Law 26.951 Argentina: No Llame Deep Dive
DNC LATAM · Compliance guides
Law 26.951 is the Argentine statute behind the Registro Nacional No Llame. If your team advertises, offers, sells or gifts goods or services by phone to Argentine numbers, this is the rule that requires a current registry consult before the call. It is not a US TCPA analog, and it is not optional because the dialer sits in Miami, Bogotá, or Mexico City.
This is an operational deep dive for compliance teams, not legal advice. Counsel owns exemptions and script classification. DNC LATAM runs the official AAIP check. Registry overview: Registro Nacional No Llame. US product page: Argentina DNC scrubbing.
What the statute requires, in practice
Three duties show up in every campaign file we see:
- Consult the current registry before telemarketing contact. Consumers register for free and stay registered until they withdraw. A stale download is not a current consult.
- Treat each violating call as its own infringement. A retry to the same registered number is not "one incident."
- Be able to answer a complaint. AAIP's process starts when a person reports a specific call. "We generally scrub" is not an answer. A dated screening record plus the Scrub Result is.
The law covers messages and automated calls as well as live agents. Campaigns operated from outside Argentina are included. If the number is Argentine and the purpose is advertising, offering, selling, or gifting, start from the assumption that No Llame applies, then let counsel carve exceptions.
How this differs from TCPA
| Law 26.951 / No Llame | US TCPA / National DNC | |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | AAIP | FTC / FCC |
| Access | CUIT-gated company user | telemarketing.donotcall.gov subscription |
| Refresh | Current download before each campaign | TSR: registry version no older than 31 days |
| Trigger | Consumer complaint | Private suit and agency action |
| Consent | Override if you can prove it, not a first-call prerequisite for every cold number | Often a first-class requirement for the call type |
Longer mismatch list: TCPA vs Mexico and Argentina DNC rules. Registry-to-registry: National DNC vs LATAM DNC.
Sanctions, without invented amounts
AAIP can sanction violations per call, with escalating consequences for repeat offenders. Enforcement decisions involving banks, insurers, and call centers are published regularly. This site does not publish a statutory peso table. The telemarketing fine calculator uses an editable conservative default of USD $300 per violating call so teams can size list-level risk. Actual fines depend on the regulator, severity, and recidivism. Not legal advice.
Volume is the multiplier. A slightly stale file on a 40,000-number campaign is not one problem. It is as many potential complaints as there are calls that should not have happened. That is why the control is per-campaign current data, not an annual registration certificate.
What compliance teams should keep
-
Destination tag on every list (
ar, not "LATAM"). - Current No Llame check on or immediately before the dial date.
- Dated screening record (country, registry context, counts; no phones) stored with the Scrub Result you retain.
- Separate, number-specific consent files where you claim an override.
- Immediate, permanent opt-out log independent of registry status.
Auditors ask for the artifact of a named campaign, not a process slide. See what auditors ask for.
The access problem the statute does not solve
Law 26.951 assumes the caller can become an authorized registry user.
Foreign companies usually cannot: no CUIT, no local representative, no
Spanish filing capacity. The statute still applies. That gap is the
product. DNC LATAM holds AAIP access and returns
country: "ar" results through one REST API or panel CSV.
Independent price, from $500/month at 10,000 checks.
Enforcement page: AAIP No Llame enforcement. Access: foreign company DNC access. Checklist: outbound compliance checklist.
Questions, answered
What is Law 26.951? +
Argentina's statute that created the Registro Nacional No Llame. Companies that advertise, offer, sell or gift goods or services by phone must consult the registry before calling. It covers live calls, messages, and automated calls, including campaigns from abroad.
Who enforces Law 26.951? +
AAIP investigates consumer complaints and can sanction each call to a registered number as a separate infringement, with escalating consequences for repeat offenders. Decisions involving banks, insurers, and call centers are published regularly.
Does Law 26.951 apply to foreign callers? +
Yes. The obligation follows the Argentine number, not the country where the agent sits. A US or nearshore floor dialing +54 is in scope.
Is this legal advice? +
No. This page restates how DNC LATAM describes the law on its public site so compliance teams can operationalize the registry check. Counsel decides how the statute applies to a specific script or exemption claim.
When should compliance teams buy the API? +
When the control you need is a current No Llame check plus a dated screening record, and you cannot complete AAIP company-user registration. Argentina is an independent SKU from $500/month at 10,000 checks.