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Following the Reform regulating subcontracting, published on April 23, today the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (Ministry) published in the Federal Official Gazette the directive containing provisions for registering individuals or entities that provide specialized services or execute specialized works and that, for that purpose, provide or make available their own workers in benefit of another, guidelines which will enter into force tomorrow.

On March 4, 2021, “Decree reforming the Hydrocarbons Act” was published in the Federal Official Gazette.

On April 24th the Federal Electricity Commission (“CFE”) issued four international public bids for the construction of combined cycle power plants in several States of Mexico (the “Bids”).

Today, in the evening edition of the Official Federal Gazette, the decree was published amending provisions of the Federal Labor Act; the Social Security Act, the National Workers Housing Fund Institute Act; the Federal Tax Code; the Income Tax Act; and the Value Added Tax Act, regarding Labor Subcontracting.

On April 16, 2021, the Mexican Executive Branch published in the Official Federal Gazette the DECREE amending various provisions of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Act (the “Decree”), charging the Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones) (“IFT”) with incorporating, into its current Public Telecommunications Registry, a new National Registry of Mobile Phone Users (the “National Registry”).

We previously informed you of the approval of the reform bill to regulate subcontracting in the Chamber of Deputies. Following up on this, we are informing you that today it was approved in the Chamber of Senators. This means that the reform has been fully approved, and that it will enter into force with its publication in the Official Federal Gazette (DOF), probably May 1 or before.

Yesterday the Chamber of Deputies announced the approval opinion of the reform bill to regulate subcontracting, which bill was presented at the end of last year by the Federal Executive Branch. The laws that will be affected by the reform are the Federal Labor Act, the Social Security Act, the National Workers Housing Fund Institute Act, the Federal Tax Code, the Income Tax Act (hereinafter, IT) and the Value Added Tax Act (hereinafter, VAT).

On April 8, 2021, the Mexican Federal Economic Competition Commission (the “Commission”) issued the amended Concentration Notification Guidelines (the “Guidelines”)1, which include several topics that were not previously addressed. The purpose of the amendments is to provide more certainty to economic agents on how the Commission analyzes concentrations. Among the most relevant amendments included in the Guidelines are the following:

Today, the president of the Mexican Republic, together with the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and representatives of the Legislative Branch, announced an agreement with the principal representatives of the business and worker sector with respect to the Bill reforming subcontracting, which was presented at the end of last year.

On March 26, 2021, the Federal Executive Branch sent to the Deputies Chamber a “Bill with draft Decree amending the Hydrocarbons Act”.

As a follow-up to our publication released on February 5, 20211 , recently various acts have been published in the Federal Official Gazette (“DOF”) with a significant impact on the Mexican electricity industry, specifically, (i) the Decree amending provisions of the Electricity Industry Law (“LIE Reform Decree”) and (ii) the Directive Withdrawing the Reliability Policy issued by the Federal Ministry of Energy (“SENER”) in May, 2020 (the “Reliability Policy Withdrawal Directive“).

Yesterday March 10, 2021 the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies concluded the discussion of the Federal Law for the Regulation of Cannabis as part of the process of its legislative approval. Although the chamber approved many of the provisions previously discussed and approved in the Senate, it also included certain important changes that will have to return to the Senate for their discussion and possible approval.

Latin Lawyer has recorded a 38% increase in end-of-year promotions to partner level al Latin America law firms.

Claus Von Wobeser, founding partner, noted that despite the difficulty of 2020, the firm successfully navigated the pandemic by preparing for crisis scenarios. "Our business model has demonstrated resilience. The appointment of new partners and advisors is a testament to the success of our model and will serve to further consolidate our position as a fully client-focused firm," he said.

Von Wobeser y Sierra has announced the growth of its team with the appointment of two partners and five counsel with complementary areas of expertise, furthering the firm´s full-service approach to better serve its clients.

We are proud to share that our firm has been ranked by Chambers and Partners Global 2021 as a “Top Firm”. Chambers and Partners conducts a thorough annual investigation process to identify the top 1% firms, teams and lawyers around the world.

In recent days the following events have impacted the Mexican power industry: (i) on February 1, 2021, the filing before the House of Representatives (Cámara de Diputados) of a “preferential” initiative by the office of the Mexican President (the “Initiative”), which aims to modify the Power Industry Law (“LIE”, for its initials in Spanish) and (ii) the decision of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (“SCJN”) in Constitutional Controversy 89/2020 that the Federal Competition Commission (“COFECE”, for its acronym in Spanish) filed against the Reliability Policy that the Ministry of Energy (“SENER”, for its acronym in Spanish) issued in May of last year.

Today the Directive amending the Protocol for the Legitimation of existing Collective Bargaining Agreements (hereinafter, “the Directive”), was published in the Official Federal Gazette (DOF).

Today the Ministry of Economy published a criterion on its web page related to the minimum level of exports that IMMEX, ALTEX and ECEX companies must comply with and declare every year to maintain their programs. In recognition of the terrible situation the export industry suffered during fiscal year 2020 because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their operations, it was determined that the IMMEX, ALTEX and ECEX companies are not obligated to prove that they met the minimum level of exports required during that fiscal year. However, it is clarified that they will still be obligated to present the annual operations report for fiscal year 2020 according to the normal rules.