Province of Buenos Aires - Industry Re-Categorization Is Ordered

On February 23, 2012 Resolution No 33/2012 enacted by the environmental enforcement authority of the province of Buenos Aires (Organismo Provincial para el Desarrollo Sostenible, “OPDS”), was published in the Official Gazette. The mentioned Resolution provided for the re-categorization of all industries or industrial projects which have been approved before Decree 353/2011 entered into force, that have been categorized as Second Category under Law No 11,459, with a maximum of 15 points of Environmental Complexity Level (“ECL”).

Decree 353/2011, enacted on April 2011, reformulated the industries’ categories under Law No 11,459 and its implementing Decree, raising the upper limit of the ECL applicable to the First Category, though reducing the minimum ECL applicable to industries of the Second Category.

Hence, since the entering into force of Decree 353/2011, the categories are as follows:

• FIRST CATEGORY: up to 15 ECL points
• SECOND CATEGORY: above 15 ECL points up to 25 ECL points
• THIRD CATEGORY: above 25 ECL points

With the announcement of new Resolution No 33, the OPDS expects to revise the categorization of those industries with an ECL level between 11 and 15 points.

Resolution No. 33 also provides the applicable re-categorization procedure.

This procedure must be filed in the same administrative file where the former categorization administrative decision was granted and must include:

• Certain forms included in the mentioned Resolution;
• The Tax Identification Number Certification (Clave Única De Identificación Tributaria, CUIT);
• A letter formally requesting the re-categorization, and

A zoning certification granted by competent municipal authorities.