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VOLUME
3
INTRODUCTION
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| Volume 3 of this Mexican Law Treatise appears as Mexico
is undergoing unprecedented and profound transformations. |
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| In the recent presidential elections held on July 2,
2000, Vicente Fox Quesada, of the opposition party PAN (Partido Acción
Nacional), was declared victorious over the PRI's (Partido Revolucionario
Institucional) official candidate. This electoral victory marked the
first time in the history of Mexico that a presidential candidate
of an opposition party had ever defeated the government's candidate.
The PAN's victory materialized only after the PRI had exercised unrelenting
control over presidential elections for the last seventy one years.
This long and keenly awaited political change conveys the message
that Mexico is clearly marching towards a true democracy. |
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| In the area of international business transactions,
Mexico's accomplishments are most impressive. As expected, NAFTA continues
to play a pivotal role in inducing business, attracting investments
and fostering international trade. This agreement created the second
largest free trade area in this hemisphere on a global scale, affecting
the lives of almost 400 million people, and generating a third of
the world's GNP, estimated of $9.5 trillion U.S. . Today, Mexico is
the second largest U.S. trading partner after having displaced Japan
a couple of years ago-, thus becoming the second largest U.S. export
market. In round figures, between 1993 and 1999, the bilateral trade
between Mexico and the United States increased 150%. |
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| Direct foreign investment continues to flow to Mexico.
According to the latest report produced in 1999 by the National Commission
of Foreign Investment, that country received a total of $54.5 U.S.
billion between 1994 and 2000, including $12.3 billion during 2000,
almost twenty four percent more than in 1999. Mexico is the third
largest receiver of direct foreign investment among all the developing
countries, only after the People's Republic of China and Brazil. |
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| During his visit to Portugal early last year, President
Ernesto Zedillo signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European
Union, a political economic group comprised of fifteen countries and
a joint population of 370 million people. The formal negotiating process
leading to this important agreement, as well as the discussion of
its provisions and their economic impact, including the complete text
of the new FTA's, are discussed in detail in Volume 4 of this Mexican
Law Treatise. The European Union is Mexico's second largest trading
partner and its second source of direct foreign investment. Through
the signing and entering into force of this new Free Trade Agreement,
ninety five percent of Mexican exports will receive preferential treatment.
As of today, Mexico is the only country in the world having Free Trade
Agreements with the world's leading economies: the United States and
Canada, the European Union, seven Latin American nations and the State
of Israel. |
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| Whereas the preceding examples clearly denote Mexico's
evolutionary changes, the recent transformations affecting that country's
legal system are truly remarkable. |
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| Turning, for example, to constitutional law - an area
at the core of that country's legal system, the amendments made to
its Federal Constitution over the last decade have been so deep substantively
and so varied in scope that they have been characterized as a "legal
revolution."1 Furthermore, in recent years, salient voices of
Mexican legal practitioners, national and international investors,
as well as government officials, began to publicly and openly discuss
Mexico's convenience to have a new Constitution. It is believed that
a new fundamental law, one which is in symmetry with that country's
internal socioeconomic, political and industrial transformations and
with its growing international stature within the Caribbean, the Latin
American region and in the world has become an indispensable legal
and political quest. Very few observers would be surprised if Mexico
adopts a new constitutional chart within the next years. |
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| Considering that drastic amendments have already modified
key portions of Mexico's supreme law, in particular those governing
business, trade and technological developments, it is only logical
to expect that similar changes are to be incorporated in that country's
domestic legislation, making it imperative to modernize key federal
statutes, update technical regulations and amend old codes. |
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| This process of rapid transformation of the Mexican
legal landscape is already producing a unique effect. It is putting
in motion a number of legal areas which are beginning to move from
the more sedentary realm of the civil law tradition into the more
dynamic pace of the U.S. legal system. In particular, the areas undergoing
this process of transformation include administrative procedure, antitrust,
banking, bankruptcy, consumer protection, customs, environmental law,
financial groups, foreign investment, human rights, intellectual property,
Maquiladoras, tax and telecommunications. Over the last five years,
each of these areas has either a new statute or has had changes of
such magnitude that these have substantially altered the content of
the law in question. The new enactments share certain substantive
and procedural contours inherent to U.S. principles and institutions.
This is a process described as the "Americanization" of
Mexican law. |
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| Given the degree of closer interactions between the
United States and Mexico in the areas of: business, investment and
trade; scientific and technological developments and the geographical
contiguity that intertwines the peoples of these two countries, it
is only natural to anticipate that in the years to come Mexican law
will be subject to an even more direct, constant and pervasive process
of "Americanization." |
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| This volume is formed by eleven new chapters which embrace
an equal number of areas of Mexican law. Save for foreign investment
and corporate tax, the remaining chapters discuss ten Mexican law
subjects which were not originally included in Volumes 1 or 2 of this
Mexican Law Treatise. |
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| The new subjects were added because of the awareness
of the crucial role they play today in the conduct of business in
Mexico, on the one hand, and because of the benefits that a practical
and candid discussion on these subjects may bring to illuminate obscure
or confusing legal issues for the benefit of legal practitioners and
international investors, on the other. Recent data suggests that foreign
investments and international civil litigation constitute two of the
major avenues closely related to the legal subjects included in this
volume. |
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| The structure and format of the chapters in this volume
follow the style of the preceding volumes. The English translations
of these legislative enactments: 1) the 1998 Regulations on Foreign
Investment; 2) the Federal Telecommunications Act; 3) the Port Development
Act; 4) the Fishing Act; and 5) the Federal Competition Act, as translated
by the Editor of this collective book, were added as an Appendix to
each respective chapter for practical reasons. All of these statutes
have been enacted recently and, until now, an English translation
of them has not appeared in print in this country. |
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| The Editor, General Coordinator and contributing author
of this Mexican Law Treatise is proud of the objectivity, clarity
and professional content of each chapter. Following the initial policy
that led to this publication, each chapter was prepared by a leading
Mexican specialist in the field, with decades of successful legal
practice in prestigious law firms in Mexico City, Monterrey and Tijuana,
B.C., Mexico. Special thanks are extended to the large and changing
group of the University of San Diego School of Law students who in
a most efficient and careful manner revised, supplemented and edited
the chapters, appendices, bibliographical sources and the English
translations : Gustavo Enrique Bravo (Class of 2001), Valisa Anne
Carney (Class of 2001), Lara Anthinea Clinton (Class of 2001), Laurie
Lee De Armand (Class of 2000), Carlos Guzman (Class of 2001), Gregory
James Matus (Class of 2000), David Stanton Moynihan (Class of 2000),
Angela Teresa Mullings (Class of 2001), Martin Ramey (Class of 2002),
and Sarah Schaffer Talbot (Class of 2001)all of them University of
San Diego School of Law students who revised, supplemented and edited
the chapters, appendices and the English translations. . My sincere
personal thanks are also extended to Ms. Magali Garcia Bisogno, Law
faculty Administrative Assistant, who so diligently provided her outstanding
computer skills and efficiently assisted throughout the preparation
and publication of this volume.
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| I would also like to express my profound gratitude to
Professor Daniel B. Rodriguez, Dean of the University of San Diego
School of Law, and to the University of San Diego at large, for having
provided me not only with their generous financial and administrative
support during the research and preparation of this book but, more
importantly, for their warm and sustained encouragement. |
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| As always, all my love and profound gratitude goes to
Lynda Grace, my dear friend and sweet companion of almost thirty three
years, and to our children Alex, Lisa and Cathy, for having given
me their wonderful and generous support.
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Author
& General Coordinator:
JORGE A. VARGAS
Professor of Law,
University of San Diego School of Law
Published by ©West
Group (1998)
To Purchase this book
Call (in US)1-800 -344-5009
In Mexico 011-800-998-2266
Special Package Price: $410 US Dollars
Special Package Includes Volumes 1, 2, 3 & 4
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