Reshaping Mexico’s energy sector’s legal framework, on Oct. 31, 2024, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo enacted a decree amending several articles regarding strategic areas and enterprises. The decree amends i) the fifth paragraph of Article 25, ii) the sixth and seventh paragraphs of Article 27, and iii) the fourth paragraph of Article 28 of the Mexican Constitution (CPEUM). When she signed the reform into law, Sheinbaum said it “returns to the people companies that always belonged to the people of Mexico and that were privatized in 2013.”
This GT Alert describes the most relevant aspects of the constitutional amendment.
| (a) |
|
State-owned “productive” companies Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) are now classified as state-owned public enterprises.
|
| (b) |
|
The organization, operation, contracting procedures, and other legal acts entered into by public state enterprises will be clarified by secondary laws.
|
| (a) |
|
Lithium is classified as a strategic resource, over which concessions may not be granted to private parties.
|
| (b) |
|
The activities of the public transmission service and distribution of electric energy correspond exclusively to the nation, and the manner in which private parties may participate in other electric industry activities will be determined by a secondary law. In addition, such activities will in no case take precedence over the state public enterprise, whose focus is social responsibility and guaranteeing the continuity and accessibility of public electricity service. |
| (a) |
|
Lithium-related activities; internet service provided by the state; and planning and control of the national electricity system are now considered strategic activities.
|
| (b) |
|
The planning and control of the national electric system, via the state’s public company to be established, must ensure Mexico’s security and energy self-sufficiency, and provide residents with electricity at the lowest possible price, forgoing profit in favor of these goals. |
| (a) |
|
The decree took effect Nov. 1, the day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF).
|
| (b) |
|
The Congress of the Union has 180 calendar days from the decree’s effective date to make the necessary adjustments to the corresponding secondary laws.
|
| (c) |
|
The transitory articles of the decree reforming and adding various provisions of the Mexican Constitution in energy matters, published in the DOF Dec. 20, 2013 (corresponding to the energy reform of 2013), are repealed, insofar as they oppose the 2024 decree. |
Paula Maria De Uriarte contributed to this article
/>i
