Robbing Peter To Pay Paul

Article by Carlos A. de Kemmeter and Juan Carlos Sanguinetti.

"Argentine Business Law Watch" is a periodic news service provided free of charge to clients and friends of Negri, Teijeiro & Incera.

This edition of Argentine Business Law Watch reports on a recent directive released by the Secretariat of Energy. The directive represents the Government’s latest response to the current Argentine energy crisis. In our March issue, we outlined the Government’s plans to curtail exports of natural gas and gas-generated electricity, as well as other measures to reduce domestic consumption, embodied in Decrees 180/04 and 181/04.

Emergency decrees 180/04 and 181/04 issued by the Government in March endow the Secretariat of Energy with the power to take "all measures as it may deem necessary" to assure natural gas service in the event of a shortage. While vesting it with broad authority, the Secretariat’s power to declare measures is limited to responding to actual shortages