Policies Towards Foreign Direct Investment

The Macri government actively seeks foreign direct investment. To improve the investment climate, the Macri administration has enacted reforms to strengthen institutions, reduce economic distortions, and increase capital markets efficiencies. It expanded economic and commercial cooperation with key partners including Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Canada, and the United States, and deepened its engagement in international fora such as the G20, WTO, and OECD.

Over the past year, Argentina issued new regulations in the gas and energy, communications and technology, aviation, and automobile industries to improve competition and provide incentives aimed to attract investments to those sectors. The government more than doubled public works spending during the first quarter of 2017 alone and continues to seek investment in its infrastructure development plans. Argentina is also seeking investments in wireless infrastructure, oil and gas, lithium mines, renewable energy, and other areas.

Foreign and domestic investors generally compete under the same conditions in Argentina. The amount of foreign investment is restricted in specific sectors such as aviation and media. Foreign ownership of rural productive lands, bodies of water, and areas along borders is also restricted.

Argentina has a national Investment and Trade Promotion Agency that provides information and consultation services to investors and traders on economic and financial conditions, investment opportunities, and Argentine laws and regulations. The agency also provides matchmaking services and organizes roadshows and trade delegations. The agency’s web portal provides detailed information on available services (http://www.produccion.gob.ar/agencia ). Many of the 24 provinces also have their own provincial investment and trade promotion.

The Macri Administration welcomes dialogue with investors. Argentine officials regularly host roundtable discussions with visiting business delegations and meet with local and foreign business chambers. During official visits over the past year to the United States, Russia, and Europe, among others, Argentine delegations often met with host-country business leaders.

Limits on Foreign Control and Right to Private Ownership and Establishment

Foreign and domestic commercial entities in Argentina are regulated by the Commercial Partnerships Law (Law No. 19,550), the Argentina Civil and Commercial Code, and rules issued by the regulatory agencies. Foreign private entities can establish and own business enterprises and engage in all forms of remunerative activity in nearly all sectors.

Full foreign equity ownership of Argentine businesses is not restricted, for the most part, with exception in the air transportation and media industries. The share of foreign capital in companies that provide commercial passenger transportation within the Argentine territory is limited to 49 percent per the Aeronautic Code Law No. 17,285. The company must be incorporated according to Argentine law and domiciled in Buenos Aires. In the media sector, Law No. 25,750 establishes a limit on foreign ownership in television, radio, newspapers, journals, magazines, and publishing companies to 30 percent.

Law No. 26,737 (Regime for Protection of National Domain over Ownership, Possession or Tenure of Rural Land) restricts foreign ownership to a maximum of 15 percent of all national productive land. Individuals or companies from the same nation may not hold over 30 percent of that amount. Individually, each foreign individual or company faces an ownership cap of 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) in the most productive farming areas, or the equivalent in terms of productivity levels in other areas. The law also establishes that a foreigner cannot own land that contains big and permanent extensions of water bodies, are located in riversides or water bodies with such features, or are located near a Border Security Zone. Waivers are not available.

Argentina does not maintain an investment screening mechanism for inbound foreign investment. U.S. investors are not at a disadvantage to other foreign investors or singled out for discriminatory treatment.

Other Investment Policy Reviews

Argentina was last subject to an investment policy review by the OECD in 1997 and a trade policy review by the WTO in 2013. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has not done an investment policy review of Argentina.

Business Facilitation

Since entering into office in December 2015, the Macri Administration has enacted reforms to normalize financial and commercial transactions and facilitate business creation and cross-border trade. These reforms include eliminating capital controls, reducing export taxes and import restrictions, streamlining business administrative processes, decreasing tax burdens, increasing businesses’ access to financing, and streamlining customs controls.

In October 2016, the Ministry of Production issued decree No. 1079/2016, easing bureaucratic hurdles for foreign trade and creating a Single Window for Foreign Trade (“VUCE” for its Spanish acronym). The VUCE centralizes the administration of all required paperwork for the import, export, and transit of goods (e.g., certificates, permits, licenses, and other authorizations and documents). Argentina subjects imports to automatic or non-automatic licenses that are managed through the Comprehensive Import Monitoring System (SIMI, or Sistema Integral de Monitoreo de Importaciones), established in December 2015 by the National Tax Agency (AFIP) through Resolutions 5/2015 and 3823/2015. The SIMI system requires importers to submit electronically detailed information about goods to be imported into Argentina. Once the information is submitted, the relevant Argentine government agencies can review the application through the VUCE and make any observations or request additional information. The number of products subjected to non-automatic licenses has been modified several times, resulting in a net decrease since the beginning of the SIMI system.

The Argentine Congress approved an Entrepreneurs’ Law in March 2017, which allows for the creation of a simplified joint-stock company (sociedad por acciones simplifacada, or SAS) within 24 hours and online. The Ministry of Production website provides the following link where there is a detailed explanation on how to register a SAS in Argentina (https://www.argentina.gob.ar/crear-una-sociedad-por-acciones-simplificada-sas ). As of April 2018, the online business registration process is only available for companies located in the city or province of Buenos Aires. The process is clear and complete and can be used by foreign companies. Officials project it will become available in other large municipalities by the end of 2018. More information may be found at http://www.produccion.gob.ar/todo-sobre-la-ley-de-emprendedores/ .

Foreign investors seeking to set up business operations in Argentina follow the same procedures as domestic entities without prior approval and under the same conditions as local investors. To open a local branch of a foreign company in Argentina, the parent company must be legally registered in Argentina. Argentine law requires at least two equity holders, with the minority equity holder maintaining at least a five percent interest. In addition to the procedures required of a domestic company, a foreign company establishing itself in Argentina must legalize the parent company’s documents, register the incoming foreign capital with the Argentine Central Bank, and obtain a trading license.

A company must register its name with the Office of Corporations (IGJ, or Inspeccion General de Justicia). The IGJ website describes the registration process and some portions can be completed online (http://www.jus.gob.ar/igj/tramites/guia-de-tramites/inscripcion-en-el-registro-publico-de-comercio.aspx ). Once the IGJ registers the company, the company must request that the College of Public Notaries submit the company’s accounting books to be certified with the IGJ. The company’s legal representative must obtain a fiscal code and a tax identification number from the federal tax agency (AFIP by its Spanish acronym), register for social security, and obtain blank receipts from another agency. Companies can register with AFIP online at www.afip.gob.ar  or by submitting the sworn affidavit form No. 885 to AFIP.

The enterprise must also provide workers’ compensation insurance for its employees through the Workers’ Compensation Agency (Aseguradora de Riesgos del Trabajo). The company must register and certify its accounting of wages and salaries with the General Bureau of Labor, within the Ministry of Labor.

Companies located in the City of Buenos Aires must register their by-laws and other documents related to their incorporation with the City’s Public Registry of Commerce. The company must file the proposed articles of association and by-laws, the publication in the Official Gazette, evidence of managers’ and unions’ (if applicable) acceptance of position, evidence of the deposit of the cash contributions in the National Bank of Argentina, evidence of compliance with the managers’ guarantee regime (filing of managers’ performance bonds), and evidence of the reservation of the corporate name for approval with the City’s Office of Corporations.

Some provinces offer training and assistance to facilitate business development. Under the law, those mechanisms are equally accessible by women and underrepresented minorities in the economy, but in practice may not be available in all areas with significant minority populations. At present, there is one operational small business center based on the Small Business Development Center model of the United States, located in Neuquén province.

Outward Investment

Argentina does not have a governmental agency to promote Argentine investors to invest abroad nor does it have any restrictions for a domestic investor investing overseas.