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- Mexico plans to create a single new economic competition authority, absorbing the functions of COFECE and IFT, as part of a constitutional amendment to simplify government agencies.
- The new authority will have legal personhood, its own assets, and technical/operational independence.
- Congress must pass new secondary laws on competition, free market access, telecommunications, and broadcasting before the constitutional changes take effect.
- Challenges to the new authority’s decisions would be made through indirect amparo proceedings and would not be subject to suspension. Specialized judges elected by popular vote would hear the cases.
- The International Chamber of Commerce Mexico recommends the new authority maintain independence, transparency, organizational flexibility, and the ability to recruit top talent.
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This GT Alert discusses potential economic competition implications of the Decree that reforms, adds and abrogates several provisions of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States regarding organic simplification (Decree). We also summarize some recommendations for establishing and operating the new economic competition authority in Mexico prepared by the International Chamber of Commerce México (ICC México).
The Decree proposes eliminating seven constitutionally autonomous bodies1, with the general objective of reducing current budgetary expenditure. The saved economic resources would be allocated to a newly created Pension Fund for Welfare.
This GT Alert focuses on the changes related to eliminating the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE or Commission) and the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) as Mexico’s economic competition regulatory authorities.2
1 The National Commission for Continuous Improvement (MEJORAEDU); the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI); the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL); the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH); the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE); the IFT, and the COFECE.
2The IFT is the competent authority in matters of economic competition in the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors; therefore, in these sectors it exercises exclusively the faculties that the Mexican Constitution and secondary laws establish for the COFECE.
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