Necessity and Urgency Decree

A Necessity and Urgency Decree (Spanish: Decreto de necesidad y urgencia, also known as DNU) is a special kind of order issued by the President of Argentina. Unlike regular decrees, which are used in Argentina for rulemaking, a DNU has the force of law. Once the President promulgates a DNU, it comes into force almost immediately; afterwards, the National Congress must examine the decree to determine whether it will be allowed to remain in force or not.

The possibility to promulgate DNUs is established in the article 99 of the Constitution of Argentina since 1994. As its name indicates, a Necessity and Urgency Decree is to be used only under exceptional situations, when it is not possible to follow the normal procedure to create laws in the Congress. In addition, the President cannot sanction DNUs legislating about criminal, tributary or electoral matters.

As with regular decrees, Necessity and Urgency Decrees are promulgated by the President, but only with "General Agreement of Ministers" (Spanish: Acuerdo general de ministros). It means that all Ministers and the Chief of Staff must take part in the DNU's creation.

Once the Necessity and Urgency Decree is sanctioned, the Chief of Staff must send the DNU to the Permanent Bicameral Committee of the Congress in no more than ten days. Then, the Bicameral Committee delivers its report to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Committee has also ten days to elaborate the report. During all this process, the DNU is completely in force.

Each legislative chamber must deliver a resolution expressing its approval or rejection of the Necessity and Urgency Decree. If both chambers reject the DNU, it loses validity permanently. However, any rights acquired by people affected by the decree are not automatically terminated.

All legislation issued by military dictatorships in Argentina was made by the executive. These kinds of orders were known as decree-law (Spanish: decreto ley). Under the self-called Argentine Revolution and the National Reorganization Process (the two latest military governments), the decree-laws were known simply as laws.

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