MEXICO Law and Practice Contributed by: Enrique Espejel, Diego Mora-Jensen, José Joaquín Pacheco and Luis Enrique Pérez García, White & Case
It is important to note that the Congress of each fed - eral entity must issue its own declaration of validity to enforce the National Code. On 3 July 2024, Mexico City completed this legislative procedure, establish - ing the stages for the application of this code. Thus, the process of enforcement in Mexico City began on 1 December 2024 with specific civil and family proce - dures and will conclude on 15 November 2026 with the implementation of the remaining procedures. The rest of the entities, as well as the Federation, are still pending. The validity of the National Code does not imply the immediate repeal of the previously existing substan - tive and procedural laws. Therefore, the applicable substantive and procedural laws continue to be applied at both the federal and state levels in civil and family matters. As such, for the purpose of the study at hand, the application of the Federal Code of Civil Procedure regarding national judgments remains in force. 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments The enforcement of judgments is carried out through foreclosure. Enforcement can be divided into proce - dural and extra-procedural. Procedural executions come from a jurisdictional authority where judgments, agreements and transactions are included. Extra- procedural executions arise from entities other than judges or courts, such as public notaries, mediators, or certain government agencies. However, prior to the execution of the judgment, the following conditions must be met: • a final judgment must be obtained that cannot be modified by the judicial authority at a later date (res judicata); or • the agreement or transaction must be approved by a jurisdictional authority and elevated to a final judgment (if applicable). Court Order to Enforce Compliance/Specific Performance Following the final judgment in a court case in Mexico, the procedure by which the original judge who first heard the dispute proceeds to the compliance stage and then – if the defendant fails to comply voluntarily with the ruling – enforces the final ruling is known as
via de apremio (foreclosure). The process begins with obtaining a judgment that can no longer be modified. Once this is obtained, the winning party must ask the original judge to request voluntary compliance with the judgment by the condemned party. In the event the losing party does not voluntarily com - ply with the judgment, the judge will proceed to initi - ate a compulsory enforcement stage. For this pur - pose, the judge may use any appropriate enforcement measure to force the condemned party to comply with the judgment (eg, fines, seizure or even arrest). As a rule, in ordinary civil and commercial court cases, if the parties allow more than five years without seeking execution of the judgment, they will lose their right to do so. In executive, oral, or abbreviated court cases, if the parties allow more than three years to pass with - out seeking execution, they will generally lose their right to do so. If the winning party seeks the anticipated execution of the judgment without it being final and irrevoca - ble, it must grant a bond or guarantee to cover the damages caused by the anticipated execution. This bond or guarantee will be delivered to the party that is subject to the execution in the event the condemna - tory judgment is revoked. However, the judge has the power to deny an anticipated execution so as to avoid unnecessary use of judicial resources. The authors note that there are special conditions that apply to the enforcement of Mexican judgments, as follows. • Agreements or transactions – these can only be executed once the judge hearing the case has approved them. • Class actions – in class action proceedings gov - erned by the Federal Code of Civil Procedures, the judgment is executed in individual stages for each member of the class. • Mortgage foreclosure action – the execution stage of a mortgage foreclosure action is unusual because it necessarily concludes with a public auction of real estate that takes place before the court, in which any citizen may participate as a bid - der and be awarded the mortgaged real estate.
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