APRIL 2005 EDITION ARCHIVE
Legal Updates
Possible Reforms to Gambling Law
The Tourism Committee of the Tourism Chamber approved by majority a new gambling law that will allow the establishment of casinos in Mexico. The congressmen left pending the discussion and approval of the proposed gambling law.Business & Politics Outlook
Impeachment of Mexico City’s Mayor
Notwithstanding the outstanding public support for Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), left-wing mayor of Mexico City, a congressional committee has voted to strip him of immunity from prosecution. Congress itself has confirmed such impeachment decision on April 7th. Now that the impeachment has been approved, upon prosecutor’s action, the courts will decide whether AMLO is criminally responsible for ignoring Supreme Court orders to comply with final judgments.Castañeda’s Case with the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court will review the constitutional remedy filed by the ex-diplomat Jorge Castañeda. Castañeda argues that he has the constitutional right to race for the presidential election for 2006 without having or belonging to a political party.Hunting of Immigrants
Several NGOs have been requesting the Mexican government to defend the Mexicans against the intolerance, brutality and savagery of the organization Minuteman Project. The Mexican government said that the White House assured that it will not allow to the immigrant hunters to carry out activities as official authorities2005 Foreign Trade and Custom Miscellaneous Regulations
The Mexican Department of Treasury (Hacienda) has published the 2005 foreign trade and custom miscellaneous regulations that provides the specifics for custom compliance and import/export procedures.Trade with Japan
On April 1, 2005, Japan eliminated more than 90% of their import duties because the Economic Association Agreement signed by Mexico has been put in place. With fifteen chapters and more than one thousand clauses, such agreement gives preference to 370 HTS that will allow the Mexicans to save $82 million dollars per year. The Mexican tequila, mango, tomato, avocado, onion, mescal, tobacco, chicken, egg and lime could be imported in Japan duty free. Mexico is the first country to have a treaty... [Read More]NAFTA Developments
Based on the results of the recent meeting in Waco, Texas, in the next three months, the partners of the NAFTA, Canada, United States and Mexico will concentrate their efforts to determine the changes to the rules of origin of 5 industries (steel, textile, apparel, footwear and agro-food). The partners also have the strategy to establish in a medium term a custom union, eliminating the possibility to add a migratory chapter to the NAFTA.Economic Indicators
Dollar Quote
The United States dollar is quoted as of April 8, 2005, at 11.19 pesos per dollar.Wal-Mart leads Fortune’s List
The chain of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with operations in the United States and Mexico, keeps the first position in the Fortune magazine’s list of the greatest 500 companies in the United States in 2005.Mexican Stock Market
The tension in the last days for the subject of the impeachment of Mexico City’s mayor reduced the price of some shares. However, the market has been recovering its pace, placing yesterday 12,417 points with a variation increase of 2.47%. The highest increase during 2005.Mexico’s Income
The monetary income of Mexico represented by the money sent by Mexican workers in the United States has increased to 2.53 billion dollars during the first 2 months of this year, which represents an increase of 25.17% compared to the registries of the same period during 2004.State’s Economy
The economy of 14 States in Mexico accomplished during 2004 growing rates higher than the state average of 4.4%. Quintana Roo, Baja California, Aguascalientes and Querétaro were some states with high growth with rates of 8.8, 7.3, 6.3 and 6.3% respectively.