The pillar, in detail
Deregulation and opening
16,771
articles modified or eliminated · official counter, Jul-2026 verif · Jul 31, 2026 ↗
What was promised
Regulatory chainsaw: eliminate rules, open imports, simplify the State (Sturzenegger).
Where it stands today
719 deregulation rules / 2,803 regulations modified or eliminated / 16,771 articles (as of 31-Jul-2026), per the official counter of the Ministry of Deregulation. The 16,771 are articles modified or eliminated: the official filter counts substitutions and amendments, not only repeals. And the ministry itself declares the figure a lower bound — the content of 40 affected rules is not available online and their articles are not counted. The only official breakdown published is by sector, and it covers the 719 rules: Agribusiness 115, Finance and Capital Markets 113, Foreign Trade 106, Domestic Production 94, Transport 89, Citizen Wellbeing 61, Health 40, Culture, Tourism and Sport 31, Energy 31, Employment and Labour Regulation 25, and Real Estate 14. For the 16,771 articles there is no breakdown by sector, by agency or by originating rule. verif · Jul 31, 2026 ↗
The historical series
Our reading
Trend▲ improving (editorial reading, anchored to the data)
What it enables if sustained thesis
16,771 fewer articles → the compliance cost that weighed most on SMEs without a legal department falls → starting a business gets genuinely cheaper (the regulatory chainsaw benefits the small player most). R4+R10
Import opening → incumbents lose the rent of protection → gaps open for entrants (e.g. OCTG: Welspun vs Tenaris, already mapped in opportunities). R4
Fewer discretionary permits = fewer windows → lower institutional cost, which country risk also prices (Country-risk pillar). R4+R1
What we watchJudicial reversal of reforms (precedent: the labor chapter of DNU 70/2023, ruled unconstitutional by the CNAT labor court of appeals on 30-Jan-2024 and still without a Supreme Court ruling) → degrades R2, R4. ⚠️ METHOD GAP MEASURED ON 2026-08-11 thesis: the official methodology nets out whatever CONGRESS restores and says nothing about JUDICIAL suspension ⇒ a rule whose effect has been halted by a court is still counted inside the 16,771. The live case is the DNU's Title IV. The bias is small there (order of ~0.5%, not sealed), but the direction matters and there is a precedent for the size: Chequeado measured 12% of rules halted by judicial decisions across 160 analyzed.
The rules that rest on the same inference26
The rule is R4 · opening and deregulation. These rules declare it too: they push in the direction this axis measures. Another 2 axes of the dashboard rest on it.
Importing without a prior permit: from the SIRA to the informational SEDIRes. 1/2023 Trade Secretariat + Joint GR AFIP-Trade 5466/2023 (Official Gazette Dec 26, 2023)in force
Argentina and the US sign their first trade and investment agreementBilateral agreement signed Feb 5, 2026 (no number; submitted to Congress)pending
Hydrocarbons: the prior domestic-offer step for exports is goneSE Res. 166/2026 (Official Gazette, Jul 22, 2026)in force
The RAF stops being an automotive privilege: tax-suspended inputs for all of industryDNU 252/2026 (Official Gazette Apr 17, 2026)in force
The re-certification barrier falls: if it already passed in a reference country, it entersDecree 892/2025 (Official Gazette, Dec 17, 2025)in force
Importing used machinery: 25% of the tariff and less red tapeDecree 483/2026 (Official Gazette, Jun 23, 2026)in force
Mining: imports by sworn statement and declarative fiscal stabilityDecree 482/2026 (Official Gazette Jun 23, 2026)in force
Mining: faster VAT refunds on investmentJoint Gen. Res. ARCA-Mining Secretariat 5878/2026 (Official Gazette, Jul 23, 2026)in force
Satellite internet: Starlink, Kuiper and OneWeb come inDNU 70/2023 + ENACOM Res. 1 to 4/2024in force
Waterway: the deregulation Congress haltedDNU 340/2025 (rejected; reversed by Decree 628/2025)pending
First energy privatization closed: Transener goes private for USD 356 MRes. 673/2026 MECON (Official Gazette, May 12, 2026) + Res. 130/2026 ENReGEin execution
Payments abroad: a tax-residence certificate replaces the sworn statement certified by the foreign tax authorityARCA GR 5855/2026 (Official Gazette June 3, 2026)in force
The markets that exist because of this same inference2
Supplier niches that declare this same inference rule: this is the demand that opens up if this pillar holds.
How often it is updated
Frequency
monthly
Lag
~5 days after the period closes
Latest period published
2026-07-31
Who publishes it
Web counter of the Ministry of Deregulation. It has no published calendar; we review it roughly monthly.
Ignacio Aredez· Chief analyst
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Built on the official source of each figure, with the gaps declared. Back to the program pillars
How to read the seals → verif primary source · prob primary source pending · unconf not sufficiently backed · estim our own calculation · thesis our reading