Overview
- A repeal bill filed by deputies Daiana Fernández Molero and Alejandro Bongiovanni was formally submitted to Congress on Friday and would abolish mandatory black octagonal warning labels plus the law's advertising and school-promotion limits if approved.
- The administration's Ministry of Desregulation is preparing complementary projects to send to Congress that aim to replace or harmonize Argentina's rules with Mercosur standards, though no executive text has yet become law.
- Industry groups including Copal back the repeal, arguing Argentina's PAHO/OPS 'mobile thresholds' label far more products (industry cites roughly 90% versus about 60% in Brazil), raising costs for packaging and complicating exports within Mercosur.
- Public-health groups, academics and UNICEF cite studies showing the octagons changed buying habits—a UBA survey found 61% of consumers reduced or stopped purchases after seeing labels—and warn that removing the law would roll back protections for children.
- The dispute centers on technical design: Argentina uses nutrient thresholds based on a food's share of total calories while many Mercosur peers use fixed grams per 100g, and the repeal text removes obligations without prescribing an immediate replacement, asking the Executive to design a new unified system.