Foley & Lardner LLP (JD Supra Mexico)

On May 5, 2021, regardless of the clear warnings and recommendations by Mexico´s Antitrust Commission, amendments to the Hydrocarbons Law were published in the Federation’s Official Gazette. The referred amendments pose a clear siege to permit-holders by creating uncertainty and providing unmeasured authority to the Mexican government as follows: Conditions issuance and maintenance of...

As previously informed, on November 11, 2020, the President of Mexico submitted a bill proposing the amendment of the Federal Labor Law, Social Security Law, National Workers’ Housing Fund Institute Law, Federal Tax Code, Income Tax Law and Value Added Tax Law (the “Bill”) forbidding subcontracting/general-outsourcing of employees. After several months of discussions, the Mexican Congress...

As previously mentioned in our February 15, 2021 insight, IMMEX companies in Mexico are required to electronically submit before the Mexican Ministry of Economy, an Annual Operations Report informing of their total amount of sales and exportations for the immediately preceding tax year (in Mexico fiscal years run from January to December), no later than the last business day of May.

As soon as the Mexican Ministry of Health approved the first emergency-use authorization for a COVID vaccine in December of 2020, the National Vaccination Plan immediately followed.

The Mexican President’s preferential Bill to Reform the Electricity Industry Law has passed both Houses of the Mexican Congress without changes and is now applicable law (the Reformed Electricity Law or the Law). As we know, a major change introduced by the Reformed Electricity Law is the modification of the dispatch rules in Mexico’s National Electric System. The Law will favor power plants

Under a new Conformity Assessment Procedure issued by the Mexican Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT, as per its acronym in Spanish), effective February 25, 2021, the Certificates of Conformity (CoC) covering telecom products will no longer be transferable, and the certificates obtained by individual components cannot be extended to the final product. Therefore, each importer, distributor...

Among the obligations that IMMEX companies need to fulfill to be in compliance with their Program authorizations, they must carry out annual export sales greater than USD $500,000 or representing at least 10% of their total sales.

On November 11, 2020, the President of Mexico submitted a bill proposing the amendment of the Federal Labor Law, Social Security Law, National Workers’ Housing Fund Institute Law, Federal Tax Code, Income Tax Law, and Value Added Tax Law (the “Presidential Bill”). In summary, the Presidential Bill intends to forbid subcontracting/general outsourcing of employees...

Over the last several months, Mexico has made a number of important changes to the rules governing the importation and exportation of certain materials. This article focuses on changes to the rules governing compliance with mandatory technical standards affecting imports (known by the acronym NOMs, for Normas Oficiales Mexicanas), and the creation of automatic previous permits regarding steel...

The Mexican General Import and Export Duties Law (“the Mexican Tariff”) was recently modified through a couple of decrees (effective Sept. 4 2020 and Oct. 23, 2020) to create tariff items that expressly identify electric passenger vehicles (8702.90.07), used electric light vehicles (8703.90.03) and used trolleybuses (8702.90.08), within the Mexican nomenclature of goods, subject to general import

While there is a growing understanding of the sanitary measures needed to restart manufacturing operations in a safe and efficient manner (i.e. social distancing, testing, masks & facemasks, others), the economic consequences of COVID-19 continue to affect the Mexican economy, along with the rest of the world’s economies. In an effort to address declining tax collections, the Mexican Government...

While essential companies continue to operate in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new set of challenges has appeared on the horizon. Those new challenges come from certain states that have enacted prohibitions to or additional restrictions on essential activities...

On June 10, 2020, the Federal Electricity Commission (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, known as CFE), the Mexican utility operator, published in the Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación) the new wheeling fees for renewable and efficient cogeneration power projects that executed an interconnection agreement with CFE prior to the energy reform in 2013. The new wheeling charges are

In this ever-changing environment, the Mexican government issued an additional executive order (the “Executive Order”) on Friday, May 29, 2020, setting forth the country’s strategy and specific technical guidelines to resume economic activities in a safe, responsible and staggered manner. According to the Executive Order, those companies recently qualified as essential (i.e., automotive,...

On May 15th, 2020, the Ministry of Energy (“SENER”) published in the Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación) its Policy on Reliability, Safety, Continuity and Quality of the National Electric System (the “Policy”). The Policy is aimed at providing general guidelines that will allow SENER, the Energy Regulatory Commission (Comisión Reguladora de Energía, known as the “CRE”), and the...

COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on the world economy with the virus affecting jobs and companies around the world in many ways, with imminent cash-flow shortfalls soon to occur throughout many sectors of the global economy. This client alert analyzes how to utilize courts in Mexico to achieve recognition and enforcement of Chapter 11 proceedings (or other similar reorganization processes...

The Government of the State of Puebla, home to Volkswagen, Audi and a number Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers, has issued a “Decree establishing that there are no conditions in the State of Puebla to restart activities in the automotive and construction industries.” This flies in the face of the recent announcement by the Federal government in Mexico, which classifies the automotive...

As we reported recently, the Mexican automotive industry and other sectors in Mexico have now been classified as “essential,” with opening permitted by June 1st subject to satisfying certain “health and safety protocols” that had not been announced. Today, those health and safety protocols (the “protocol”) were communicated by the Mexican government, enabling companies to resume operations even...

The transportation manufacturing industry (which includes automotive and aerospace), along with the mining and constructions industries, will be able to restart operations on June 1, provided that they comply with health and safety precautions to return to activities. There is consensus by industry members and their corresponding associations that operations may start as soon as health and safety

As expected, the transportation manufacturing industry (which includes automotive and aerospace), along with the mining and constructions industries, have been characterized as essential and will be allowed to restart operations on June 1, provided that they implement the health and safety protocols to be issued by the Ministry of Health prior to such date.

Today, the Mexican government confirmed that manufacturing of transportation equipment includes the automotive industry and is an essential activity permitted to operate. There are some inconsistencies reported between the Ministers and the Governor of the State of Mexico regarding the precise date of the reopening, although many project it to be between May 18th and May 31st...

Due to the increased COVID-19 infection rate in Mexico, Mexican Health Authorities have declared contingency phase 3 this past week. As a result, the Federal Government issued a new Executive Order which extends the previously published shut down order for all non-essential activities until May 30, 2020.

Due to the current COVID-19 outbreak in Mexico, and the corresponding force majeure health emergency that has been declared in the country, the Mexican Government´s health services and most of the health care provided by the private sector, are requiring the urgent purchase, sale and importation of a large variety of health supplies, drugs, medical devices, testing materials, and other health and

The Mexican Minister of Communications and Transportation published today a comprehensive list of activities that are deemed “essential activities” under the Agreement establishing extraordinary actions to attend to the health emergency generated by the SARS-CoV2 virus,” published on March 31, 2020 (the “Revised Executive Order”).

On Monday, April 6, 2020, at 19:00 hours CST, the Mexican Minister of Health published a set of guidelines on how to interpret the agreement that provides the technical guidelines related to the activities described in paragraphs c) and e) of Section II of Article First of the Agreement establishing extraordinary actions to attend to the health emergency generated by the SARS-CoV2 virus published

COVID-19 continues to bring a fluid series of challenges and legal issues for companies doing business in Mexico. As expected, the federal government enacted on March 31, 2020, a new set of rules that restrict economic activity for many companies (the “Revised Executive Order”). In that vein, in addition to the restrictions and opportunities referred to in our prior alert, companies should be...

In Mexico the customs clearance of goods may be performed either directly by importers or exporters, or through customs brokers. When clearing goods directly, importers and exporters must do it through a legal representative approved by the Mexican Treasury. Most of the importers and exporters in Mexico choose to clear goods through customs brokers that follow up the entire clearance process.

Fixed assets represent a significant capital investment for manufacturing companies. Such assets can include land, buildings, equipment, furniture, machinery and vehicles. Global manufacturing companies usually have an important number of foreign fixed assets (machinery and equipment) at their production sites in Mexico, that were either acquired from third parties in Mexico (local vendors), or...

On October 11, 2019, Mexico released the project to modify the mandatory “Official Mexican Standard NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010, General Labeling Specifications for Pre-packaged, Non-alcoholic Foodstuffs and Beverages. Commercial and Sanitary Information (the 051 NOM Project).”

In recent posts, we have informed what does IMMEX stands for, and how a company may benefit from said trade facilitation program established by the Mexican government. As we have explained, IMMEX covers final products manufactured in Mexico that are directly exported, or delivered to other IMMEX companies or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) that incorporate them to their own exports.