ARGENTINA Law and Practice Contributed by: María Belén Espiñeira, Espiñeira Maritime Lawyers
For vessels with a gross tonnage of less than three, Maritime Ordinance 2/19 shall apply. The authority handling domestic registration of ves - sels is the National Registry of Ships, under the ambit of the Argentine Maritime Authority, which is ultimately under the Ministry of National Security. 1.4 Requirements for Ownership of Vessels According to Section 52 of the Argentine Navigation Law, the requirements that must be met to have a vessel registered in the National Registry of Ships are the following: • the vessel must comply with the construction and seaworthiness requirements set forth by the Argen - tine Maritime Authority (Section 52.a); • the ship-owner must be domiciled in Argentina; • where the ship-owner is an entity, it must be estab - lished in accordance with the Argentine regulations (Section 52.c); and • where the ship-owner is a foreign company, it must have a branch or another kind of permanent repre - sentation established in Argentina according to the applicable domestic law (Section 52.c). 1.5 Temporary Registration of Vessels Under Argentine law, the temporary registration of vessels in the National Registry of Ships is not provid - ed for. Nevertheless, Decree Law 19,492/44 (regarding national cabotage), as ratified by Law 12,980, and the Law on the Development of the Argentine Merchant Fleet and Regional Fluvial Integration (No 27,419) provide that – under specific circumstances and after complying with formal requirements – foreign ves - sels may receive the same treatment as Argentine- flag vessels and enjoy all the rights and obligations of registered Argentine vessels, without being registered in the National Registry of Ships. 1.6 Registration of Mortgages Maritime mortgages are registered in the National Registry of Ships. To register a mortgage attached to a vessel with a gross tonnage of ten or more, the following documen - tary requirements must be complied with.
• The mortgage agreement must be executed in a public deed or an authenticated private agreement, including: (a) the name, surname, filiation, nationality, pro - fession and domicile of the creditor and the debtor; (b) particulars of the ship according to the certifi - cate of registration; (c) relevant details of the contract; and (d) the amount of the loan, the interest rate agreed and the terms of payment. • Evidence of having paid salaries and all social security contributions of the crew serving the ves - sel on her last voyage must be submitted. 1.7 Ship Ownership and Mortgages Registry The information recorded by the National Registry of Ships is available to those who have a justified inter - est in enquiring about the ownership, mortgages, liens and encumbrances attached to vessels registered therein. Pursuant to Section 40 of Law 19,170, any interested party may request access to data regarding the certificates of ownership, liens and encumbrances of vessels by filling in form F-004-RNB. Ship financing in Argentina is predominantly struc - tured as debt financing. Equity financing is used less frequently and, when applied, it is typically provided at the level of the ship-owning company through capi - tal contributions or shareholder loans, rather than as financing granted directly to the vessel. The most common form of security for vessel financ - ing is the ship mortgage, which is expressly regulat - ed by the Argentine Navigation Law. Ship mortgages may be created over Argentine-flagged vessels of ten gross tons or more, including vessels under construc - tion. In order to be valid and enforceable against third parties, a ship mortgage must be granted by public deed (or by a duly authenticated private instrument, where permitted) and registered with the National Registry of Ships. 2. Ship Finance and Leasing 2.1 Ship Loan Finance
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