Outbound investments into Latin America

Legal system overview

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela (the Latam Countries), as with all the other Latin American jurisdictions and mainland China, have a continental legal system. Further, if their legal systems are taken at face value, it becomes apparent that laws seem to be virtually copied from one country to another, a feature that seems likely to stem from their common Spanish legal heritage.

Nevertheless, the manner of applying and enforcing these regulations in the different Latam Countries varies greatly. In terms of contract enforcement, for example, there is a dramatic divergence between countries as to the time and money required to recover a contractual claim. An unfortunate common feature that Chinese investors will encounter when enforcing contracts in all of these countries is that it will be more cumbersome than in their own country. We set out below a chart to illustrate this issue.