A major reform to the Mexican Federal Economic Competition Law (the Reform) has been published in the Federal Register, and became effective on July 17, 2025. The Reform overhauls the existing Mexican competition legal framework, introducing key regulatory amendments and material administrative changes posing an important obligational and regulatory burden for parties involved in transactions having direct or indirect effects in Mexico.
Administrative and competition agency changes
- The new National Antitrust Commission (Comisión Nacional Antimonopolio, CNA) is introduced as the sole competition authority in Mexico. The CNA will enforce the powers and authorities previously held by the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE) and the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT), which prior to the Reform handled general and telecom competition matters, respectively.
- Unlike COFECE and IFT, who were fully constitutionally-independent agencies, CNA’s legal nature will be that of a decentralized public agency (organismo público descentralizado) of the Federal Government’s Ministry of the Economy. The CNA is, however, vested with administrative autonomy, as well as technical and operational independence.
- The CNA will have a Board of five Commissioners, to be appointed by the President of Mexico and ratified by the Senate.
- Similar to COFECE, the CNA will operate with a functional separation between the board of commissioners and the antitrust investigation unit. However, the Reform grants expanded verification and inspection authority to the antitrust investigation unit.
Key regulatory changes
- The Reform substantially increases the fines that CNA can impose to parties engaging in anticompetitive practices. For example, prior to the Reform parties to horizontal cartel arrangements (for example, absolute monopolistic practices) could be fined up to a maximum of 10 percent of its net revenue, whereas under the revamped regulation the maximum fine has been doubled to 20 percent of the annual net revenue of the relevant economic agent.
- Penalties that CNA can impose to parties engaging in anticompetitive conducts have been expanded to potentially include barring from participation in public contracting procedures. In addition, the revamped Competition Law now expressly provides that fines imposed by the CNA shall have a deterrent effect, which could lead to imposing exemplary or punitive damages with full legal support, which would be an innovative feature in Mexico’s legal system.
- The scope of certain anticompetitive conducts has also been expanded. For example, horizontal cartel arrangements may now apply to potential competitors (without a clear definition of its scope), as opposed to only actual competitors as provided for prior to the Reform. Thus, arguably any economic agent with relevant financial capacity could be deemed a potential competitor.
- Monetary thresholds for merger clearance authorizations have been lowered in all cases. In addition, certain investment scenarios (particularly those related to speculative investments) that were previously exempted from obtaining a pre-merger clearance authorization will now require CNA’s prior approval.
- To address the fact that the changes in monetary thresholds for merger clearance will inevitably lead to substantially more transactions requiring the approval of the CNA, the legal term for CNA to rule on a clearance application has been reduced from 60 to 30 days. This will be a challenge from a budgetary perspective as the competition authority in Mexico has been traditionally understaffed.
- The leniency self-reporting program is now more strict in its application. For example, self-reporting parties may obtain only up to a 50 percent reduced penalty if applying to the leniency program after an antitrust investigation has been initiated. However, its effectiveness may be affected by the fact that sanctions for engaging in any anti-competitive conduct could include being barred from participating in public procurement processes, without distinction. Thus, arguably an economic agent will have those consequences in mind before, if at all, resorting to the leniency program.
- In what arguably reinstates the State monopoly that prevailed in the Mexican energy industry prior to the so-called 2013 energy reform, the revamped Mexican competition law expressly provides that activities conducted by State-owned enterprises (such as Pemex and CFE) are excluded from antitrust regulation. Nonetheless, a provision that arguably extends this exclusion to private parties is introduced, provided that such private parties exercise functions attributed to such state-owned enterprises. We believe a broad interpretation of this provision could allow certain private parties that are awarded with public concessions or contracts from such state-enterprises to be excluded from the application of the Competition Law. The regulations to the Competition Law or implementing administrative provisions should clarify its scope and extent.
- Antitrust compliance programs implemented by economic agents may now be certified by the CNA. While the extent and effects of this certification are not abundantly clear at this point, the revamped Competition Law does provide that the CNA may consider the existence of a certified antitrust compliance program as an extenuating circumstance when imposing penalties.
Transitory provisions
- While the revamped Competition Law became effective on July 17, 2025, COFECE (and IFT as it pertains to telecom competition matters) will continue to operate under the former legal framework until the CNA Commissioners have been appointed.
- Proceedings initiated by COFECE (and IFT as it pertains to telecom competition matters) will continue to be processed in accordance with the legal framework in effect at the time such proceedings were initiated.
- Implementing regulation, including new Regulations to the Competition Law and an Organic Statute of the CNA will be issued within 180 calendar days.
The Reform marks the latest overhaul in the Mexican legal landscape that recently has experienced major changes in power, oil and gas and mining regulation, among others.
