MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina’s bill toughening sanctions over Sea Lion stalls in Congress

The bill, sent to Congress in September, has 133 articles. The first 40 repeal the 2011 law penalising hydrocarbon exploration not authorised by Argentina and create a broader regime with fines

The National Sovereignty Defence bill, with which Javier Milei’s government seeks to toughen sanctions against those involved in exploiting resources in the Falklands, failed to secure committee approval in the Chamber of Deputies and will not reach the special session planned for October 21, according to the Argentine press. The opposition is demanding that the text, which besides sanctions reforms security, defence and intelligence, be split.

The fourth joint meeting of the Defence, Criminal Law and Foreign Affairs committees ended on Wednesday without agreement, on the same day Argentina asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to halt the Sea Lion oil project. The ruling La Libertad Avanza party refused to break up the bill.

The bill, sent to Congress in September, has 133 articles. The first 40 repeal the 2011 law penalising hydrocarbon exploration not authorised by Argentina and create a broader regime with fines, disqualifications, a public register of offenders and prison sentences of up to 20 years. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, it extends sanctions to affiliates, financial intermediaries, shareholders and suppliers of the companies involved, and includes clauses that could reach the islands’ fishing industry. The Presidency’s Legal and Technical Secretary, María Ibarzábal Murphy, told Congress that current legislation “does not provide for fishing-related offences”.

That first part has partial opposition support, but the rest of the text is contested: the creation of a National Security Council chaired by the head of state and a protocol authorising, as a last resort, the shooting down of aircraft or sinking of vessels deemed hostile. Several blocs propose approving separately only the sanctions linked to resource exploitation.

The United Kingdom announced on Tuesday measures under its protection of trading interests legislation to prevent British companies and citizens from having to comply with Argentine rules outside Argentina’s jurisdiction.