On August 27 the Senate Justice Committee resumed the debate of the bill to reform the Penal Code proposed by the Executive. In order to study the initiative, the committee invited specialists in law to participate. The meeting did not discuss specific aspects of the article, such as crimes in cyber security, but focused on the general intention of the text.

At the end of the meeting, the president of the committee Pedro Guastavino (Bloque Justicialista) indicated that another meeting will be held on September 10 for specialists to discuss the bill. Guastavino’s maximum objective is to reach a consensus opinion before the end of the year, although in dialogue with Directorio Legislativo he stressed that the political context in Argentina could block the legislative procedure of the bill.

In general, the speakers welcomed the Executive’s proposal to generate a new regulatory framework that unifies and orders the reforms that the law has been receiving since its creation (in 1921). However, they were critical in some aspects related to the amount of penalties.

Among the highlights of the meeting was the participation of Juan Montiel, the Director of the International Center for Applied Research in Criminal Law. He pointed out that it is necessary to study the drafting of the text with regard to the integrity of companies. He indicated that the bill resolves some of the disadvantages of law 27.401 (Criminal Responsibility of Legal Persons).

However, Montiel recommended studying the wording of the articles on this point so that judges can evaluate the integrity criteria of companies and their compliance regimes. On this point, he stressed that it would be convenient for the eventual Criminal Code to incorporate general guidelines and for the integrity of companies to be regulated by a special law.