Keys to the Bases Law approved by the Senate in Argentina

The Bases Law or ‘omnibus law’ is a bill promoted by Javier Milei that seeks to promote privatization and industrial development in Argentina and has just been approved in the Senate. This project includes various reforms ranging from public administration to justice or health.

• The final text has 238 articles that are divided into 10 titles, derived from an initial text with 279 articles that was modified in the Chamber of Deputies until it became 232 articles and which has subsequently been modified in the Senate.

The keys to this standard. The keys on which the Milei Base Law is based range from business privatization to the limitation of labor rights, as analyzed Checked and exposes the new norm:

• The first article of the Base Law of Argentina establishes the “public emergency” in administrative, economic, financial and energy matters, something that would allow the Executive Branch a series of specific “legislative delegations” to govern until the end of 2024.

• The privatization of some companies such as the energy company Energía Argentina SA, among other companies, is included.

• Regarding trade, the rule establishes that the functioning of markets be “facilitated” through their “deregulation.” In this sense, it includes free trade in hydrocarbons or electrical energy, among others.

• In the chapter on the “promotion of registered employment” it is established that employers may regulate “unregistered or poorly registered” employment relationships that they had before the implementation of this law without entailing any type of sanction for the employer, something for which the law establishes a period of 90 days.

• The worker who goes on strike will be penalized through his salary, subtracting the amount proportional to the hours missed from his job.

• The extension of the trial period for workers is established, which is currently 3 months. With the new standard it would be 6 months for companies with more than 100 workers, 8 for SMEs with 6 to 99 workers, and one year for mini-SMEs with up to 5 workers.