Modification of the Administrative Procedures Law: What impact does it have on procedures before the TMO?
On July 8, 2024, Law No. 27,742 on “Foundations and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines” was published in the Official Bulletin, introducing a comprehensive modification to Law No. 19,549 on Administrative Procedures (APL) in its Chapter III. Subsequently, on August 5, 2024, the new LPA regulations were published and entered into force through Decree No. 695/2024. The main objective of this amendment is to modernize administrative procedures and align them with practices already modified by case law and doctrine.
For industrial property lawyers and agents who daily represent clients before the TMO, the impact of this comprehensive modification has one significant effect: the deadlines for filing administrative appeals.
Annex I of Decree No. 695/2024 modified the previous Regulation of Administrative Procedures (RLPA), doubling the deadlines for filing appeals within the administrative sphere. As a result, the deadline for filing a reconsideration appeal was extended from ten (10) to twenty (20) days (Section 84, RLPA), while the deadline for filing a hierarchical appeal increased from fifteen (15) to thirty (30) days (Section 90, RLPA). Similarly, the timeframe for filing an appeal to a higher administrative authority was extended from fifteen (15) to thirty (30) days (Section 94, RLPA). It is important to note that all these deadlines are calculated in business days.
On the other hand, the amendment does not change the thirty (30) business day deadline for filing an administrative appeal against the refusal of a patent or utility model. This term arises from the specific regulation on Patents and Utility Models, namely Section 72 of Law No. 24,481.
Regarding late appeals, the complaint of illegitimacy remains an independent mechanism for challenging administrative acts. While not strictly an appeal, it allows for the rectification of appeals filed after the deadline. The amendment retains the complaint of illegitimacy but introduces a new limitation in Section 1 bis, subsection h, of the LPA: complaints will not be admitted if filed more than one hundred and eighty (180) days after notification of the act.
Invalidity and ineffectiveness of notifications
The amendment to the LPA introduces new requirements for the validity of notifications. Notifications must now inform the interested party of the available appeals for challenging the act and the deadlines for filing them, or, where applicable, whether the act exhausts the administrative procedure. If these requirements are omitted, the notification will be considered invalid and ineffective. This change modifies the previous rule in Section 40 of the RLPA, which extended the deadline to appeal an administrative act if the notification omitted these requirements, but did not invalidate the notification itself.
Are these extended deadlines already in effect?
Although these amendments have already come into force, as of the date of this article (August 21, 2024), the notifications issued by the TMO through its Public Bulletins have yet to reflect the updated deadlines for filing administrative appeals. Therefore, there remains some uncertainty regarding which deadlines should be followed in practice. It is expected that the TMO will soon issue an official clarification to provide certainty in this matter.
To sum up, the recent amendments introduced to the LP represent an effort to modernize and clarify administrative procedures, aligning them with current needs and the prevailing legal framework. In our field, although certain aspects—such as the practical implementation of the new notification deadlines—still await definition by the TMO, it is crucial to stay informed about these regulations to ensure compliance and optimize professional practices.
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