Argentina Summary

Argentina is a highly urbanized (87%) country in the Southeastern section of South America with a highly educated population (it has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America) of around 37 million. It is the eighth largest country in the world in area terms, and second largest in area (behind Brazil) and fourth largest in population (behind Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, in that order) in Latin America.

The federal role for environmental regulation is ambiguous under the 1994 Constitution, and Argentina does not yet have a general environment law. Most environmental regulation is left in the hands of the 23 provinces and the City of Buenos Aires (CBA) (under the new Constitution, the CBA has the same powers to adopt legislation as the provinces have); the exceptions are those in which a clear national interest is at stake, wherein the bicameral (the 72-member Senate and 257-member Chamber of Deputies) Congress of the Nation can set national minimum standards that provinces must follow but can build upon.

Many Members of Congress interpret the Constitutional provision narrowly to mean that the federal authorities should limit themselves to matters such as import/export controls, coastal management, or outlining criteria for conducting environmental impact assessments. This is particularly true of the Senate, whose members currently are elected by provincial legislatures and thus tend to view the scope of provincial prerogative broadly (beginning in 2001, one third of the Senate will be directly elected by voters every two years). By contrast, the Executive Branch, particularly the Secretariat for Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy (SDSyPA), interprets the Constitution to empower it to propose minimum federal standards in areas like air and water quality and the management of solid wastes.

Matters Under Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction in Argentina

• Environmental management of coastal waters and territories


• Ratification & approval of environmental treaties and agreements


• Regulation of inter-provincial and international trade


• Environmental management of international rivers

Sectors Where Federal Environmental Regulations Prevail

• Mining (Law 24.585)


• Oil & Gas (all Federal Energy Secretariat environmental regulations on upstream industry)


• Utilities (all relevant Federal Electric Authority regulations)

Even when Congress has acted on an environmental matter, provinces must indicate through their own legislation whether they (a) accept the national regime in full; or (b) accept the national regime with modifications; or (c) reject the national regime and adopt their own regime of comparable or tougher levels of protection. The classic example of how this process plays out in practice is the Hazardous Wastes Law (24.051), where roughly half simply accepted the federal law unchanged, while a few provinces (Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Neuquén, Rio Negro) have adopted their own laws, and several adopted slightly modified versions of the federal law.

This ambiguity in the federal constitution means in practice that any federal environmental measure will have a difficult time winning passage in the Argentine Congress - at least until the attitude of the Senate changes. It also means that, even if a consensus is eventually reached between Congress and the Federal Executive on minimum federal standards, whether and how these standards are applied will remain up to the provinces and the CBA.

As for the provinces, most now have their own environmental framework laws. Many of these are sketchy and broad, with only a handful of follow-up measures (laws, decrees, resolutions) on specific topics (air, water, wastes, etc.). Only a few provinces have developed a complete body of law on environmental matters; the best known, the Province of Buenos Aires (PBA), has jurisdiction over much of Argentina's industrial activity and 39% of its population. PBA also has the most developed and aggressive provincial environment agency, the Secretariat of Environmental Policy (SPA) - most provinces have younger, more modest agencies. PBA's environmental policies are actively studied by many provinces as possible models for their own initiatives.


Authors:

Madeleine B. Kadas, Esq. Beveridge & Diamond P.C. More Info

Paul Hagen Beveridge & Diamond P.C. More Info

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