Overview
- The Instituto Nacional de la Propiedad Industrial published Resolution 197/2026 on Friday, formally revoking Resolution 283/2015 and restoring the INPI’s 2003 patenting framework.
- The replacement text keeps whole plants, animals and essentially biological processes excluded from patents while loosening the criteria for protecting isolated biotechnological components and methods.
- The resolution includes a good‑faith safeguard that lets current commercializers covered by pending patent applications continue selling without paying retroactive royalties.
- INPI and the ministries of Agriculture and Industry said the move responds to industry complaints that the 2015 ‘isolation’ requirement made patent protection impractical and chased away investment, a problem linked in reporting to Bayer’s 2021 exit from Argentina’s soybean seed business.
- Officials and seed companies expect the change to encourage investment and new entrants but it will require new oversight rules and parallel updates to seed law and international alignment such as steps toward UPOV‑91 compliance.