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MERCATE AS A SUR

Law 26.800

The decision of the Council of the Common Market of Mercosur No. 25/2003 shall be incorporated into the national legal system.

Sanctioned: November 21st 2012

Cast: December 26, 2012


ARTICLE 1 — Incorporate into the national legal system, for the purposes provided for in article 40 of the PRET OUR PROTOCOL, the Decision of the MERCOSUR Common Market Council No. 25/03, whose authenticated photocopy is added as an Annex to this law.

ARTICLE 2° — The regulations incorporated herein shall enter into force in accordance with the provisions of Article 40 of the PROTOCOL OF PRETE OUR.

ARTICLE 3° — Contact the national executive branch.

IN THE SESSION OF THE ARGENTINE CONGRESS, IN GOOD AIRES, TO THE TWENTY DAYS OF THE MONTH YEAR DOS MIL DOCE.


LOVE BOUDOU. - JULIAN A. DOMINGUEZ. - Gervasio Bozzano. — Juan H. Estrada.


MERCOSUR/CMC/DEC. No. 25/03


VISTO: The Treaty of Asunción, the Ouro Preto Protocol, the Montevideo Protocol on Trade in Services and the Common Market Group Resolution No. 36/00.

CONSIDERING:

That there is a need to establish rules of a quadripartite nature within the context and objectives of MERCOSUR, to grant temporary leave to professional service providers, in States parties.

That the Montevideo Protocol envisages in its Article XI the commitment of States parties to encourage in their respective territories the competent entities, government and professional associations and colleges, to develop rules for the exercise of professions for the granting of licences and to propose recommendations to the GMC on mutual recognition, considering education, experience, licences, registrations or certificates obtained in the territory of another State Party.

Such standards should be based on transparent criteria and objectives, ensuring the quality of professional service, consumer protection, public order, safety and health of the population, respect for the environment and the identity of States parties.

That the provisions and recommendations should not constitute barriers or restrictions on the provision of temporary professional service.

The aim should be to ensure that the planned harmonization minimizes the modification of existing legislation in States parties that have regulation on professional exercise and to promote its establishment in States parties that do not have such rules.

That appropriate instruments should be provided to each State party and to professionals in the absence of the mechanism for the mutual recognition of registration fees for the temporary professional period by an entity responsible for the registration and professional control of another State party.

That preferential benefits should be sought in the professional exercise for States parties against other countries or blocks, while maintaining the criteria for transparency, impartiality and efficiency.

That a significant number of the professional entities of the States Parties have been naturally grouped by disciplines or grouping of disciplines and have been holding meetings, exchanging information and reaching consensus on the common criteria and procedures for a professional exercise in the region.


Art. 1 - Approve the “Guidelines for the Celebration of Framework Agreements for Reciprocal Recognition between Professional Entities and the Development of Disciplines for Temporary Licensing”, which consist of Annex I and are part of this Decision.

Art. 2 - To approve the “Functions and Attributions of the Focal Information and Management Centres”, which are listed as Annex II and are part of this Decision.

Art. 3 - Approving the “System Operating Mechanism”, which appears as Annex III and is part of this Decision.

Art. 4 - This Decision shall be incorporated into national legal systems in accordance with the respective procedures of each State Party.



A - GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art. 1 – The granting of licences, registrations or certificates for the temporary provision of professional services under the Montevideo Protocol on Trade in Services will be carried out through the professional agencies responsible for the control and control of the professional period. The system will operate in accordance with Annex III.

For the purposes of this document, it is understood as professional services that are provided by university or higher-level professionals, and technical-level professionals.

Art. 2 - Rules and guidelines for granting temporary leave shall be common to States Parties. For the development of common rules, a Working Group shall be formed for each profession or group of professions.

Art. 3 - Each Working Group shall be composed of the entities responsible for monitoring the exercise of each profession or grouping of professions, in accordance with the legislation in force in each State Party, or by the national organization that understands them. Where there is no delegated control in a professional entity, or legally empowered national organization, the Service Group, National Section of each State Party, shall designate the professional entities that shall constitute the Working Group.

Art. 4 - The Working Groups shall have as their mandate the development of the guidelines and disciplines for the granting of licences or registration for the temporary professional period and the Framework Agreements for Recognition between Professional Institutions, in accordance with the Guidelines contained in item B of this Annex.

Art. 5 - Professional entities, which wish to constitute a Working Group, shall apply for recognition as such to the MERCOSUR Service Group. A Working Group shall be constituted for each Profession or related professions recognizing those already in place.

Art. 6 – The proposals developed and agreed upon in the Working Groups will be considered by the Service Group, which will assess its consistency with the Protocol of Montevideo and as set out in this Decision, the feasibility of its implementation, and will give consideration to the GMC for its approval.

Art. 7 - For the implementation of the mechanism, the entities of each State Party, responsible for the control of the exercise in each profession, shall sign the Framework Agreements for Recognition of Reciprocal, which shall be raised through the Service Group to the GMC for approval.

Art. 8 - The Professional Entities that subscribe to the Agreement shall comply with the following requirements: (a) be legally responsible for the granting of licences and registrations for the professional period and its control in their respective jurisdictions; (b) cover the entire territory of the State party or a substantive part of the territory of that State Party which is considered equitable by the entities of the other States Parties.

Art. 9 - Each State Party shall have a Focal Centre by profession or grouping of professions, which shall constitute the information centre on national regulations and regulations and of each of its jurisdictions, whose functions and powers appear as Annex II and are part of this Decision.

Article 10 - The Framework Agreements signed shall apply in accordance with the Montevideo Protocol and the rules of the existing conventions on nationality, residence, domicile, work permit, migration.

The applicability of the Framework Agreements signed shall be subject to the existence of bodies in each State Party to register and control the exercise of the professions under each Framework Agreement, to which the affiliation of the professionals of the respective States Parties is mandatory.

Art. 11 - Each State Party undertakes to implement the necessary instruments to ensure the full domestic effect of the Framework Agreements signed, as well as the harmonization of existing legislation, in order to enable them to apply them.

Art. 12 - Each Framework Agreement shall be in force with the accession of the professional exercise control entities of two (2) of the States Parties. Once in force, the Agreement shall apply only to States Parties whose professional exercise control entities have acceded to the Agreement.

Art. 13 - At the request of a State party, the present mechanism may be reviewed and, in common, modified for further development.

B - DIRECTRIES

For a professional enrolled in a State Party of MERCOSUR to engage in a professional activity in another State Party, each Framework Agreement shall include the following:

(a) The need for a contract to develop its activity in the host country;

(b) Common requirements in the four countries for registration in the Temporary Professional Registry of the professional control entity of the jurisdiction where it is to exercise the profession;

(c) Document translation requirements for registration;

(d) the criteria for equivalence in training and its scope or competences and minimum experience required, to be defined by quadripartite commissions by profession or grouping of professions, and non-discriminatory qualification tests or examinations can be performed and permanent education requirements established;

(e) procedures and timelines for communication between professional entities of origin and recipient during the registration and control of the activity;

(f) the grounds for refusal of registration and the procedure for appeal;

(g) the competencies, rights and obligations of the professional on a temporary basis, which cannot be elected or eligible in the local control entity;

(h) the express recognition of the professional regarding the disciplinary, ethical and technical jurisdiction of the receiving taxation entity, respecting the same and all other local legislation;

(i) the commitment of the professional to restrict his activity exclusively as provided for in the contract and in conformity with his vocational training, as a violation of this cause of cancellation of registration in the Temporary Register;

(j) The implementation of a common code of ethics for each profession or grouping of professions;

(k) The application of the procedures in place in local jurisdiction and the commitment of the respective taxing entity to fair and equal treatment between professionals in temporary and temporary periods;

I) the temporary registration shall be up to two years, which shall be extended for an equal period linked to an extension of the contract;

(m) not impose local knowledge assessments not linked to the professional exercise for registration;

(n) requirements to ensure the emerging civil liability of the professional exercise;

(o) The dispute settlement procedure;

(p) The establishment of a sanctions mechanism.

Each Working Group may, where necessary, constitute commissions by profession in order to contribute to the definition of the equivalence criteria in the training and its qualifications, scopes or competencies and minimum experience required, aptitude tests or qualification examinations and requirements for continuing education.


1 - The Focal Centre in each State Party shall be composed of the signatory entities of the Framework Agreements, responsible for the control of the professional exercise in its jurisdictions, which in addition to the information and management centre shall establish its rules of procedure and coordinate meetings and its agendas.

2 - Each FocaI Centre of a State Party shall, at least:

(a) To keep up-to-date information on legislation, regulations and procedures that the entities of that State attached to the Framework Agreement have provided to it;

(b) archive copies of the originals of the approval of the Framework Agreement made by the GMC and the Accessions and report them, keeping the respective information updated;

(c) To organize and maintain a database with up-to-date information containing, inter alia, the movement of temporary professionals and eventual sanctions, on the basis of information provided by each Entity;

(d) To maintain communication with the corresponding Focal Points of the other three States Parties;

(e) have a website where it will be maintained, the required information on applicable legislation, regulations and procedures, as well as any other information that the quadripartite body deems appropriate to meet the objective of the Focal Centre.

3. The costs of the creation and operation of the Focal Centers will be met by the professional entities.


(a) Operation of the Mechanism

1. In order to provide temporary professional services, the professional duly registered and authorized in his country of origin must apply for registration in the Temporary Professional Registry in the Professional Exercise Auditing Authority, in whose jurisdiction a service delivery contract is established.

2. The monitoring entity shall be responsible for the implementation of the mechanism and for registration in the Temporary Register to professionals of other States Parties who require it and meet the previously agreed requirements.

3. Any adhering entity shall report to the Focal Centre, periodically, the high, low, sanctions and any new developments in the professional regulations in force in its jurisdiction.

4. The Working Groups will carry out an Annual Report on the Development of Professional Activity in the Region and will send it to GMC through the Service Group.

5. The Working Groups will continue to make proposals for the development of the system to GMC through the Service Group.

(b) Mechanism for Accession to each Framework Agreement

The incorporation into each Framework Agreement of the professional exercise control entities of a State Party shall be requested by GMC through the Service Group. To this end, it shall submit the legal documentation which credits its status as the Agency responsible for the control of the exercise in the corresponding jurisdiction, have the approval of the Working Group and accompany it to a copy of the legislation, regulations and procedures applied by that entity in its jurisdiction for the control of the professional period, as well as any other related regulations applicable to the professional exercise in that jurisdiction. The Adherent Control Entities shall conform to the established regulations for the granting of temporary registration.

The Service Group will inform GMC of its compliance with the Accession Order.

(c) Dispute Settlement Management

The GS will assess the consistency of the dispute settlement mechanisms developed by the Working Groups in accordance with Article 4 of item A of Annex I, with the regulations in force in MERCOSUR and the feasibility of their implementation.

This Dispute Settlement mechanism will be unique to all professions.