FOLLOW-UP TO THE CONSERVATION OF

DECRECT N° 681

Rule 22,428

Bs. As., 27/3/81

VISTO Act No. 22,428 establishing rules to promote the application of conservation practices in the management of salaries by agricultural producers, and

CONSIDERING:

The immediate application of the said law is of the utmost public interest.

Without prejudice to the powers and responsibilities of the provinces with regard to the implementation of the above-mentioned Act, the national executive branch has the competence to issue the regulatory rules for the purposes of the application of the Act, especially with regard to the national subsidies provided for therein.

It is desirable that some aspects, because of their technicality or possible variability, be contemplated in regulatory resolutions of the implementing authority and be delegated to it the necessary powers to do so, with due regard to the limits and scope of that delegation.

That efforts have been made to determine the essential basis of the regulations in question, which is reasonable to assume that it requires further requirements or modifications as indicated by the experience resulting from the application of the new regime.

That the powers of the national executive branch to issue this decree are derived from article 86, paragraph 2, of the National Constitution.

Therefore,

The President of the Argentine Nation

Decrete:

Article 1 - The provisions of this decree shall without prejudice to what the provincial enforcement authorities determine in matters falling within their competence and for the purposes of granting the national subsidy provided for in article 9 of the Act.

Art. 2o - For the purpose of the establishment of a soil conservation district, the law enforcement authorities shall comply with the following minimum technical guidelines:

(a) That the current or potential degradation of the soil is of antropic origin, of obvious gravity, and clear incidence on agricultural production. They will not be considered as degraded areas in which their soils present for natural causes and in the usual high content of soluble salts: sodium; of toxic elements for common plants or domestic animals; of low native chemical fertility; high or suspended layer of water that nullifies or decreases very notoriously the radicular growth of useful plants; that require constant or supplementary irrigation; of any other agricultural use

The State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation, through a well-founded resolution, may establish the processes of degradation of antropic origin that will be considered a priority for the purposes of granting the federal benefits provided for in this law.

(b) That the chosen area is relatively homogeneous from the ecological and economic point of view, to such a degree that it allows to presume a successful general application of the techniques to recommend; such homogeneity should be based on sufficient basic technical information.

(c) The existence of specific proven technical practices in the place or in similar ecological conditions that enable the efficient solution of the current or potential degradation identified. The techniques that the application authority considers to be tested for the area of each district should be explained by the district in all its parts and technical specifications, including alternative solutions, if applicable. With them, a technical catalogue will be developed for the provincial level, which can be updated annually.

To this end, you may request the appropriate technical intervention to the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).

(d) Establish as a maximum area the following values to be assigned to soil conservation districts:

In drying areas with seven hundred (700) or more millimeters of annual rain, two hundred thousand (200,000) acres; between four hundred and fifty (450) to six hundred and nine (699) millimeters: six hundred thousand (600,000) acres; for less than four hundred forty-nine (449) millimeters: two million (20,000) of acres; for irrigation areas: ten thousand (10.000 hectares).

Art. 3o - They may be established within one (1) district or more soil conservation consortiums, in accordance with the following rules:

(a) It shall be a partnership of two (2) or more natural or legal persons. The implementing authorities may establish a minimum and maximum number of members.

(b) Income and discharge to consortiums shall be voluntary and free.

(c) The consorcists shall elect their authorities in the manner set out in the constitution document.

(d) The consortium authorities shall perform their duties in an honorary manner.

(e) The enforcement authority may establish additional rules regarding the constitution, operation and dissolution of consortiums within its jurisdiction.

Art. 4o - Consortiums for soil conservation should perform these functions:

(a) Prepare a basic programme of action. An account of the agricultural production characteristics of the consortium area should be made of its climatic and efficacious characteristics; of the problems of land degradation identified at the site; of the economic quantification of the damages produced and of the technical solutions proved or applied. Such a programme should be approved by the provincial enforcement authority and brought to the attention of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation.

(b) Receiving the consortium ' s work plans for evaluation and raising them for approval to the implementing authority to be consistent with the basic programme of action.

For the proper evaluation of each of these consortium plans, it may require the opinion of the technical adviser of the soil conservation district to which the consortium belongs.

(c) Control the implementation and follow-up of such plans in accordance with articles 6 (g) and 8 of the Act.

(d) Collaborate with the implementation authority in the progressive improvement of the basic programme of action in the light of the lessons learned.

Art. 5o - The implementing authority shall communicate to the Ministry of State for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation, the declaration of an area as a soil conservation district, as well as the constitution of each consortium within thirty (30) working days from the creation of the land consortium or the integration thereof, as appropriate.

Art. 6o - The implementing authority will provide specific technical advice on conservation issues. To do so, it must affect at least one (1) professional with an agronomist degree, to each soil conservation district.

The name of such a professional shall be communicated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation within thirty (30) working days of his designation.

Art. 7o - The professional mentioned in Article 6 may not be a signatory or a technical liability or an applicant in the individual plans of the consortium producers and demonstration areas.

Art. 8o - It will be considered "demonstrative area of conservation practices" that predium which, located in an area declared soil conservation district and has not been able to constitute a consortium performs the necessary conservation practices, whose results will serve the conservation promotion in the district.

Art. 9o - In cases which, in the opinion of the implementing authority, insufficiently proven techniques are available for the management and conservation of soils in an area, a predium may be selected by exception, which will constitute a "experimental area". In this case the producer, under the direct technical assistance of the application authority, will perform there the necessary studies and tests adjusted to the scientific method, to determine the feasibility of having appropriate techniques.

More than one (1) pilot area may not be subsidized for each area that may constitute a soil conservation district in the future.

The enforcement authority may in turn request technical assistance from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) or other official or private agencies it deems appropriate.

Art. 10 - The granting of subsidies for demonstration or experimental areas shall be governed by the same provisions established for soil conservation consortiums in this regulation.

Art. 11 - The presentation of the consortium conservation plans and by the consortium to the provincial enforcement authority shall be governed by the following minimum technical guidelines, without prejudice to which each province establishes for its respective jurisdiction.

(a) Identification of the presenter and of the predium to be included: the personal data of the applicant; character to be reviewed; copy of the plain; corresponding number in the Register of the Property of the property and catastral nomenclature.

(b) Sufficient basic soil information. To this end, the identification and cartographic expression of the soils of the predium will be made and the ability to use the land will be explained, taking into account the limitations of a physical, chemical, erosion and climate.

The provincial enforcement authority may set according to the nature and characteristics of each case, the scale of work on which the recognition is to be carried out.

In arid regions or with soils still unchanged or undeveloped, in which it is only planned to improve its livestock aptitude, the edaphic information required by a qualitative inventory of the existing natural vegetation can be replaced by indicating the useful and invasive species present and the possible consequences of the livestock use on plant succession.

In the event of planning the use of simple conservation practices, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation may authorize, at the request of an application authority, to present a soil information that only includes the external and morphological description of the typical profiles of the predium, with the corresponding chemical, physical and physical-chemical characteristics that are deemed necessary.

(c) Land use planning: it will be specified for a period of time not less than five (5) years, the detailed fate of the use of predium common and special practices to be used and technological objectives.

(d) Cost budgets for special practices to be used.

(e) Synthesis of the objectives of the programme: to that end, the characteristics of the programme of the techniques to be used will be summarized, the overall implementation of the time-frame programme required for results.

Each plan shall be signed by the applicant and the responsible professional and shall also include, as appropriate, the written agreement of the owner of the predium for the realization of the plan proposed in order to comply with the provisions of article 13 of the Act.

Art. 12 - For the purposes of the granting of the national subsidies provided for in article 9 of the Act, the provincial implementing authorities shall raise to the Ministry of State of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation the conservation plans approved in their jurisdiction before 31 July of each year, to be contemplated in the budget of the following year.

Art. 13 - The lifting of the plans for the maintenance of salaries and certificates of work provided for in article 12 of the Act shall be carried out by the implementing authorities to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation through the use of forms prepared by the Secretariat which shall determine the data to be recorded.

Art. 14 - In the event that a subsidized work or investment had not been carried out or could not have been completed within the time limits set by art. 14 of the Act and such delay had arisen from the grounds mentioned in article 17 of the Act, the Ministry of State of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation may agree on a supplementary period of up to one (1) year for the conduct of the interrupted work, which may be extended if the causes of force majeure or fortuitous case persist or are produced again. To that end, the subsidized producer must communicate in detail in writing such cases, which the responsible professional will also subscribe.

Art. 15 - The registration provided for in article 13 of the Act shall be in accordance with the provisions of Act No. 17.801 (article 2 (c), which constitute a special impact on the good.

Art. 16 - The State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation shall provide an authenticated copy of the resolution that agrees to the grant, authorizing the beneficiary or whom the grant designates, to intervene in the proceedings indicated in the preceding article.

Art. 17 - The special impact of the good referred to in art. 15 of this regulation shall last up to ten (10) years, from the date of registration, and shall be set for each district and practice by established resolution of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation. During this period, the beneficiary must maintain in good condition the subsidized works.

Art. 18 - Notwithstanding the provisions of the previous article, the State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation may lift such an impact in the following cases:

(a) When the works and works provided for therein have been destroyed as a result of climatic or theological events which, at the discretion of the authority, may be qualified as a fortuitous case or force majeure under article 514 of the Civil Code.

(b) When required by public security or national defence needs.

Art. 19 - The State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation may allocate up to fifteen (15) per cent of the amount provided for in each annual programme for the conservation and recovery of soil for the acquisition of machinery and implements that, however, are not part of the usual equipment of a agricultural exploitation of a district, are necessary for the implementation of approved work plans for a soil conservation consortium.

Art. 20 - The specialized equipment and elements referred to in the preceding rule shall be handed over to the consortium to be used by its members in accordance with the modalities specified by its internal rules of procedure.

Art. 21 - The consortiums that had received from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation in form specialized elements or equipment shall be responsible for the loss, theft, theft or eventual destruction of the good, in cases of dolo or fault of its members, without prejudice to the rights that the consortium may exercise against it or those responsible. Such machinery must be ensured against the risks indicated, from the consortium, before use.

Art. 22 - Professionals who make the soil conservation plans, issue the work certificates and perform any other activity related to the application of the law shall possess the title of an agronomist engineer and be enrolled in the corresponding professional council.

The State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation by a resolution founded on the legal regime of existing business, may authorize the performance of professionals from other branches of the Agrarian Sciences.

Art. 23 - In the event of the disqualification of professionals to act with the State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation by application of article 19 of the Act, the latter shall communicate to the respective professional council that circumstance for the purposes appropriate.

Art. 24 - The acting professionals will subscribe to the work plans and the works certificates in all the useful foxes, sharing the responsibility of what manifested there with the plan holder, except in what it does to the identification data of the plan and its legal relationship with predium in question.

Art. 25 - The replacement of the professional authorizing article 20 of the law shall be communicated to the Secretary of State of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation within thirty (30) days of the same.

Art. 26 - The National Commission for the Conservation of Soils will have the following missions and functions:

(a) It shall be an advisory body for the evaluation of the results obtained in the implementation of the law, the opinions of which shall not be binding.

(b) It will promote better coordination of tasks between the Nation and the provinces, particularly in border areas with similar soil conservation problems.

(c) To advise on the promotion of soil conservation in the country, which will be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation and the adhering provinces.

(d) An annual honorary award shall be awarded to the best conservation producer in the country.

(e) Collaborate in the development of the annual programme to promote soil conservation and recovery.

(f) It will contribute to the planning, interpretation, dissemination and use of the information produced in the experimental areas.

(g) It shall issue its internal rules of procedure, which shall be approved by the State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation.

Art. 27 - This Commission shall consist of:

(a) Five (5) incumbent and five (5) alternate representatives, one for each of the country ' s geo-economic regions (Pampeana region; north-east; north-west; and Andean; Patagonian), to be appointed by the respective Governments in the manner to be regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation.

(b) Ten (10) holder conservation producers and ten (10) alternates to be appointed in each of the country ' s geo-economic regions, chosen by the respective consortiums in the manner that is regulated.

(c) One (1) member and one (1) alternate member representing the following agencies:

State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation;

Planning Secretariat;

Ministry of Transport and Public Works of the Nation;

National Institute of Agricultural Technology;

Faculty of Agronomy of National Universities.

The members of this Commission shall last three (3) years in their functions, and may be redesigned.

The Commission shall designate one (1) vice president and one (1) secretary, without prejudice to the provision of indispensable staff by the Ministry of State for Agriculture and Livestock of the Nation.

Art. 28 - The Commission will begin to operate from the time that five (5) provinces have acceded to the law regime, and that the provinces correspond to at least two (2) different geo-economic regions.

Art. 29 - Contact, post, give to the National Directorate of the Official Register and archvese.

VIDELA

José A. Martínez de Hoz

Albano E. Harguindeguy