Argentina Supreme Court lifts restrictions on foreign ownership of rural land

Supreme Court ruling restores decree provisions

Argentina's Supreme Court revoked an appellate ruling that blocked the repeal of the Rural Land Law, restoring Article 154 of Emergency Decree 70/2023. The executive measure, originally signed by President Javier Milei in December 2023, eliminates statutory limits on foreign individuals and corporate entities acquiring rural property. The ruling was issued on Tuesday with signatures from all three members of the high court: Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti. By removing the legal brake that had kept the protective framework operational, the decision opens rural real estate to unrestricted foreign transactions. The verdict overturns a prior ruling by the Federal Appeals Court of La Plata, which had halted the executive decree on constitutional grounds.

Legal standing and constitutional scope

The magistrates grounded their decision on procedural standing, ruling that the plaintiff organization lacked the legal authority to bring the claim before the courts. The Centro de Ex Combatientes Islas Malvinas La Plata had filed an injunction arguing that national sovereignty is a collective good protected under the constitution. The Supreme Court rejected that view, ruling that territorial sovereignty constitutes a foundational element of the state rather than a collective right under Article 43 of the Argentine Constitution.

Given the clear absence of a collective incidence right over a collective good, it is not possible to configure a case or controversy.

The court explicitly stated that its ruling is confined to the lack of procedural standing. The decision does not rule on the substantive constitutional validity of the decree, nor does it prevent the legislative branch from deliberating on the measure.

Background of the 2011 Land Law

The reinstatement of the decree dismantles Law 26.737, enacted in 2011 under the title of the Regime for the Protection of National Dominance over Rural Land Ownership. The 2011 framework barred foreign buyers from holding more than 15% of the country's rural land. The statute also placed a cap of 1,000 hectares per owner in core agricultural zones and prohibited the sale of properties containing or bordering significant permanent bodies of water. A study conducted by the Land Observatory recorded that 5% of Argentina's territory, representing over 13 million hectares, was owned by foreign companies or states as of December 2025. That foreign-owned area roughly equals the total land surface of England.

Political opposition and public response

The judicial ruling follows executive efforts to advance land deregulation through the national legislature. Approximately two months earlier, the administration presented the Private Inviolability bill in the Argentine parliament, which sought to relax caps on foreign land purchases, but the government failed to gather the required legislative support. Following the Supreme Court verdict, opposition deputies called for an urgent legislative session to address and repeal the presidential decree. Malvinas war veterans expressed public repudiation of the decision after having previously secured legal suspensions against the decree. The legal shift follows public demonstrations, including a nationwide march on 6 August 2026 where civic groups protested against foreign land acquisitions.