Province of Neuquen Passes Law on Prior, Free and Informed Consultation of Indigenous Communities

On December 8, 2023, the Official Gazzette of the Province of Neuquén published Law 3401. This Law regulates the administrative prior, free, and informed consultation procedure of indigenous communities with legal statuses that the provincial authority has recognized. 

This procedure had been approved through Decree 0108/2023, published on January 17, 2023. The purpose of this Law is then to confer legislative status to the existing procedure, regulated in said Decree.

The consultation procedure must be carried out by the public administration entities that can issue administrative measures directly affecting the recognized indigenous communities of the Province of Neuquén. For more details on the procedure, please see our article ‘The Province of Neuquén has regulated the procedure of Free, Prior and Informed Consultation with the indigenous communities.’