Works Concession Law, see this article.