Argentine Congress Green Lights HQ Agreement for the Intergovernmental Waterway Committee

On December 16, 2020, Law No. 27,538 passed by the Argentine Congress was published in the Official Gazette approving the Headquarters Agreement celebrated on March 9, 2018 in Asuncion, Paraguay among all the countries that are part of the Paraguay-Parana Waterway Program: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, who has been party to the 1969 La Plata Basin Treaty since 1989.

The purpose of the Agreement is to facilitate performance of the Intergovernmental Waterway Committee (“the Committee”), the political body of the Treaty System, in charge of coordinating, promoting and executing the actions identified by the Member States, as well as managing and negotiating technical cooperation agreements for the development of an efficient waterway transportation system.

As established in the “Statute of the Intergovernmental Committee of the Paraguay-Parana Waterway,” this body is headquartered in the City of Buenos Aires, where the Executive Secretariat also operates on a permanent basis.

Among its measures, the Agreement stipulates that the Committee will legally operate through its Executive Secretariat headed by the Executive Secretary, who will be in charge of following up on and preparing the work agendas and representing the Committee when appropriate. The Secretary will enjoy in Argentina the same immunities and privileges granted to accredited diplomatic agents in the country, provided that they are not Argentine nationals or residents.

According to press release No. 417/20 of the Argentine Foreign Ministry, this will allow “the Executive Secretariat of the Committee to operate independently in Buenos Aires, with a greater degree of institutional backing and technical capacity of its own, propelling river transportation along the Waterway.”

Committee headquarters, premises and furniture are deemed legally inviolable and may not be subject to search, seizure or execution. In turn, the Committee will enjoy immunity from any administrative or judicial proceedings and may not be subject to any enforcement measures, albeit with some exceptions.

Likewise, the Committee will be exempt from the payment of taxes for the import or export of goods allocated to the fulfillment of its functions, and the activities carried out and the goods assigned to the fulfillment of its functions will be exempt from any direct, national, provincial or municipal tax.

Finally, the Agreement foresees for its entry into force the internalization of the instrument in local legislation and communication to ALADI by all member countries. As reported on the Association’s website, neither Argentina nor Brazil have communicated its incorporation yet.

Since the Agreement has not yet entered into force, the interim Secretariat, located at 1231 Esmeralda Street, Palacio San Martín, in the City of Buenos Aires and headed by Minister Romina Bocache, will remain in operation.