MEXICO Trends and Developments Contributed by: Francisco de Rosenzweig, Enrique Espejel, Fernando García Gómez and Yuriria Galicia, White & Case, S.C.
ensure the correct administration of justice, while a Judicial Administration Body will man- age the administration, staff and budget of the judiciary. • Prohibition on granting injunctions and final judgments with general effects: courts will no longer be permitted to issue injunctions or final judgments with general effects against laws or regulations. This restriction means that injunctions and judgments will only ben- efit the individual who filed the constitutional appeal. Moreover, the Supreme Court will be barred from issuing injunctions in cases involving unconstitutionality actions or consti- tutional controversies. Amendments to the Amparo Law Amparo proceedings are an extraordinary con- stitutional defence mechanism designed for any person (ie, individual or legal entity) to request protection from a federal judge when their funda- mental rights have been breached by the actions of any authority or by a general norm (eg, any law, regulation or decree). Amparo proceed- ings are a fundamental tool in the Mexican legal system to ensure that authorities act within the framework of the Constitution and international treaties. One of the key features of amparo proceedings is the possibility of suspending the effects and consequences of an authority’s action or general norms, similar to an injunction. The purpose of this mechanism is to prevent irreparable harm that could occur if the authority’s acts or general provisions are not suspended while the court decides on the merits of the case. This mechanism has been used by the judici- ary to suspend various questionable policies of the Executive Branch. In response, Congress proposed an amendment to the Amparo Law to
weaken judges’ authority to grant injunctions. This amendment was published in the Fed- eration’s Official Gazette on 14 June 2024 and includes the following provisions. • Restriction on injunctions: the possibility for an individual to obtain an injunction has been significantly restricted when the effects of the act to be suspended are deemed to be of public order and social interest, as per the catalogue provided in Section 129 of the Amparo Law. • Prohibition on general effect injunctions: the Judiciary is now expressly prohibited from granting injunctions that may have general effects or that would benefit anyone other than the individual who filed the amparo proceeding (as stated in Section 148 of the Amparo Law). These modifications represent a setback for the effectiveness of the amparo remedy, making it a less effective tool for defending fundamental rights. Energy sector In January 2024, the Supreme Court resolved an appeal in an amparo proceeding (R.A. 164/2023), where the Second Chamber found that the 2021 reform to the Electric Industry Law breached the Constitution. This reform, heavily promoted by President López Obrador, aimed primarily at strengthening the role and market power of state-owned enterprises in the elec- tricity market, specifically the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). The Supreme Court’s decision, issued with gen- eral effects, benefited all participants in the elec- tricity sector – not just the companies that direct- ly challenged the Electricity Reform – thereby avoiding creating an unfair competitive advan-
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