COVID 19 – Health emergency – COVID-19 - Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production – Creation of the Assessment and Supervision Committee

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Health emergency – COVID-19 - Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production – Creation of the Assessment and Supervision Committee - Executive Decree 347/2020 – Official Gazette 4/6/2020

On April 6, 2020, the Executive Branch published Decree No. 347/2020, whereby the “Assessment and Supervision Committee of the Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production” was created including, as an exception, the companies whose activity is considered essential in the benefit program of Decree No. 332/20.

1. The Assessment and Supervision Committee of the Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production shall be composed of the Ministers of Productive Development, Economy, and Labor, Employment and Social Security and the authorities of the Argentine Tax Authority (AFIP, in its Spanish acronym). Their tasks shall be:

 

(i)             The technical definition of the facts that shall be considered relevant in order to include companies in the benefits set forth in the Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production (PAET, in its Spanish acronym), created by Decree No. 332/20;

(ii)            To render technical opinions regarding the situation of the various economic activities and recommend or advise against the inclusion of the companies belonging to the pertinent sector in the PAET benefits;

(iii)           To render technical opinions regarding specific requests that may require a unique treatment and recommend or advise against their inclusion in the PAET benefits; and

(iv)          To suggest to the Chief of Staff of the Cabinet all the measures they may deem necessary in order to efficiently comply with the aims of PAET.

 

2. Extraordinary extension of the Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production for employees and workers affected by the health emergency.

The original wording of Decree No. 332/20 excluded from PAET the employers that carry out activities or perform services declared as essential under the health emergency and whose personnel had been exempted from the compliance with the “social, preventive and mandatory quarantine”.

This Decree provides that, exceptionally, these companies shall be included in the PAET if they have suffered from “a high negative impact in the development of their activity or service”. The requests made by these companies shall be approved by the Assessment and Supervision Committee of the Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production.

The regulation regarding the operating method of the Committee is pending, whereby the employers that carry out activities or render services declared as essential may request their inclusion in the PAET.

The provisions of the Decree entered into force the same date of its publication in the Official Gazette.