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T H E P R I M E R U S P A R A D I G M
New Important Contracts Regulation in Argentina
Current Civil and Commercial
Codes
Argentina´s legal system is based in the
continental or civil law system, such as
in continental Europe. That is to say that
a considerable number of our regulations
are included in codes. For instance, most
of the civil regulations could be found in
the National Civil Code, the commercial
issues under the National Commercial
Code, and so on.
The actual Civil Code was written
by Dalmacio Velez Sarsfield in 1869
and went into effect in January 1871.
Basically, this Civil Code gathers most
of the continental law, Napoleon Code
and the principles of the Roman law.
The approval of the Civil Code was of
utmost importance in Argentina, since
it permitted unity of criterion and
allowed the inhabitants of this country
to foresee how a judge would construe
a case. This Civil Code had several
amendments, but the most important
was the one of 1968, under law 17,711,
which modified approximately 5 percent
of the Civil Code.
The Commercial Code was written by
Eduardo Acevedo and Dalmacio Velez
Sarsfield in 1858. Originally enacted
to govern only the Buenos Aires State,
it was then accepted by the rest of the
country in 1862. Likewise, in 1889
Congress approved other regulations
(such as bankruptcy law, customs issues,
guarantees, etc.) to be included in the
Commercial Code and in 1890 the
final Code was approved. In addition,
the Commercial Code had also been
amended several times.
These two codes have been very
important in Argentina since they rule
most of private law in Argentina. This is
about to change and become history.
New Civil and Commercial Code
On October 1, 2014, the Congress of the
Republic of Argentina enacted law 26,994
which unified the civil and commercial
codes into one code (the "New Code").
The New Code will be in full force and
effect starting August 1, 2015.
It is worth pointing out that the New
Code amended a considerable number of
civil and commercial provisions in effect
as of today, modifying the structure of
private law (civil and commercial) in the
Republic of Argentina.
We will introduce certain topics and
modifications regarding contracts that we
consider important. Please note that this
is only a preliminary introduction.
1. Commercial Contracts
The New Code not only modified
contracts regulations included in the
civil and commercial codes, but also
legislated about certain commercial
activities that existed in the Republic
of Argentina but were not previously
included in any code.
The advantage of having these
commercial activities or relationships
under a certain legal framework is it
permits parties to draft better contracts,
and allows judges to construe the cases
not only based on what the parties have
International ­ Latin America & Caribbean
Mariano E. Carricart is a partner with Badeni, Cantilo, Laplacette
& Carricart, where he focuses his practice on cross border
transaction, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and agribusiness.
He also has extensive experience dealing with complex legal
structures and foreign investments in Argentina.
Carlos Ignacio Bilbao is a partner at the firm, where he advises
on corporate general affairs and assists companies in everyday
legal matters. He also negotiates commercial and financial
agreements when drafted, at execution and at breach; advises
clients on investments (local and foreign), foreign exchange
regulations (BCRA), technology and intellectual property, and more.
Badeni, Cantilo, Laplacette & Carricart
Reconquista 609, 8th Floor
Buenos Aires, Argentina C1003ABM
Phone: +54 011 4515 4800
m.carricart@bclc.com.ar
i.bilbao@bclc.com.ar
bclc.com.ar
Mariano E. Carricart
Carlos Ignacio Bilbao