Welcoming a long-awaited member to the family: Argentina expected to join the PCT system soon

On 5 February 2026, Argentina and the United States signed an agreement on reciprocal trade and investment.

This agreement contains a very important IP chapter that will significantly transform the Argentine IP landscape by removing obstacles for protection of pharmaceutical and biotechnological inventions, allowing for enhanced protection of plant varieties and offering applicants and IP owners better enforcement mechanisms for their rights.

The PCT is featured among the list of Treaties Argentina has agreed to ratify. Specifically, Argentina must submit the PCT Treaty to Congress for consideration and a vote on ratification by April 30, 2026.

This is an ambitious deadline for the Legislative Branch of government. However, as the Treaty was approved by the Senate back in the late nineties, it must now only pass the House.

While it has been difficult to pass laws dealing with IP issues through the House in the recent past, favorable outcome can be suggested by the fact that the current libertarian administration has been able to successfully navigate the twists and turns of Congress to modernize the Labor Laws  – a move that was fiercely resisted by certain political sectors.

The local generic pharmaceutical industry has historically opposed the ratification of the PCT. This could be the reason why some isolated opinions have pointed out that the agreement requires the Treaty to be put to a vote but that it remains silent as to the outcome. Leaving constructive ambiguity speculations aside, from our standpoint the intent of the agreement is quite clear: Argentina must approve the Treaty.

In that regard, the national administration has repeatedly made clear its intentions to overhaul the IP system.

Having Argentina join the PCT and leave the non-member hall of shame is a much-awaited development as the third largest Latin American economy has remained outside the preferred international patent application filing route for far too long.

The local IP milieu has insisted and made decades long efforts to try to get the country into the PCT while cultivating the virtue of patience in the process. It now seems that all these efforts have finally paid off and developments could take place soon.

The PCT Committee will continue monitoring the situation closely and will report any further progress as it occurs.