CAPIF SGC: DNDA authorisation and a new era in rights management in Argentina

Collective management is one of the most significant legal instruments for guaranteeing the effective exercise of the economic rights arising from the use of sound recordings and musical performances in acts of public performance around the world.

Since the middle of the last century, the Argentine system developed on a regulatory structure characterised by the coexistence of the legal recognition of rightsholders' exclusive rights with a collective collection mechanism based on the so-called statutory licence.

The entry into force of the new regulatory framework, whose milestone is Executive Decree No. 138/2025 and related rules, with their prior adaptation periods, profoundly changed that scheme for the so-called pre-existing management organisations and for those that may be created in the future.

In the case of CAPIF, its subsequent approval as a collective management organisation (SGC) by Ruling No. 1/2026 of the National Copyright Directorate consolidated a legally different system for its members, characterised by the granting of express authorisations through contractual licences, grounded in the mandates conferred by rightsholders and in the international representation agreements in force.

The difference between the two collection models goes well beyond organisation, and involves an operational and cultural change.

Whereas the previous system was grounded in a statutory authorisation of use granted to the user, whose consideration consisted of paying a fee set by the competent authority, the new regime places the licence at the centre of the legal relationship as the legal transaction that enables the use.

Authorisation is no longer presumed by the legal framework: it must now be expressly granted by the individual rightsholder or by the SGC holding their mandates, and must meet the following requirements: be in force, cover an effectively represented repertoire, and define the authorised period, the scope of use and the corresponding economic consideration.

As a result, the following change simultaneously:

• The legal source of the right of use.
• The commercial organisation of the system.
• The function of tariffs.
• The licensing strategy.