On August 26, 2026, Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies approved legislation enabling the country’s accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), subject to a reservation excluding Chapter II of the Treaty.
This represents the most significant legislative step toward Argentina’s accession to the PCT since 1998. However, the process is not yet complete. Because the bill was approved with a reservation regarding Chapter II, it must now return to the Senate for further consideration and approval before Argentina can formally move forward with accession.
What Would PCT Accession Mean for Patent Applicants?
For innovative companies and international patent applicants, Argentina’s eventual accession to the PCT would represent a particularly welcome development.
At present, applicants seeking patent protection in Argentina must file locally within the 12-month priority period established by the Paris Convention. As a result, they are often required to make an early strategic decision regarding Argentine patent protection, sometimes before the commercial relevance of the invention in the country can be fully assessed.
Once Argentina becomes a PCT contracting state, applicants will be able to defer the decision to enter the Argentine national phase until the applicable national phase deadline. This would simplify international filing strategies, provide additional time to evaluate commercial opportunities, and reduce the risk that applicants inadvertently lose the opportunity to seek protection in Argentina.
Background: Recent Developments and a Long-Standing Legislative Process
Argentina’s path toward PCT accession has been a long one. The last major legislative advance took place in 1998, when the Senate granted initial approval to the bill authorizing Argentina’s accession. However, despite recurring discussions over the years, no substantial progress followed for almost three decades.
Momentum began to build earlier this year following the signature of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade and Investment (ARTI) between Argentina and the United States. The agreement included several intellectual property-related commitments, among which Argentina’s accession to the PCT was one of the most significant.
Only weeks later, the Argentine Government repealed Joint Resolutions No. 118/2012, 546/2012 and 107/2012, which established guidelines applicable to chemical and pharmaceutical inventions. Those guidelines had a significant impact on patent prosecution in Argentina, establishing restrictive patentability criteria, particularly for pharmaceutical inventions. In practice, they significantly limited protection for developments beyond new chemical entities, including many incremental innovations that would typically be considered patentable in other jurisdictions.
Looking Ahead
Taken together, the repeal of the restrictive pharmaceutical patent guidelines and the renewed legislative progress toward PCT accession suggest that Argentina is undergoing one of the most significant transformations of its patent landscape in recent decades.
