MEXICO Law and Practice Contributed by: Gilberto Miguel Valle Zulbarán, Alejandro Catalá Guerrero and Erick Gustavo Soto Ceballos, Basham, Ringe y Correa
Basham, Ringe y Correa Paseo de los Tamarindos 100, 5th floor, Bosques de las Lomas, Cuajimalpa de Morelos, 05120 Mexico City. Mexico Tel: +52 442 103 21 00 Email: gvalle@basham.com.mx Web: www.basham.com.mx
1. Legal Framework 1.1 International Conventions
Administrative offences apply to both public offi - cials and private persons, including companies, that engage in any act of corruption. Therefore, a corruption case can be investigat - ed, prosecuted and sanctioned as both a crimi - nal and administrative offence. 1.3 Guidelines for the Interpretation and Enforcement of National Legislation There are no guidelines in Mexico, since the interpretation and enforcement of national leg - islation is the remit of the Judicial Branch. In this regard, the Supreme Court of Justice has set precedents for corruption offences. For instance, it has confirmed that the crimi - nal offence of bribery provided by Article 222, subsection I FCC, is constitutional even though criminal law does not state which duties are related to the public official’s job, charge, or commission, since such duties are detailed in the regulations that assign the functions within the legislative, executive, or judicial offices.
Mexico has ratified the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions; the OAS Inter-American Convention Against Corruption; the UN Convention against Transnational Organ - ized Crime and its Protocols; and the UN Con - In Mexico, there are two criminal jurisdictions: federal and local. The latter is comprised of 32 local jurisdictions which correspond to each one of the states in Mexico. Therefore, for corruption matters, the Federal Criminal Code (FCC) covers federal criminal offences and each state criminal code covers local criminal offences. vention against Corruption. 1.2 National Legislation For the scope of the FCC and state criminal codes, please refer to 3.2 Geographical Reach of Applicable Legislation . Acts of corruption are also considered admin - istrative offences under the General Law of Administrative Liability (GLAL), which sets forth public officials’ principles and obligations for the correct and lawful fulfilment of their duties.
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