Baker & McKenzie International Arbitration Yearbook: 2013-2014 - Argentina

Author(s):

Gonzalo E. Cáceres

Santiago L. Capparelli

Page Count:

8 pages

Media Description:

1 PDF Download

Published:

March, 2014

Jurisdictions:

PDF145.26 KB

$40.00

Description:

A. LEGISLATION, TRENDS, AND TENDENCIES

A.1 Legislation

There have been no legislative changes relating to arbitration in

Argentina in the past year. Despite repeated attempts to obtain

congressional approval to adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law,

Argentina still lacks federal legislation specifically dealing with

arbitration. Instead, arbitration continues to be regulated by the

country’s civil procedure codes. Because Argentina is a federal

country, each province has its own code of civil procedure that

applies within that province. The National Code of Civil and

Commercial Procedure (“CPCCN”) applies to the Autonomous

City of Buenos Aires (the capital) and in each federal court

across the country.3

There are currently two draft bills of law in the National

Congress on the topic of arbitration. One of them is under

consideration in the House of Representatives;4 the other is in the

Senate.5 Hopefully, a bill will pass and Argentina will soon have

this very important legislation.

A.2 Trends and Tendencies

Argentina is about to enact a joint Civil and Commercial Code

which will replace the existing Civil Code and Commercial

Code. This will most likely occur in 2014. The draft code

contains a chapter regulating the arbitration contract (Sections

1649 to 1665). This chapter has been heavily—and in our view

correctly—criticized, as it goes against the predominant trend

and treats arbitration as an agreement, rather than as a

jurisdictional tool.