Service of Notice to Companies without Legal Domicile in Argentina

Recently, Division II of the Federal Court of Appeals in Civil and Commercial matters ruled in favor of the plaintiff and ordered to notify Facebook Inc. in its local subsidiary’s domicile (“L.E.R. v. Facebook Inc. et al”, Docket No. 4913/2013).

In this case, the Court of Appeals did not apply section 122 of the General Corporations Law No. 19,550 ( “General Corporations Law”), and authorized the plaintiff to serve notice of the lawsuit to all foreign co-defendants -without legal domicile in Argentina- in the commercial offices of their local subsidiary Facebook Argentina S.R.L., which was also different to its registered office.

In that regard, the Court of Appeals determined that section 11, subsection 2, of the General Corporations Law does not invalidate notifications sent to domiciles which are different from the domicile registered with the relevant controlling authority. Moreover, the Court explained that the regulatory framework applicable to foreign companies aims to avoid formal delays based on the higher costs and practical difficulty of notifying a foreign company outside Argentina.

This ruling may have particular relevance for IT law practice, as it is common practice for many companies to offer their products and render their services in Argentina without having a local domicile.