The Minister of Production Francisco Cabrera presented before the committees of SMEs, Finance and General Legislation from the Chamber of Deputies today. It was during presence an informative meeting of the committee, to begin the treatment of the Expte. N ° 6830-D-2017 (debureaucratization for productive development). It is expected that next week the articles will be discussed again, now in legislative work days.

Cabrera emphasized severas issues referring to the DNU No. 27/2018 , which promoted changes in the Argentine regulatory framework aimed to encourage the simplification of the State.

The minister said that the aim of the DNU is to deepen the digitalization of the economy, de-bureaucratize and simplify the procedures related to production. He highlighted the following aspects:

• Argentine Guarantees Fund: The creation of a guarantee fund (FoGAr) to replace the Guarantee Fund for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The objective is to provide linked backup guarantees.
• Societies of reciprocal guarantees: He stressed that this point seeks to facilitate the granting of guarantees to partners through specific contracts. He also highlighted the diversification of reciprocal financing portfolios and the progress towards the digital signature.
• Regarding the trademarks and patents chapter, Cabrera stressed out that the intention is not to change the patentability or the system of brands, but to speed up the procedures. In turn, the project establishes modifications regarding the protection of patents in disuse.
• Electronic insurance: Allows the possibility that the insurance is digitally subscribed.
• Salary accounts seizure: It was one of the questioned points during the meeting. The minister indicated that this section is thought as an strategy to encourage the acess to credit.
• Exchange regime: Proposes to expand the access of new operators to the exchange market, grant more flexibility to the system and lower their operating costs
• Files Digitalization: It suggests amending Law No. 25.065 (of Cards) and No. 24.240 (Consumer Protection), the objective is to lower the costs of the procedures.
• Register of Employers with Labor Sanctions: Proposes to change the time lapse un which offenders must stay in the REPSAL registry.

Contribution from legislators

The debate was centered on the constitutionality of the DNU Nº 27/2018. The opposition blocs critizised the issuance of the decree. They pointed out that it was issued in an irregularly manner and emphasized the need to reject it.

Daniel Arroyo (Federal UNA), considered that the seizure of the accounts was a mistake and estimated that it will not encourage the access to credit. From the FPV-PJ bloc also repudiated this point. They understand that the possibility of seizure is a measure of the Executive Branch to favor the financial system.

One of the most prominent issues for the opposition was the files’ digitalization. The deputies José Ramón (Intransigent Party), Carolina Moisés (Argentina Federal) and Adrián Grana (FPV-PJ) celebrared the convenience of promoting the digitalization of the procedured, but questioned that it should not be implemented at the expense of paper procedures.

They considered that the conditions of Internet connectivity at the national level are not yet met in orden to achieve such objective.