Necessity and Urgency Decree

A Necessity and Urgency Decree[1] (Spanish: Decreto de necesidad y urgencia, also known as DNU) is a special kind of order issued by the President of Argentina.

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.

[2] 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.

[2][3] Each legislative chamber must deliver a resolution expressing its approval or rejection of the Necessity and Urgency Decree.

Under the self-called Argentine Revolution and the National Reorganization Process (the two latest military governments), the decree-laws were known simply as laws.

When the military government dissolved and civilian rule was reestablished, the decree-laws were no longer valid, unless the Congress ratified them.

[4] In 1946, a new judgment by the Supreme Court established that decree-laws would remain valid after the end of the de facto government that promulgated them, and they could be abolished or modified in the same manner as other laws.

It means that all Presidents who ruled in this period (Carlos Menem, Fernando de la Rúa, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, Eduardo Duhalde and Néstor Kirchner) could issue DNUs with no legislative control.

During the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007–2015), she signed five Necessity and Urgency Decrees by March 2009.