Guide · Argentina
Procedural deadlines in Argentina: how the CPCCN counts them
Which days count, which day the term starts on, which holidays and recesses stop it, how many days distance adds and at what moment it expires, with the norm cited and three computations worked out day by day.
Work out your deadline nowEvery term runs in business days
Argentina counts the terms of the Código Procesal Civil y Comercial de la Nación one way only. Article 156 says it in one sentence: «Los plazos empezarán a correr desde la notificación y si fuesen comunes, desde la última. No se contará el día en que se practique esa diligencia, ni los días inhábiles» — terms start from the notification, or from the last one if they are common, and neither the day of the notice nor non-business days are counted.
Two rules follow from it and order the whole count:
- Only business days count. A five-day term is five business days, and a fifteen-day term is fifteen business days. No term is counted in calendar days.
- Terms are peremptory (article 155). The parties can extend them by agreement on specific acts, and the judge must declare them interrupted or suspended when force majeure makes the act impossible (article 157), but the court does not stretch them on its own.
And article 155 closes the system: when the Code sets no term for an act, the judge sets it according to the nature of the proceeding and the weight of the step. The one used most is the residual term of article 150: five days to answer vistas and traslados, unless a provision says otherwise.
Which day the term starts on
The term starts on the day after the notification: the day the notice is served does not count. Since only business days count, if you are notified on a Friday the first day of the term is Monday, and if that Monday is a holiday, Tuesday.
When the term is common to several parties, it runs from the last notification. Which terms are common is decided by the law, not by the calendar.
Which days do not count
Article 152 of the CPCCN says every day of the year is a business day except those the Reglamento para la Justicia Nacional sets, and article 2 of that Reglamento lists them: the national courts do not sit during the month of January, Holy Week, on Sundays, on the days the law or the national government declares non-working days and on those the Supreme Court declares judicial holidays. It is the calendar of the national and federal courts seated in the Capital Federal.
Saturdays and Sundays
The Reglamento names Sunday. Saturday is not a business day either: article 152 makes business hours only those of the schedule the Supreme Court sets, and Acordada 32/2025 sets it from Monday to Friday, 7:30 to 13:30.
The holidays of Ley 27.399
The fixed ones: 1 January, Carnival Monday and Tuesday, 24 March, Good Friday, 2 April, 1 May, 25 May, 20 June, 9 July, 8 December and 25 December. And Maundy Thursday, which the law declares a non-working day.
The movable ones are four: 17 June, 17 August, 12 October and 20 November. Article 6 moves them by the weekday they fall on: on a Tuesday or Wednesday, to the Monday before; on a Thursday or Friday, to the Monday after; on a Saturday, Sunday or Monday, they stay on their date.
In 2026, 20 November falls on a Friday: the non-business day is Monday the 23rd, and Friday the 20th is a business day. Counting with the calendar date instead of the moved one is the easiest mistake to make.
A half-day off (asueto) does not change the count: article 3 of the Reglamento says «el asueto no inhabilita el día».
Tourist days
Article 7 of Ley 27.399 lets the Executive set up to three non-working days a year to promote tourism, always on a Monday or a Friday. Since they are non-working by order of the Executive, they are not business days for the courts either. For 2026 they were set by Resolución 164/2025 of the Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros: Monday 23 March, Friday 10 July and Monday 7 December.
The judicial recesses
There are three, and they come from two different sources:
| Recess | When | Source |
|---|---|---|
| January recess | The whole month of January | Article 2 of the Reglamento para la Justicia Nacional |
| Holy Week recess | The week that ends on Easter Sunday | Article 2 of the Reglamento para la Justicia Nacional |
| Winter recess | The one set by that year's acordada | Supreme Court acordada, every year |
In January and Holy Week only the duty courts sit, for matters that cannot wait (article 4 of the Reglamento). For the count, every recess day is one more non-business day: a term notified at the end of December does not move in January and resumes on the first business day of February.
The distance increase
Article 158 of the CPCCN lengthens terms when the step takes place outside the seat of the court: «quedarán ampliados los plazos fijados por este Código a razón de UN (1) día por cada DOSCIENTOS (200) kilómetros o fracción que no baje de CIEN (100)» — one day for every two hundred kilometres, or a fraction of no less than one hundred.
| Distance | Days added |
|---|---|
| 80 km | None |
| 150 km | 1 |
| 350 km | 2 |
| 550 km | 3 |
It reaches every term of the Code, because the article speaks of «los plazos fijados por este Código» without distinction. The days it adds are business days, like the rest of the term.
The national labour courts have their own rule, more generous and narrower: article 68 of Ley 18.345 extends the term to answer the claim by one day for every hundred kilometres when the defendant is domiciled outside the city of Buenos Aires. It applies only to the terms of that article.
When it expires
The day of expiry counts
The term is not franco: the last business day counted is the day it expires, and no extra day is added at the end. Since the count only walks over business days, the expiry never falls on a Saturday, a holiday or a recess day.
It expires when the court closes
Not at midnight: the filing is made within the court's opening hours on the day of expiry.
And two hours are still left
Article 124 of the CPCCN grants a grace period: a filing not made that day can still be delivered validly to the court office on the next business day, within the first two hours of court business. It is not one more day of term; it is two hours of the following morning.
Three computations worked out day by day
These are the three situations that change a date the most, with the same count the calculator makes.
Five days with a moved holiday
A traslado under article 150 — five days — notified on Tuesday 17 November 2026 starts to run on Wednesday the 18th. The 18th, the 19th and Friday the 20th count — the 20th is a business day because the 20 November holiday was moved; Saturday the 21st, Sunday the 22nd and Monday the 23rd, the moved holiday, do not; the 24th and 25th follow. It expires on Wednesday 25 November 2026.
Fifteen days to answer the claim, 350 kilometres away
The traslado of the claim under article 338 — fifteen days — notified on Tuesday 1 December 2026 starts to run on Wednesday the 2nd. Monday the 7th, a tourist day, Tuesday the 8th, the Immaculate Conception holiday, and the weekends do not count. Without distance, day fifteen is Thursday 24 December 2026.
If the defendant is 350 kilometres from the court, article 158 adds two business days: Friday the 25th is Christmas and the 26th and 27th are a weekend, so the two days are Monday the 28th and Tuesday the 29th. It expires on Tuesday 29 December 2026. At 80 kilometres nothing is added and it still expires on the 24th.
Three days with 12 October in the middle
A reposición under article 239 — three days — against a decision notified on Thursday 8 October 2026 starts to run on Friday the 9th. Saturday the 10th, Sunday the 11th and Monday the 12th do not count: in 2026, 12 October falls on a Monday and stays on its date. The 13th and 14th count. It expires on Wednesday 14 October 2026.
The terms the calculator carries
The deadline calculator for Argentina carries nine terms: six of the CPCCN and three of Ley 18.345, all in business days from the day after the notification.
| Term | Norm | Length | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answer to the claim in ordinary proceedings | CPCCN, art. 338 | 15 days | 1 day per 200 km |
| Answer to the claim against the Nation, a province or a municipality | CPCCN, art. 338 | 60 days | 1 day per 200 km |
| Answer to vistas and traslados | CPCCN, art. 150 | 5 days | 1 day per 200 km |
| Appeal | CPCCN, art. 244 | 5 days | 1 day per 200 km |
| Reposición | CPCCN, art. 239 | 3 days | 1 day per 200 km |
| Clarification or correction of a clerical error | CPCCN, art. 166, para. 2 | 3 days | 1 day per 200 km |
| Answer to the claim in the labour courts | Ley 18.345, art. 68 | 10 days | 1 day per 100 km |
| Vistas and traslados in the labour courts | Ley 18.345, art. 54 | 3 days | — |
| Appeal of the final judgment in the labour courts | Ley 18.345, art. 116 | 6 days | — |
Every result carries the text of the article, the link to the official source in InfoLEG and the list of the days that were not counted, each with its reason: weekend, holiday — the tourist day, by its name — or recess. With that you can redo the count without taking anyone's word for it.
Run the count with your own date
Pick the term, enter the notification date and, where it applies, the distance in kilometres: the calculator tells you the day it expires, with the article cited and every day it did not count named with its reason. Free, no account.
Open the deadline calculatorFrequently asked questions about deadlines in Argentina
Are procedural deadlines in Argentina counted in business days or calendar days?
Business days. Article 156 of the CPCCN says «los días inhábiles» are not counted, and that holds for every term of the Code, short or long. In the national courts, Saturdays, Sundays, the holidays of Ley 27.399, the tourist days set by the Executive and the judicial recesses are non-business days.
On which day does a term start to run?
On the day after the notification: article 156 of the CPCCN says the day the notice is served is not counted. If the term is common to several parties, it runs from the last notification.
Does the judicial recess suspend deadlines?
In practice, yes: during a recess the national courts do not sit, so those days are non-business days and are not counted. Two recesses are set by the Reglamento para la Justicia Nacional — the whole of January and Holy Week — and a winter one is declared every year by the Supreme Court in an acordada.
How many days does distance add?
One day for every two hundred kilometres, or a fraction of no less than one hundred, between the place of the notice and the seat of the court (article 158 of the CPCCN). At 350 kilometres that is two days; at 80, none. In the national labour courts, the term to answer the claim adds one day for every hundred kilometres when the defendant is domiciled outside the city of Buenos Aires (article 68 of Ley 18.345).
What happens if I do not file on the last day?
You can still file validly within the first two hours of court business on the next business day. That is the grace period of article 124 of the CPCCN: it does not lengthen the term, it gives you two more hours the following morning.
Is there a deadline calculator for Argentina?
Yes. At custodio.legal/calculadora-de-plazos-argentina you pick the CPCCN or Ley 18.345 term, enter the notification date and the distance, and see the expiry with the article cited and every non-business day named. It is free, asks for no account and is an indicative computation on a cited norm, not the firm's own computation.
Working out a deadline is the first step
Custodio reads the filing on the court portal, proposes the term with its norm and warns you before it expires, on every case file it watches.