New Argentine Mandate on Dubbing of Foreign Shows

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez has announced a new law mandating that foreign-language series and movies broadcast in the country be dubbed into Spanish.

Decree No. 933 requires that series and movies be dubbed into "neutral" Spanish and failure to comply will result in fines for the broadcaster. Those fines will then go into a fund supporting the production of Argentine feature films.

The government agency AFSCA will be charged with the implementation of the new regulations. It says that there are exceptions to the mandate: notably foreign-language instructional shows, programs that are subtitled and content specifically targeted to foreign communities in Argentina.