Overview

• Decree 450 overhauled decades-old laws to allow direct bilateral contracts in electricity and gas and to lift restrictions on international energy trade
• The deregulation measure authorizes private and foreign investors to take equity stakes in Nucleoeléctrica Argentina S.A., granting them commercial influence over nuclear generation
• Decree 452 consolidates ENRE and ENARGAS into the autonomous Ente Nacional Regulador del Gas y la Electricidad, which must be fully operational within 180 days
• Consumer and user defense associations warn that looser oversight and fewer contractual safeguards could erode service quality, safety standards and access rights
• Both decrees rely on the executive’s special legislative powers under last year’s Law of Bases, sidestepping fresh congressional approval