The Labor Court of Appeals issued an en banc decision on February 3 2006 ruling on the joint and several labor liability of contractors and subcontractors, specifically governed by section 30 of the Employment Agreement Law the ("LCT").

Law No. 26,197 (the "Federalization Law"), has amended section 1 of Hydrocarbons Law, which now sets forth that liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fields belong either to the federal or provincial government, depending on the territory where they are located.

On October 2000, Argentina enacted its first Data Protection Law. Among other aspects related to the protection of personal data, the Data Protection Law provided for the obligation to register the databases under the scope of such law in a register to be created.

According to the data distributed last September 27, by the Institute of Statistics and Census ("INDEC"), 4.8 million Argentine workers are not formally registered by their employers.

Under the Argentine Companies Law (the "ACL"), branches of foreign companies are deemed as not independent entities, being the parent company fully and unlimitedly responsible for all debts, losses and liabilities of its branch.

Through a general resolution, the Public Registry of Commerce ("IGJ") (i) set forth the companies’ duty to register, previously or simultaneously to the filing before the IGJ of capital increases, the issuance of bonus shares, and (ii) established a series of requirements as regards the manner of execution and treatment of the so-called "irrevocable contributions on account of future share issuances", "irrevocable contributions, "irrevocable advanced payments", "contributions", etc.

In a context of soaring prices for crude oil and the awakened interest of international investors in commodities and emerging markets, six Argentine provinces are in the process of awarding exploration permits over hydrocarbon areas, and three more have announced bidding contests during this year.

Although the so-called irrevocable capital contributions on account of future subscription of shares have a widespread use among Argentine corporate entities, there is a legal vacuum in the Argentine Companies Law regarding the treatment of such contributions.

Regulation No. 7/2005 issued by the Personal Data Protection National Office (the "Office") repealing the previous offense regime (i) approves a new classification and degrees of the penalties imposed by the Office for offenses to Law No. 25326 (the "Data Protection Law") and (ii) creates a registry of offenders of the Data Protection Law (the "Registry").

Biodiesel production in Argentina has turned into an attractive investment opportunity. In fact, it is driving the attention of the global business community, as portrayed by CNN Money: one of the best business ideas of the world in 2006.

Relevant political, legal and business-related events took place in the energy sector in Argentina during 2004.

The Companies’ Registry ("IGJ") issued General Resolution No. 2/2005 (the "Resolution"), which rules on certain issues related to Foreign Companies.

This is an overview of (i) the general tax, customs and labor applicable framework of the software industry in Argentina, (ii) the recent discussions regarding the Income Tax treatment of payments of software royalties to foreign beneficiaries, and (iii) the tax benefits of the newly created software promotional regime.

Fortunately for us all, Mother Nature does not care or respect limitations of man and, therefore ––among many other things–– mineral deposits hold aloof from political disruptions associated with borders between countries. However, this frequently appears as a major challenge for the development of mining projects.

Foreign Investment (FI) on mining prospecting and exploration is influenced by many factors. Some of them, such as geology potential, international demand or pricing of commodities are not subject to governmental regulation.