Córdoba inaugurates an Environmental Court to expedite sanctions and ensure ecological damage repair

The province of Córdoba launched the Environmental Administrative Court (TAA), created by the provincial law No. 11.027, which began operating in September 2025.

This body represents a structural change in the management of environmental infractions and operates under the orbit of the Ministry of Environment and Circular Economy.

Main Objectives

• Streamline sanctioning processes and reduce administrative times.
• Ensure the rapid remediation of environmental damage.
• Separate functions: the TAA judges and sanctions, while the Environmental Police Secretariat is in charge of inspection and control.
• Improve administrative efficiency and achieve more effective environmental results.

Innovations of the new regime

The law establishes a maximum period of 180 days to resolve each infraction and adds two key innovations:

1. Fines in Fixed Units (UF), following the criteria of the Provincial Traffic Law, which simplifies the calculation and understanding of sanctions.
2. Own sanctioning regime for the Provincial Environmental Law (No. 10.208), nonexistent until now.

The Minister of Environment, Victoria Flores, highlighted that the TAA will allow infractions to be resolved more quickly and environmental damage to be effectively repaired, strengthening a modern environmental policy with clear rules.

Alternative repair mechanisms

The Court incorporates tools that encourage offenders to repair environmental damage instead of prolonging processes:

• Provisional Charge Settlement: allows recognizing the infraction and proposing recomposition measures with reductions of up to 50% of the fine.
• Comprehensive Repair Agreement: the offender presents a repair plan that, if fulfilled, avoids recidivism records and allows a similar reduction in the sanction.

The proposals are evaluated by technical areas, which analyze their viability and set conditions and deadlines, then approved by the Court.

Sanctions and aggravating factors

• The regime provides for higher fines and daily coercive sanctions (between 1 and 5 UF per day) for those who fail to comply with remediation measures or assumed agreements.
• Procedures are carried out through electronic files in the CiDi (Digital Citizen) system.
• Once a case is resolved, the parties can file a reconsideration appeal; once this instance is exhausted, the judicial route is enabled.

The importance of an Environmental Court

The Environmental Administrative Court of Córdoba constitutes a key step towards more agile and effective management of environmental infractions. By prioritizing the restoration of ecosystems and offering alternative recomposition mechanisms, the province strengthens its environmental policy and lays the foundations for a more modern and efficient model.