Milan, 30 Sept. (LaPresse) – Argentina’s Supreme Court has removed the barriers to the sale of rural land to foreign buyers. The South American country’s highest court has quashed a ruling by the federal court in La Plata which had blocked a clause in a 2023 decree through which President Javier Milei had repealed the so-called Land Law, which imposed specific restrictions on the purchase of rural land by foreign nationals. The Supreme Court has overturned the ruling of the La Plata court, whilst refraining from ruling on the validity of the decree by which Milei repealed the ‘Ley de Tierras’. The decision therefore reinstates the controversial clause of Milei’s decree. The ‘Ley de Tierras’, passed in 2011, established a series of limits on the ownership of agricultural land by foreign nationals. Among the restrictions – as Clarín points out – it set the maximum share of rural land that could remain owned or held by foreign nationals at 15 per cent at national, provincial and departmental levels. The sweeping decree DNU 70/2023, issued by Milei just ten days after taking office, repealed this law via its Article 154, but it remained blocked in the courts for two years. The Supreme Court’s decision now changes this situation.
Argentina: Supreme Court lifts restrictions on land purchases by foreign nationals
Milan, 30 Sept. (LaPresse) – Argentina’s Supreme Court has removed the barriers to the sale of rural land to foreign buyers. The South American country’s highest court has quashed a ruling by the federal court in La Plata which had blocked a clause in a 2023 decree through which President Javier Milei had repealed the so-called Land Law, which imposed specific restrictions on the purchase of rural land by foreign nationals. The Supreme Court has overturned the ruling of the La Plata court, whilst refraining from ruling on the validity of the decree by which Milei repealed the ‘Ley de Tierras’. The decision therefore reinstates the controversial clause of Milei’s decree. The ‘Ley de Tierras’, passed in 2011, established a series of limits on the ownership of agricultural land by foreign nationals. Among the restrictions – as Clarín points out – it set the maximum share of rural land that could remain owned or held by foreign nationals at 15 per cent at national, provincial and departmental levels. The sweeping decree DNU 70/2023, issued by Milei just ten days after taking office, repealed this law via its Article 154, but it remained blocked in the courts for two years. The Supreme Court’s decision now changes this situation.