Law 26.093
Regime of Regulation and Promotion for the Production and
Sustainable use of Biofuels. Application authority. Duties. National Advising Commission.
Producing Plant Authorization Certificate. Biofuels with Fossil Fuels blending. Beneficiary Subjects of the Promotional Regime. Infractions and penalties.
Sanctioned: April 19th, 2006
Promulgated in act: May 12th, 2006
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The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation gathered in
Congress, etc. sanction with force of Law:
REGIME OF REGULATION AND PROMOTION FOR THE PRODUCTION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF BIOFUELS
CHAPTER 1
ARTICLE 1. — We dispose the following Regime of Promotion for the Production and
Sustainable use of Biofuels in the territory of the Argentine Nation, activities that will be ruled by the present law.
The mentioned regime in the precedent paragraph will have a validity of fifteen (15) years starting from its approval.
The national Executive Power will be able to extend the precedent term computing the fifteen (15) years of validity starting from in terms established in sections 7th and 8th of the present law.
Application authority
ARTICLE 2. — The application authority of the present law will be determined by the national Executive Power, according to the respective competitions disposed by Law Nº 22.520 of Ministries and its statutory and complementary norms.
National Advising Commission
ARTICLE 3. — The National Advising Commission for the Promotion of the Production and Sustainable Use of the Biofuels is now created, whose function will be to attend and advise the application authority. This Commission will be integrated by a representative of each one of the following national organisms: Energy Secretary, Agriculture, Livestock, Fish And Food Secretary, Environment and Sustainable Development Secretary, Treasury Secretary, Political Economics Secretary, Secretary of Commerce, Industry and of the Small and Medium Companies, Secretary of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, and Federal Administration of Public Revenues and all other organism or public or private institutions -including the Federal Council with competition in the determined areas—that can assure the best fulfillment of the functions assigned to the application authority and that is determined in the regulation of the present law.
Duties of the Authority of Application
ARTICLE 4. — The duties of the application authority will be:
a) To promote and control the production and sustainable use of biofuels.
b) To establish the quality norms to wich the biofuels should be adjusted.
c) To establish the requirements and necessary conditions for the authorization certificate of the production plants and biofuels mixture, to solve on their qualification and approval, and to certify the date of their setting in march.
d) To establish the requirements and criteria of selection for the presentation of the projects that have as object to adhere to the benefits established by the present law, to solve on their approval and to determine their duration.
e) To carry out audits and inspections to the plants enabled for the production of
biofuels in order to control their correct operation and their adjustment to the normative
in force.
f) To carry out audits and inspections to the beneficiaries of the promotion regime established in this law, in order to control their correct functioning, their adjustment to the normative in force and the permanency of the established conditions to maintain the benefits that have been granted.
g) It will also practise the attributions that Law Nº 17.319 specifies in its Title V,
articles 76 at the 78.
h) To apply the penalties that correspond according to the seriousness of the punished actions.
i) To request under sworn declaration, the estimates of biofuels demand foreseen by the companies that own petroleum distilleries or refineries, fractioners and distributors wholesalers or retailers of fuels, forced to use them, according to that established in articles 7th and 8th.
j) To administer the subsidies that may possibly grant the Honorable Congress of the Nation.
k) To determine and modify the participation percentages of the biofuels in courts with gasoil or naphtha, in the terms of articles 7th and 8th.
l) In their case, to determine the quotas of distribution of the biofuels offer, according to that foreseen in the last paragraph of article 14th of the present law.
m) To assume its fiscalization functions that correspond in the execution of the present law.
n) To determine the fiscalization and control rate that annually will be payed by the agents reached by this law, as well as their payment methodology and collection.
o) To create and keep up dated a public registration of the plants enabled for the production and mixture of biofuels, as well as a detail of those to which are granted the promotional benefits established in the present regime.
p) To sign cooperation agreements with different public, private, mixed organisms and non government organizations.
q) To communicate in time and form to the Federal Administration of Public Revenues and other organisms of the national Executive Power that have competence, the up and low of the registration that refers the parenthesis o) of the present article, as well as all other fact or event that has the category of outstanding for the execution of the statements of this law.
r) To publish prices of reference of the biofuels periodically.
s) To exercise all other attribution that arises from the regulation of the present law to the effects of its best execution.
t) To publish in the internet page the Registration of the beneficiaries Companies of the present regime, as well as the amount of tax benefit granted to each company.
Definition of Biofuels
ARTICLE 5. — For the present law, biofuels is understood as the bioethanol, biodiesel and biogas that is produced starting from raw materials of agricultural, agroindustrial or organic waste origin, that fulfill the requirements of quality that establishes the application authority.
Producing Plant Authorization Certificate
ARTICLE 6. — Only the plants enabled to this effect by the application authority be able to produce biofuels.
The corresponding authorization will be granted, only, to the plants that fulfill the requirements that establishes the application authority as for the biofuels quality and its sustainable production, for that it will be subject to different projects presented to a procedure of Environmental Impact Evaluation o (EIA) that includes the treatment of effluents and the management of residuals.
Biofuels with Fossil Fuels blending
ARTICLE 7. — It is established that all liquid fuel characterized as gasoil or diesel oil—in the terms of the article 4º of Law Nº 23.966, Title III, of Tax over the Liquid Fuels and the Natural Gas, text ordered in 1998 and its modifications, or in the one that may establish the national legislation to replace it in the future—that is commercialized in the national territory, must be mixed by those facilities that have been approved by the application authority with the specific aim of carrying out this mixture with the specie of biofuel denominated “biodieselâ€, in a percentage of FIVE percent (5%) as minimum of this last one, measured on the total quantity of the final product. This obligation will have validity starting from the first day of the fourth year calendar following to that of promulgation of the present law.
The Authority of Application will have the attribution to increase the mentioned percentage, when it considers it convenient in function of the evolution of the variables of the internal market, or to diminish it in view of situations of proven shortage.
ARTICLE 8. — It is established that all liquid fuel characterized as naphtha—in the terms of the article 4th of Law Nº 23.966, I Title III, of Tax over Liquid Fuels and Natural Gas, text ordered in 1998 and its modifications,or in the one that may establish the national legislation to replace it in the future that is commercialized in the national territory, must be mixed by those facilities that have been approved by the application authority with the specific aim of carrying out this mixture with the specie of biofuel denominated “bioethanolâ€, in a percentage of FIVE percent (5%) as minimum of this last one, measured on the total quantity of the final product. This obligation will have validity starting from the first day of the fourth year calendar following to that of promulgation of the present law.
The Authority of Application will have the attribution to increase the mentioned percentage, when it considers it convenient in function of the evolution of the variables of the internal market, or to diminish it in view of situations of proven shortage.
ARTICLE 9. — Those facilities that have been approved by the application authority for the specific aim of carrying out the mixtures, will acquire the products defined in the article 5º, exclusively from the plants enabled to that effect by the application authority. Also they will fulfill that established in article 15th, incise 4.
The violation of these obligations will give place to the penalties that the referred application authority may establish.
ARTICLE 10. — The application authority will establish the requirements and conditions for the self-consumption, distribution and commercialization of biodiesel and bioethanol in pure condition (B100 and E100), as well as of its different mixtures.
ARTICLE 11. — The gassy biofuel denominated biogas will be used in systems, transportation and distribution lines according to what establishes the application authority. Consumption of Biofuels by the national State.
ARTICLE 12. — The national State, wether it is the central administration or
the decentralized organisms or autarchical, as well as the private investments that are located on the waterways, lakes, lagoons, and especially inside the jurisdictions of National Parks or Ecological Reservations, must use biodiesel or bioethanol, in the percentages that is determined by the application authority, and biogas without cut or mixture. This obligation will have validity starting from the first day of the fourth year calendar following to that of promulgation of the present law, and its non execution by part of the directors or responsible for the respective area, will give place to the penalties that establishes the national Executive Power.
The application authority will take the necessary precautions to guarantee the provision of this fuels in enough quantities and with permanent flow.
CAPITULO II
Promotional regime
Beneficiary Subjects of the Promotion
ARTICLE 13. — All the projects of settling of biofuels industries, will enjoy the benefits that are established in the present law, as long as:
a) They settle in the territory of the Argentine Nation.
b) They are property of commercial societies, private, public or mixed, or cooperative, constituted in Argentina and enabled exclusively for the development of the activity promoted by this law, being able to integrate all or some of the necessary industrial stages for the obtaining of the corresponding renewable raw materials. The application authority will establish the requirements so that these are framed in the specifications of the present article.
c) Their majority social capital is contributed by the national State, by the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the Provincial States, the Municipalities or the physical or juridical people, dedicated mostly to the agricultural production, according to the criteria that establishes the regulation decree of the present law.
d) They are in condition of producing biofuels fulfilling the definitions and quality norms established and with all the other requirements set by the application authority, previous to the approval of the project by this part and during the validity of the benefit.
e) They have accesed to the fiscal share established in article 14th of the present law and under the conditions that set the regulation.
ARTICLE 14. — The total fiscal share of the promotional benefits will be fixed annually in the respective law of Budget for the National Administration and it will be distributed by the national Executive Power, prioritizing the projects in function of the following criterias:
- Promotion of the small and medium companies.
- Promotion of agricultural producers.
- Promoción de las economÃas regionales.
It is Established that starting from the second year of validity of the present regime, it will also be included in the total share, those that were granted in the previous immediate year and that result necessary for the continuity or finalization of the respective projects.
To the effects of favoring the development of the regional economies, the application authority will be able to establish distribution quotas among the different projects presented by small and medium companies, approved according to that set in articles 6th and 13th, with a non inferior concurrence to twenty percent (20%) of the total demand of biofuels generated by the stills, petroleum refineries or those facilities that have been properly approved by the Authority of Application for the specific aim of carrying out the mixture with the derives of petroleum foreseen for one year.
Promotional benefits
ARTICLE 15. — The subjects mentioned in article 13th, that fulfill the conditions settled in article 14th, will enjoy during the validity established in article 1st of the present law of the following promotional benefits:
1.- Regarding the Value Added tax and to Profit tax, it will be of application the treatment established by Law Nº 25.924 and its regulating norms, to the acquisition of capital goods or the realization of infrastructure works corresponding to the respective project, for the time of validity of the present regime.
2.- The goods affected to the projects approved by the application authority, won’t integrate the imposition base of the Presumed Minimum Gain tax set by Law Nº 25.063, or the one that supplements it in the future, modify or substitute, starting from the date of approval of the respective project and until the third closed exercise, inclusive, with posteriority to the setting in march date.
3.- The biodiesel and the bioethanol produced by the full subjects of the projects approved by the application authority, to satisfy the quantities foreseen in articles 7th, 8th and 12th of the present law, won’t be reached by the rate of Hydric Infrastructure established by the Ordinance Nº 1381/01, by the Tax on the Liquid Fuels and the Natural Gas set in Chapter I, Title III of Law Nº 23.966, text ordered in 1998 and its modifications, by the tax denominated “On the onerous or gratuitous transfer or on the gasoil importation”, established in Law Nº 26.028, and neither by the tributes that can substitute or complement it in the future.
4.- The application authority will guarantee that those facilities that have been approved for the specific aim of carrying out the mixtures, will acquire the products defined in the article 5th to the subjects promoted in this law until depleeting its available production to the prices that the mentioned authority establishes.
5.- The Secretary of Agriculture, livestock, Fishes and Foods, promote those cultivations dedicated to the biofuels production that favor the productive diversification of the agricultural sector. For that, this Secretary will be able to elaborate specific programs and foresee the corresponding budgetary resources.
6.- The Subsecretary of Small and Medium Company will promote the acquisition of capital goods on part of the small and medium companies dedicated to the biofuels production. In order to achieve this it will elaborate specific programs that contemplate the regional balance and it will set the corresponding budgetary resources.
7.- The Secretary of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation will promote the investigation, cooperation and technology transfer, among the small and medium companies and the pertinent institutions of the National Public System of Science, Technology and Innovation. In order to achieve this it will elaborate specific programs and it will foresee the corresponding budgetary resources.
Infractions and Penalties
ARTICULO 16. — The nonfulfillment of the norms of the present law and of the dispositions and resolutions of the application authority, will give place to the application by this last one of some or all the penalties that are detailed next:
1.- For the enabled plants:
a) Disqualification to develop this activity;
b) The fines that could correspond;
c) Disqualification to register again in the producers registry.
2.- For the subject beneficiaries of the granted shares according to article 15:
a) Revoke of the inscription in the registry of beneficiaries;
b) Revoke of the granted benefits;
c) I Pay of the not entered tributes, with more the interests, fines and/or overcharges that the Federal Administration of Public Revenues may establish;
d) Revoke to register again in the registry of beneficiaries.
3.- For the mixture facilities refered to in the article 9º:
a) The fines that the application authority may establish;
b) Disqualification to develop this activity.
4.- For the subjects mentioned in the article 13th:
a) The fines that the Authority of Application establishes.
ARTICLE 17. — All the projects qualified and approved by the Authority of Application will be reached by the benefits that establish the mechanisms— Right of Reduction of Emissions; Credits of Carbon and any other title of similar characteristic—of the Protocol of Kyoto of the Convention Marco of the United Nations about Climatic Change of 1997, ratified by Argentina through Law Nº 25.438 and the effects that of the future regulation law of the mechanisms of clean development emanate.
ARTICLE 18. — The penalties with which the enabled plants and the mixture facilities can be sanctioned will be:
a) The very serious infractions, penalizable by the application authority with fines equivalent to the public sale price of up to A HUNDRED THOUSAND (100.000) liters of super naphtha.
b) The serious infractions, penalizable by the application authority with fines equivalent to the public sale price of up to FIFTY THOUSAND (50.000) liters of super naphtha. c) The light infractions, penalizable by the application authority with fines equivalent to the public sale price of up to TEN THOUSAND (10.000) liters of super naphtha. . d) The recidivism in infractions by the same operator, will give place to the application of successive sanctions of more importance until its duplication regarding the previous one.
e) In the case of recidivism:
1. In a light infraction, the sanctions foreseen for serious infractions will be applicable.
2. In a serious infraction, the sanctions foreseen for very serious infractions will be applicable.
3. In a very serious infraction, apart from the sanctions settled down in the point a) of the present article, the application authority will be able establish the suspension of the infractor from the respective registries with disqualification to register again in the registry of producers.
ARTICLE 19. — To the effects of the administrative performance of the application authority, it will be of application the National Law of Administrative Procedures and its regulationing norms. Once exhausted the administrative recourse the resource will proceed directly in judicial headquarters before the Federal Court of Appeals with competition in contentious-administrative matter with jurisdiction in the place of the fact. The resources that intervene against the application of the sanctions foreseen in the present law will have devolutive effect.
ARTICLE 20. — The provincial Legislatures and of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires are invited to adhere to the present regime sanctioning laws inside their jurisdiction that have a similar main object to that of the present law.
ARTICLE 21. — Communicate to the Executive Power.
GIVEN IN THE ROOM OF SESSIONS OF THE ARGENTINEAN CONGRESS, IN BUENOS AIRES, TO THE NINETEEN DAYS OF THE MONTH OF APRIL OF THE YEAR DOS THOUSAND SIX.
— REGISTERED UNDER Nº 26.093—
ALBERTO BALESTRINI. — DANIEL O. SCIOLI. — Enrique Hidalgo. — Juan Estrada.