Draft Deregulation Bill Introduces Five Key Changes Affecting Foreign Trade – Trade News | 26/07/26

Argentina’s Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation has drafted a 349-article Deregulation Bill, signed on 6 July by Minister Federico Sturzenegger and submitted to Congress, which includes five reforms directly affecting customs and documentation procedures for foreign trade. Among the main measures, the bill would allow temporarily imported containers to remain under the temporary import regime for 720 days without requiring an application or guarantee, with the possibility of extending the period through the Executive Branch. However, if the container is removed from transport use, the temporary import status would automatically become a permanent import, triggering the applicable duties and penalties. The proposal also establishes that export clearance would be considered completed at the port of origin when the cargo is loaded onto the vessel performing the initial leg of the journey, provided an export customs declaration exists, while ARCA would retain the authority to revoke the clearance if the goods do not ultimately leave the customs territory. In addition, the bill authorizes bills of lading and other transport documents to be issued, stored, transmitted, and presented in paper, electronic, or digital format with equal legal validity, provided that the integrity, uniqueness, and exclusive control of the document are guaranteed and duplicate versions in different formats are avoided. The proposal also changes the requirement for certified translations from a general rule to an exception, allowing the Executive Branch to determine in which procedures translations into Spanish will be mandatory based on the nature of the process, legal certainty, technical complexity, or international commitments. Finally, the bill declares a six-month public emergency in administrative and competition matters and delegates authority to the Executive Branch to amend or repeal legal provisions concerning import and export quotas, cargo traffic permits, mandatory routes, exclusivity arrangements, and regulated freight transport tariffs, while requiring the Executive to report to Congress every three months on the use of those delegated powers. Link to Article