Commercial permits in Buenos Aires: what the city requires

Law 6.101 is the City's framework law for economic activities; its current text is the one amended by Law 6.779, published on 10 January 2025. It sets two rules worth knowing from the start: no economic activity may be carried on without the relevant authorization, and every economic activity in the City requires a sworn declaration (declaración responsable) to be filed. The AGC is the enforcement authority under that law.

The authorization attaches to a unidad de uso, meaning one specific premises with an address, an area and a property record number, plus the trade categories you declare. It is not a general license for the business: change address, category or floor area and you must file the matching amendment.

• Retail, food service, services, warehouses and the other uses listed in the urban planning code.
• Article 4 covers every economic activity carried on in the City, including an office or studio that serves clients.
• Article 5 leaves out of the classes of authorization residential use and its common or ancillary spaces (including private garages), activity carried on directly by public administration, activity of private legal persons that pursue public-interest purposes and carry out essential activities proper to public administration, and the independent professional practice, which must comply with its own profession's rules.

If you have not signed yet, check the building and the lease first, as covered in the guide on what to check when renting commercial space. And once you know the area you want, current supply is on commercial spaces for rent.

The AGC states it as the first step of the whole process: verify that the plot sits in a zone where the activity can be carried on. The City is divided into Mixturas 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus special locations, and each mix admits its own list of uses.

1. Look up the plot in Ciudad 3D

   Enter the street and the cadastral plate, and the permitted uses tab shows which mix the premises falls under.

2. Read the urban planning code

   Law 6.099 sets the uses per mix, maximum floor areas, parking rules and loading and unloading requirements. Sections 3.3.1.1 to 3.3.1.4 are the use references and section 3.3.2 is the table of uses.

3. Check for special areas

   If the building sits in a historic, cultural or environmental area, or is a listed building, the procedure changes and extra approvals appear.

Depending on the address you may need a consulta de usos or a special approval, for instance for signage, canopies and awnings, or for antennas in specific areas and protected buildings. Check the official list of areas and conditions to see whether your case goes through that channel.

The law provides three kinds of authorization: the sworn declaration, the license and a permit for temporary activities. The sworn declaration is the general rule, while the license is reserved to six kinds of activity: performance venues holding more than 350 people, entertainment venues, homes for the elderly, hospitals with inpatient care, lodging services and gas stations.

The express route requires, among other conditions:

• Total floor area up to 200 m².
• No sale of explosives, inflammables or unpackaged medicines.
• That the premises are not inside galleries, shopping centers, markets, food courts or subway, train and airport stations.
• No mezzanine and no listed building.
• No activity under specific regulation, such as a pharmacy or a lottery agency.

Everything is filed online. The platform is Tramitación a Distancia (TAD), with the miBA login that each procedure page asks for, and the upload goes through the AGC's SSIT platform. When a company files, its standing is proved with the Clave Ciudad, which AGIP issues to the company's legal representative as registered with ARCA, and powers of attorney are validated inside TAD.

Confirming the filing generates an oblea, a sticker with a QR code, which goes in a visible place at the premises and shows whether the activity is cleared for use.

The core of the file is the sworn declaration: data of the holder or signatory with tax ID, data of the premises (address, functional units, floors, area, property record and cadastral numbering), the activity and trade category declared under Annex II of Resolution 96/AGC/25, and sworn statements on the right to occupy, compliance with the rules and accuracy of the data. If the building is under a horizontal property regime, you also declare that the bylaws do not forbid the activity.

Technical annex and professional

In the standard route, a professional registered in the City, an architect, engineer or master builder, checks that the premises meet the building code and the planning code for that category, and signs the technical annex: engagement letter with your data and theirs, the mix or special area, a location sketch and a sworn statement that the local has been verified. The professional needs the file number and security code that the platform generates when you save the request, and the engagement letter certified by their professional council is valid for 30 days to confirm the filing.

Depending on the case you add supporting documents: load capacity certificate, use plan for the economic activity, placement authorization for signage, and whatever the specific rules for your category demand.

Environmental fitness certificate

The Certificado de Aptitud Ambiental (CAA) is issued by the environmental agency and confirms that the activity meets environmental rules. Categories rated Sin Relevante Efecto or Sin Relevante Efecto Con Condiciones get it automatically, with no professional involved, while those needing a professional declaration, a categorization study or a relevant environmental impact follow a longer path with a registered environmental professional. On the express route the certificate is generated on its own when you finish the form.

Where they apply, you also register the fire prevention plan, the mechanical ventilation plan and installations such as elevators and heating appliances, and load the cadastral record when the system cannot find the property.

If the business has staff, employer registration and the certification of personnel books are separate procedures again, outside the permit itself.

1. Set up your miBA account

   It is the digital identity that signs everything. The official procedure pages ask for miBA level 3 credentials.

2. Sort out powers of attorney

   When the holder is a company, its legal representative, registered with ARCA, obtains the Clave Ciudad from AGIP, links it to the company and validates the powers of attorney in TAD.

3. Confirm the use at that address

   Ciudad 3D, the mix, floor areas, and the consulta de usos or special approval where it applies.

4. Pick the route

   Express, sworn declaration or license, depending on size, category and address. If in doubt, the AGC virtual desk confirms which procedure applies.

5. File the request in TAD

   Upload the sworn declaration, the technical annex and the CAA. Saving the form generates the file number and security code the professional needs.

6. Complete the self-protection system filing

   According to the group of your establishment: group 1 signs a sworn statement, groups 2 and 3 obtain approval of the autoprotección system.

7. Follow the review and display the sticker

   The permits directorate assesses the file, the QR sticker goes in the window, and the digital inspection log opens with your tax ID and miBA login.

Once the activity is authorized and something changes, the City offers adjustment procedures: transfer of the authorization, adding or removing categories or floor area, redistributing uses, and cancelling the permit.

If you buy a business that already runs: the transfer

When the holder of a permit or an authorized activity changes, the new holder can request the transfer from the previous holder instead of filing a new application, and the request is filed in TAD. It is built on the Manifestación de Transmisión, carrying the data of both parties and of the premises, and adds a sworn declaration of data update signed by the registered professional stating that the premises keep the same conditions as in the original procedure, plus the certificate, wall plaque or QR sticker that proves the permit. The transfer is granted on the same conditions as the original procedure: if the unit of use or the trade changed, the AGC orders the new holder to regularize through the matching amendment, and the act granting the transfer is conditioned on that being done within the set deadline. Before deciding, the directorate checks the registry: with no granted permit on record for that unit of use the request cannot go through, and the transfer can be observed or rejected on the same grounds as any other procedure.

Buying an operating business comes in through the transfer route, which is explained in the guide on buying a business with its premises and goodwill.

The official pages do not publish a single resolution deadline for the whole procedure; they publish concrete rules, and those are the ones worth planning around.

For sworn declarations, filing authorizes operation apart from the regulatory exceptions. For licenses, normally wait for notification of the granting act. Exceptionally, AGC may explicitly grant anticipatory conditional release: all documentation must be complete, a prior inspection favorable, and any remaining observations minor enough not to compromise hygiene, safety or operation (Annex I, article 26). Filing or receiving a QR code alone does not grant that exception. Licenses require data revalidation every 15 years, not unconditional permission to operate for that whole period.

On the environmental certificate: certificates rated Sin Relevante Efecto or Sin Relevante Efecto con Condiciones stay valid for as long as the declared circumstances hold, and those that come out of a categorization study run for 6 years when the result is Sin Relevante Efecto or Sin Relevante Efecto con Condiciones, and 4 years when it is Con Relevante Efecto Ambiental.

The general and express procedure pages consulted on 6 October 2026 publish the procedure as free. Despite a filename retaining 6.711, the linked PDF contains Fee Law 6.928, effective 1 January 2026: its Annex, article 27 marks the listed sworn declarations, licenses and transfers as free. Resolution 96/AGC/25, Annex I, article 8 requires fees for activities covered by the applicable law; check other permits or services specific to your activity. Professional fees, plans and certificates are separate costs, not included in that free status.

After you file, the permits directorate may clear the premises for use, approve, observe or reject. An observation is a request to fix documentation that falls short but can be fixed: you have 30 days counted from the business day after notification to do it, except special cases under article 12, and if you do not, the directorate may repeat the observation or simply reject the application.

Outright rejection without further steps, called rejection in limine in the regulation, has three written grounds:

• The use is not allowed under the urban planning code.
• Minimum safety and hygiene conditions are affected.
• The documentation filed at the start is insufficient to continue the procedure.

For cases under article 12(b), filed with a registered fire installation plan, the installation is checked before release for use. A missing or inoperative installation, obstructed or inoperative escape routes, or missing fixed-installation registration leads to rejection. After favorable inspection, the as-built plan is required within 60 nonextendable days from the business day after release and/or notification of the observation, under threat of rejection; educational uses under article 12(c) follow a different route. This deadline does not apply to every premises or replace the general 30-day correction period.

On the express route, if any condition fails, the system routes you to the procedure that fits, and that detour costs time. Being cleared for use does not mean holding the commercial permit: the permit arrives with the certificate or the administrative act.

Authorizations can be revoked through a reasoned decision by the authority, and falsifying the sworn declaration is one of the grounds for revocation listed in the law. What you declare has to match the real premises.

Law 6.101 covers economic activities carried on in the City of Buenos Aires, and the AGC only acts there. In the Province of Buenos Aires and across the rest of the country, each municipality grants the commercial permit under its own ordinances, requirements, fees and agencies.

The Municipality of La Plata, for example, asks for a municipal tax clearance, a construction plan approved by its own building department and a fire safety report issued by the provincial fire service or by a certified professional, and the file starts at the counter of its permits department.

Each municipality publishes its procedure on its official website (the domain ends in gob.ar or gov.ar), in the procedures section, under habilitaciones or comercio. Confirm there which authority applies, which provincial certificates are required separately and what the local ordinance says before hiring professionals, because the categories change from one municipality to the next.