On November 17, 2025, Decree 810/2025 was published in the Official Gazette, by which the National Executive Power appointed in commission the authorities that will form the National Competition Authority (ANC), a body created by Law 27,442 (LDC) as the specialized, autonomous and decentralized enforcement authority of the antitrust regime in Argentina.
With this designation, the bodies provided for in the LDC are formally constituted, while the proposal of appointments is communicated to the Senate of the Nation for the provision of its “agreement”, and the period of 15 working days begins for interested third parties to formulate observations, in accordance with Article 22 of the LDC.
- Institucional scope of Decree 810/2025
The entry into operation of the ANC represents a long-awaited milestone: seven years after the enactment of the LDC, the creation of an agency with functional, administrative and financial autonomy materializes, replacing the dual CNDC-Secretariat of Industry and Trade scheme, which operated under the orbit of the Executive Power and lacked full independence.
The ANC is composed of:
- Competition Tribunal (TDC):
- Eduardo Montamat (President)
- Lucas Trevisani Vespa (Member)
- Marcelo D’Amore (Member)
The appointment of two members remains, which does not prevent the start of the body’s operation.
- Secretariat for the Instruction of Anticompetitive Conduct (SICA):
- Ana Parente
- Secretariat of Economic Concentrations (SCE):
- Germán Zamorano
- Key structural change: adoption of the “pre-merger control” system
The constitution of the ANC activates the process provided for in Article 84 of the LDC, which establishes that the “pre-merger control” regime will come into force one year after the ANC is put into operation. The deadline began to run on November 18, 2025, so the “pre-merger control” system will be fully operational from November 18, 2026.
This implies that:
- Companies will only be able to close mergers once prior approval has been obtained from the TDC.
- The post-merger control model, which allowed transactions to be closed before notification, will be eliminated.
The switch to pre-merger control will have a profound impact on M&A transactions with effects in or into Argentina:
- The structuring, scheduling, and closing of local and multijurisdictional operations must be reviewed.
- The risk of gun-jumping increases and the applicable penalties are toughened.
Failure to notify a transaction makes the offender liable to:
- A daily fine of up to 0.1% of consolidated turnover in Argentina, or
- If it is impossible to apply this calculation, up to 750,000 mobile units per day, equivalent today to ARS 826,710,000 (approx. USD 578,000) per day of non-notification.
- Strengthening antitrust enforcement
The greater institutional independence of the ANC will allow to:
- Intensify investigations of unilateral conduct and cartels.
- Strengthening the use of information requests, gun-jumping investigations, and intensive inspections and down raids.
- Ensure a more technical, stable agenda that is less subject to political cycles.
Likewise, the new design facilitates the imposition of early behavioral and structural remedies, before damage to the general economic interest materializes.
- Upcoming Regulations Expected
To complete the operation of the ANC, the publication of new regulations is anticipated, including:
- Internal Regulations of the ANC (Art. 28, inc. k, LDC)
- New Merger Notification Forms and Advisory Opinion Filings and Gun-Jumping Proceedings
- Merger filings fees (Art. 33, LDC)
- New Leniency Program Regulations (Arts. 60–61, LDC; in accordance with Res. SIyC 98/2024)
This legal news does not constitute legal advice. If you need legal advice, please do not hesitate to contact: Bernardo Cassagne (bcassagne@tca.com.ar) – Francisco Rondoletti (frondoletti@tca.com.ar) (Partners) – Godofredo Ortiz (gortiz@tca.com.ar) (Associate)
