In focus

Within the framework of the Decree of Necessity and Urgency No. 70/2023 and the bill of "Bases and Starting Points for the freedom of Argentines", which were recently promoted by the Executive Branch of the Nation, the Secretariat by means of the Resolution repealed more than 50 provisions and resolutions issued under its competence. This is in order to reduce bureaucracy and simplify the production processes in relation to consumer and to promote the elimination of certain obstacles and barriers within the trade industry.

In summary, the Resolution repeals and eliminates restrictions related to the following matters:

1. Pricing control. Regarding pricing control in wholesale and retail markets, the "Maximum Prices" and "Care Prices" programs have been repealed, as well as numerous rules that provided the obligation to inform of products' prices, as well as referenced amounts for the sale of certain products. However, Resolution No. 823/2022, which created the "Fair Prices Program," has not yet been repealed. Likewise, different price information systems were eliminated, along with the "Information System for the Implementation of Economic Reactivation Policies" (i.e., SIPRE for its Spanish acronym), which obliged certain companies to report the current prices and quantities of all their sold products. On the other hand, the "Labeling Control System" (i.e., SIFIRE for its Spanish acronym), which required companies to obtain the Secretariat's approval on their products' labels prior to their commercialization, has been also repealed.
2. Consumer. Resolution No. 1033/2021, which provided the minimum mandatory parameters to be complied with by certain suppliers when providing remote attention and communication services through their websites, apps, chats and social networks, among others, is repealed. Likewise, Disposition No. 11/2023, which included the Prevention and Solution of Over-indebtedness of Consumers Regulation, establishing several obligations for suppliers of goods and services, was repealed.
3. Prepaid medicine. Resolutions requiring prepaid medicine service providers to inform the Secretariat of, among other matters, the total amount of the monthly fee they receive for the rendering of services, are repealed.
4. Financial and banking regime. Resolutions requiring banks, financial institutions and credit card issuers to report to the Secretariat the nominal annual and effective monthly interest rates applied to the financing of debtors' balances, punitive interest rate, interest rate applicable to cash withdrawals or advances, charges, commissions, expenses and additional fees, among others, are repealed. In particular, financial institutions will no longer be required to report the total financial cost of mortgage loan transactions.
5. Foreign trade. The Resolution also repealed Disposition No. 3/2020, which exempted certain goods included in the tariff positions of the MERCOSUR Common Nomenclature from the processing of Non-Automatic Import Licenses. This repeal is related to the prior repeal of the Non-Automatic Import Licenses, so it was not reasonable to have this rule in place.

The specific impact of these deregulations will have to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. If you have any questions or concerns about the impact of any of these points, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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