Companies will now have a thirty-year lifetime after registration, in accordance with the new regulation of the Office of Corporations (“OC”).

On February 1, 2022, the OC published Resolution Nbr. 1/22 (the “Resolution”) in the Official Gazette. The Resolution establishes a lifetime of thirty years for all kinds of companies registered with the OC after its publication.

Before the Resolution, and in accordance with the generally accepted practice, bylaws usually established a lifetime for companies of 99 years. This practice arose from the company's bylaws models approved by Resolution Nbr. 6/80 of the OC. The Resolution implies a restrictive interpretation of section 11, paragraph 5, of the Companies’ Act Nbr. 19,550, which establishes that bylaws must contain a section determining the corporation lifetime but does not state a specific period for companies’ life.

The OC justified this new corporate life period by arguing that it is antinatural that companies have a more active life than its members. Shareholders may approve the extension of the company lifetime if the thirty-year period expires.