ARGENTINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Agustin Ferrari and Astrid Nottebohm, Naveira, Truffat, Martínez, Ferrari & Mallo Abogados
– responsible for overseeing compliance with General Companies Law, Capital Markets Law, and applicable regulations by compa - nies that publicly offer shares or securities. • Comisión Nacional de Defensa de la Compe- tencia (National Competition Defence Com- mission) – responsible for enforcing Competi - tion Defence Law and post merger control. • Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduan- ero, or ARCA (Revenue and Customs Control Agency) – the federal tax authority of Argen - tina. • BCRA (Central Bank of Argentina) – responsi - ble for regulating financial entities, including merger control of such entities. 2.3 Restrictions on Foreign Investments Foreign investors are on equal footing with locals in Argentina except for within some sectors with specific restrictions (media, aviation and owner - ship of certain pieces of land). Generally, to become a shareholder of an Argen - tine company, foreign companies must register with the competent Public Registry of Com - merce and with the tax authorities. If a foreign company develops its business on a regular basis in Argentina it must either: i) register a branch there; or ii) set up a local subsidiary by registering its shareholders with the competent Public Registry of Commerce. Specific restrictions are as follows. Media Foreign ownership of media outlet companies (newspapers, journals, magazines, radio, audio - visual and digital producer publishing, internet providers and on-street advertising) is capped at 30% of capital stock and capital stock with vot - ing rights, except for ownership of foreign inves - tors from countries with reciprocity agreements.
This restriction may be soon reconsidered, as the Minister of Deregulation and State Trans - formation of Argentina, Federico Sturzenegger, sent a draft bill to Congress in October of 2024 that included the proposed repeal of the cap for foreigners. A general ban on foreign investment in broad - casting media precludes foreign investors from obtaining licensees of broadcasting services or participating as shareholders of licensee compa - nies holding broadcasting service licenses. This restriction does not apply to foreign investors from countries with international agreements with Argentina with national treatment or “most favoured nation” clauses. Aviation The current Administration’s “Open Skies” ( cie- los abiertos ) policy has repealed and modified a series of regulations with the objective of increasing competition in the sector. Some nota - ble changes that affect foreign investment in the sector are as follows: • the previous 49% cap on foreign owner - ship of air transportation services operat - ing domestic flights has been relaxed, with streamlining of the process; however, foreign-owned companies must still undergo a discretionary governmental authorisation process that follows principles of international standards of safety and reciprocity with the country of origin of the foreign capital; • a foreign-owned company operating domes - tic flights must be presided over by an Argen - tine national, and two-thirds of the managing body must be Argentine nationals; • individuals are no longer required to provide proof of a real domicile in Argentina in order to own an aircraft registered in the country; and
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