Bases Law (Law 27,742): State reform, privatisations and the RIGI
Law 27,742, the « Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines », was passed by Congress on 27 June 2024 after a Senate vote decided by the Vice President’s casting vote, and published on 8 July 2024. It declared a one-year public emergency, delegated powers to the executive to reorganise or dissolve State bodies, declared six State companies subject to privatisation (two more only partially), rewrote the administrative procedure and public employment rules, and changed labour law (six-month probation period, repeal of the fines for undeclared work, regularisation scheme). It also created the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI): for projects of at least USD 200 million, a 25% income tax rate, gradual freedom to keep export proceeds abroad and 30 years of tax, customs and exchange stability. The delegated powers ran for one year; the RIGI adhesion window was extended to 8 July 2027.
Key points
Senate vote in general: votes for, equal to votes against
36
12 June 2024 · Observed
according to the Senate voting record (36 against; tie broken by the Vice President)[7][10]
State companies declared subject to privatisation or concession (Annex I)
6
from July 2024 · Observed
under article 7 and Annex I of Law 27,742 (plus a partial opening for Nucleoeléctrica Argentina and Río Turbio, arts. 8 and 9)[1]
RIGI tax, customs and exchange stability
30 years
from the date of adhesion · Announced
under article 201 of Law 27,742[1]
Income tax rate for RIGI projects
25%
from adhesion · Announced
under article 183 of Law 27,742 (minimum investment USD 200 million, art. 173)[1]
Gross fixed capital formation (% of GDP)
16% GDP
2025
- Status: In force since July 9, 2024. Published on 8 July 2024 (Official Gazette No. 35,456); article 237 applies the law from the following day unless a title provides otherwise. The government counts the RIGI adhesion period from 8 July 2024 (Decree 105/2026). The emergency and the delegated powers of article 1 ran for one year.[1][2][18]
- Next milestone: July 8, 2027, Scheduled close of the RIGI adhesion period
At a glance
Reference text
Ley de Bases y Puntos de Partida para la Libertad de los Argentinos (Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines, Law No. 27,742)[1][2]
No. Ley 27.742 · June 27, 2024
Read the text ↗Carried by
- Poder Ejecutivo Nacional (National Executive)[5]Sent the bill to Congress (Chamber of Deputies file 25-PE-2023) · 2023-2024 · Initiator
- Bartolomé Esteban Abdala[10][7]Senator (La Libertad Avanza), reporting member (miembro informante) for the majority committee report in the Senate debate of 12-13 June 2024 · 2024 · Initiator
- Victoria Villarruel[10][7]Vice President and President of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote in favour of the bill in the general vote of 12 June 2024 · 2024 · Amendment
- Javier Milei[4][11][12][13]President of the Nation, promulgated the law by Decree 592/2024 and signed its regulatory decrees · 2024-2026 · Implementation
- Luis Andrés Caputo[4][12][18]Minister of Economy, co-signed the promulgation and the regulatory decrees; his ministry is the RIGI authority · 2024-2026 · Implementation
Implementation
- Ministry of Economy (RIGI authority, privatisations through the « Agency for the Transformation of Public Companies » unit)
- Bicameral Commission for the Monitoring of Privatisations and Permanent Bicameral Commission (control of delegated decrees)
- Revenue and Customs Control Agency (ARCA, formerly AFIP): regularisation of undeclared employment
- National Gas and Electricity Regulator (replacing ENRE and ENARGAS)
Stated objective
Improve how the State works and reduce its oversized structure in order to cut the deficit and balance the public accounts (bases of the delegation, article 2); and, through the RIGI, attract large domestic and foreign investments, raise exports, create employment and give long-term predictability and stability to large projects (article 166). The reporting senator presented the law as a means to promote private initiative and deregulate the State.[1][10]
according to the text of Law 27,742 (articles 2 and 166) and Senator Bartolomé Abdala, reporting member in the Senate debate of 12-13 June 2024
Main measures
- Emergency and delegated powers (Title I, art. 1): public emergency in administrative, economic, financial and energy matters for one year, with powers delegated to the executive under article 76 of the Constitution; the executive must report to Congress every month, and the delegated decrees are controlled by the Permanent Bicameral Commission (art. 234).[1]
- State reorganisation (arts. 3 to 6): the executive may modify, merge, dissolve or transfer to the provinces bodies created by law, transform State companies, dissolve public trust funds and appoint administrators (interventions); national universities, the judiciary and Congress are excluded, and a list of bodies (including CONICET, ANMAT, INCAA, ENACOM, CNEA and the CNV) may not be dissolved.[1]
- Privatisations (arts. 7 to 14 and Annex I): Energía Argentina and Intercargo are declared subject to privatisation; AySA (water), Belgrano Cargas y Logística, the State rail operator SOFSE and Corredores Viales (roads) to privatisation or concession; Nucleoeléctrica Argentina and the Río Turbio coal complex only to a partial opening, the State keeping control. The Bicameral Commission for the Monitoring of Privatisations intervenes, and the National Audit Office examines each sale within 120 working days.[1]
- Administrative procedure (arts. 24 to 51, amending Law 19,549): when a rule requires an authorisation in the exercise of a regulated power, the administration’s silence after the deadline counts as approval; otherwise silence counts as refusal, and the default deadline for a decision is 60 days.[1]
- Public employment (arts. 52 to 62, amending Law 25,164): staff with job stability whose posts are abolished or exceed the optimal headcount are placed « on availability » for up to 12 months; without a new job by the end of that period they leave the national administration with one month’s pay per year of service.[1]
- Contracts and concessions (Title III): the executive may renegotiate or terminate public works contracts for emergency reasons (works already 80% executed are protected), and the concession law 17,520 is rewritten (public tender, preservation of the contract’s economic and financial balance, arbitration clauses).[1]
- Registered employment (Title IV, arts. 76 to 81): employers may regularise undeclared or under-declared private-sector employment begun before promulgation, with forgiveness of at least 70% of the social security debt (set at 90%, 80% or 70% by firm size by Decree 847/2024); regularised workers may count up to 60 months of contributions, on the minimum wage, towards the years required for the basic pension and unemployment benefit.[1][13]
- Labour modernisation (Title V, arts. 82 to 100): probation period of six months for open-ended contracts, which collective agreements may extend to eight months (firms of 6 to 100 workers) or one year (up to 5 workers); repeal of the fines for undeclared work of Law 24,013 (arts. 8 to 17) and of Law 25,323; collective agreements may replace severance pay with a termination fund; an independent worker may work with up to three independent collaborators under a single unified scheme; a surcharge for discriminatory dismissal is added (art. 245 bis).[1]
- Energy (Title VI): the hydrocarbons law 17,319 is amended so that the executive may not set domestic sale prices and international trade in hydrocarbons is free (exports subject to the Energy Secretariat’s non-objection); a single National Gas and Electricity Regulator is created to replace ENRE and ENARGAS (art. 161); the executive may adapt the electricity laws to open trade and competition (art. 162).[1]
- Large Investment Incentive Regime, RIGI (Title VII, arts. 164 to 228): for single-project vehicles in forestry, tourism, infrastructure, mining, technology, steel, energy, oil and gas investing at least USD 200 million in eligible assets, adhesion open for two years (extendable once by one year); 25% income tax rate; export proceeds progressively exempt from the obligation to sell foreign currency on the exchange market (20% after two years from start-up, 40% after three, 100% after four; one year earlier for strategic long-term export projects of at least USD 1 billion per stage); tax, customs and exchange stability for 30 years; disputes may go to international arbitration, including ICSID. A province must adhere for the regime to apply on its territory.[1][10]
- Fiscal measures (Title VIII): the internal tax on cigarettes is set at 73% of the retail price (excluding VAT), and the tax authority may set the taxable price when the declared price is at least 20% below the surveyed market price.[1]
In data
GDP growth
4.5%
2025
Monthly economic activity estimator (EMAE)
154index
Q2 2026
Gross fixed capital formation (% of GDP)
16% GDP
2025
years after the vehicle’s start-up, under article 198 of Law 27,742
| Share freed | RIGI project | Strategic long-term export project |
|---|---|---|
| 20% | 2 years | 1 years |
| 40% | 3 years | 2 years |
| 100% | 4 years | 3 years |
Scale starts at 0 years · Applies only where the general exchange regime is not more favourable. Proceeds of loans, capital contributions and services linked to the project are freely available from the start.
obligations accrued up to 31 July 2024
| Employer | Debt forgiven |
|---|---|
| Micro and small firms, non-profits | 90% |
| Medium-sized firms | 80% |
| Other employers | 70% |
Scale starts at 0% · The law sets a floor of 70% (art. 77); Decree 847/2024 sets the rates. Contributions to the health insurance system and occupational-risk premiums are forgiven at 100%.
Informal employment
52.8%
2025
Timeline
- Under debate
Executive bill (file 25-PE-2023) before the Chamber of Deputies[5]
First attempt in the Chamber of Deputies, then withdrawn[10]
According to the reporting senator in the Senate debate, the government tried to pass the law in January 2024; it was withdrawn (« levantada ») in the Chamber of Deputies and submitted again there several months later.
Chamber of Deputies approves the bill and sends it to the Senate[5]
Approval recorded by the Senate on 29 April 2024 (Deputies’ Order of the Day 7); the bill enters the Senate on 2 May 2024 as file CD-1/24.
Senate committee report (Order of the Day 37/24)[5]
Joint report of the General Legislation, Budget and Finance and Constitutional Affairs committees, with partial dissents and dissents; Senator Martín Lousteau files a minority report on 7 June 2024.
Senate approves the bill with amendments after a tie broken by the Vice President[6][7][9][8][10][5]
The vote in general ends 36 to 36 twice; Vice President Victoria Villarruel then breaks the tie in favour. The titles are voted one by one: the RIGI passes 38 to 32, the labour modernisation title 37 to 33. The amended text returns to the Chamber of Deputies.
- In force
Entry into force, the day after publication in the Official Gazette[1][2][18]
Published on 8 July 2024 (Official Gazette No. 35,456); article 237 applies the law from the following day unless a title provides otherwise. The government counts the RIGI adhesion period from 8 July 2024 (Decree 105/2026). The emergency and the delegated powers of article 1 ran for one year.
Decree 695/2024 regulates Title II (State reform)[11]
Decree 749/2024 regulates the RIGI[12]
The Ministry of Economy is designated as the RIGI authority; registers of single-project vehicles, long-term strategic export projects and RIGI suppliers are created.
Decree 847/2024 regulates the registered-employment and labour titles[13]
It sets the share of social security debt forgiven for regularised employment: 90% for micro and small firms and non-profits, 80% for medium-sized firms, 70% for other employers (100% for health insurance and occupational-risk contributions), for obligations accrued up to 31 July 2024.
Decree 953/2024 dissolves the tax agency AFIP and creates ARCA[14]
The decree cites article 3(b) of Law 27,742 among its legal bases.
Decree 286/2025 authorises the full privatisation of Energía Argentina, in stages[15]
Each business unit is to be separated; the first step is the sale of 100% of the shares of the electricity transmission holding Citelec through a national and international public tender.
End of the one-year emergency and delegated powers[1]
Article 1 declared the emergency and delegated the powers for one year from the law’s entry into force; decrees issued under them remain subject to the control of the Permanent Bicameral Commission (article 234).
Decree 494/2025 authorises the full privatisation of AySA (water and sanitation)[17]
Sale of all the State’s shares (90% of the capital): at least 51% to a strategic operator by national and international public tender, the remainder on domestic stock markets.
Decree 105/2026 extends the RIGI adhesion period by one year[18][1]
Using the single extension allowed by article 168, the adhesion period is extended by one year from 8 July 2026; the decree also adds technology activities (including artificial intelligence and defence industry) to the regulation’s definition of the technology sector.
Labour Modernisation Act (Law 27,802) builds on the labour titles[19]
The 2026 law, which has its own factsheet, refers to the independent workers with collaborators of article 97 and bars employers who used the Title IV regularisation from its new scheme for the same employees (article 174).
The debate
Citoyen takes no position: arguments are reported as their authors put them.
According to its supporters
- Senator Bartolomé Abdala, reporting member, argues that the law promotes private initiative and deregulation and that, with the RIGI, Argentina must compete with other countries to bring in investment money that is not in the country today.[10]
- Senator Juan Carlos Romero says the Senate corrected the RIGI: only new imported goods are exempt, projects must state the workers and local suppliers involved, and no RIGI project can be set up in a province that has not adhered, provincial taxes and environmental powers being preserved.[10]
- Senator Víctor Zimmermann says his proposals were incorporated: more bodies protected from intervention (INTI, the National Genetic Data Bank, SENASA), provincial powers written into the RIGI, and exchange incentives counted from the project’s start-up rather than its registration.[10]
- When extending the adhesion period in 2026, the executive stated that the RIGI had contributed significantly to investment in key sectors, promoting development, competitiveness, exports and job creation.[18]
According to its opponents
- Senator Martín Lousteau, who filed the minority report, opposes the emergency and delegated powers, which in his view give the government great discretion without a budget, and argues that the law gives large companies lower taxes and 30 years of tax stability while offering nothing to pensioners, small firms or education.[10][5]
- Senator Mariano Recalde rejects the labour titles: in his view the regularisation scheme is an amnesty for employers who broke the law (« those who do it don’t pay for it »), and the labour changes repeat past reforms and promote undeclared work and litigation rather than employment.[10]
- Senator Eduardo de Pedro opposes granting delegated « super-powers » to a president who, in his words, says he wants to destroy the State, recalling that schools, universities, science, the police and the army are the State.[10]
Indicators to watch
- GDP growth · IMF (WEO)See the card →
- Economic activity index (EMAE) · INDECSee the card →
- Gross fixed capital formation · World BankSee the card →
- Budget balance · IMF (WEO)See the card →
- Unemployment rate · INDEC (EPH)See the card →
- Informal employment · ILOSee the card →
- RIGI projects approved and committed investment · Ministerio de Economíano Citoyen card yet
Sources
- [1]Ley 27742 - Ley de Bases y Puntos de Partida para la Libertad de los Argentinos (texto original) –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), July 8, 2024
- [2]Ley 27742 - Resumen (sanción, publicación en el Boletín Oficial N° 35456) –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar)
- [4]Decreto 592/2024 - Ley N° 27.742 - Su promulgación –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), July 5, 2024
- [5]Expediente CD-1/24 - Proyecto de ley en revisión de Bases y Puntos de Partida para la Libertad de los Argentinos (Exp. HCD 25-PE-2023) –Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina
- [6]Acta de votación N° 1 - Ley de Bases, en general (12/06/2024, empate) –Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina, June 12, 2024
- [7]Acta de votación N° 2 - Ley de Bases, en general (12/06/2024) –Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina, June 12, 2024
- [8]Acta de votación N° 11 - Ley de Bases, Título V: Modernización laboral –Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina, June 12, 2024
- [9]Acta de votación N° 14 - Ley de Bases, Título VII: Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones (RIGI) –Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina, June 12, 2024
- [10]Versión taquigráfica - 5ª reunión, 2ª sesión pública especial, 12/13 de junio de 2024 –Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina, Dirección General de Taquígrafos, June 12, 2024
- [11]Decreto 695/2024 - Apruébase Reglamentación del Título II - Reforma del Estado. Ley Nº 27.742 –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), August 2, 2024
- [12]Decreto 749/2024 - Apruébase Reglamentación del Título VII - Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones (RIGI) - Ley Nº 27.742 –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), August 22, 2024
- [13]Decreto 847/2024 - Apruébase Reglamentación del Título IV (Promoción del Empleo Registrado) y del Título V (Modernización Laboral) - Ley Nº 27.742 –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), September 25, 2024
- [14]Decreto 953/2024 - Disuélvese la AFIP y créase la Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero (ARCA) –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), October 24, 2024
- [15]Decreto 286/2025 - Energía Argentina S.A. Autorízase el procedimiento para la privatización total –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), April 24, 2025
- [16]Decreto 452/2025 - Constitúyese el Ente Nacional Regulador del Gas y la Electricidad –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), July 4, 2025
- [17]Decreto 494/2025 - Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos S.A. Autorízase el procedimiento para la privatización total –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), July 22, 2025
- [18]Decreto 105/2026 - Decreto N° 749/2024. Modificación (prórroga del plazo de adhesión al RIGI) –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), February 18, 2026
- [19]Ley 27802 - Ley de Modernización Laboral (texto original) –Infoleg, Ministerio de Justicia (argentina.gob.ar), March 6, 2026