MEXICO Law and Practice Contributed by: Gilberto Miguel Valle Zulbarán, Alejandro Catalá Guerrero and Erick Gustavo Soto Ceballos, Basham, Ringe y Correa
1.4 Recent Key Amendments to National Legislation There have not been any key amendments to the national legislation on corruption matters in 2024. 2. Bribery and Corruption Elements 2.1 Bribery A bribe is any promise made – or benefit or money illicitly given – to a public official in order that the public official will execute or refrain from executing any act related to the duty inherent in their job, charge, or commission. In this regard, bribery is considered a criminal offence under Article 222 subsections I and II of the Federal Criminal Code (FCC) and in each one of the 32 Local Criminal Codes. The bribery can be committed by public officials who, directly or indirectly, request or receive a benefit or accept a promise, and by private indi - viduals who promise or provide a benefit to cor - rupt a public official even though the benefit is received by third parties linked to the latter, such as public officials’ relatives, partners or third par - ties with whom the public official has business, or a professional or work relationship, among others. For the purposes of bribery, a benefit can be considered to be any goods, stocks, precious stones or metals, services, donations, or real estate, including when a property is sold very noticeably below market price. Likewise, under Article 222 subsection III of the FCC, it is also considered bribery when, during the Federal Budget approval process, a federal legislator or someone on behalf of the federal legislator, negotiates or requests:
• the allocation of resources to a public entity by demanding or obtaining anything of value for their own or a third-party’s benefit; or • the award of public work or service agree - ments to any individual or legal entity. For both local and federal criminal jurisdiction, a public official is similarly defined in criminal law. Therefore, a public official is any individual who has a job, charge or commission of any nature in: • the central Federal Public Administration or in the State’s Public Administration; • decentralised agencies; • majority state-owned companies; • organisations or entities that have been assimilated to majority state-owned compa - nies; • public trusts; • autonomous constitutional bodies; • federal and local Congress; • federal and local judiciary; or • entities that manage federal or local financial resources. Hospitality, Gifts and Promotional Expenditures and Facilitation Payments In Mexico, there is no safe harbour for these kinds of expenditures or facilitation payments to a public official, since the law does not set forth any exceptions, and neither does the GLAL which governs public officials’ conduct. Moreo - ver, the GLAL provides that public officials must not look for or accept rewards, benefits or gifts from any person or legal entity. Bribery to Foreign Public Officials When a bribe is offered to a foreign public official it is considered a federal criminal offence under Article 222 Bis FCC, which has extraterritorial reach, as explained in 3.2 Geographical Reach
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