APRIL 2009 EDITION ARCHIVE
Legal Updates
300 PALABRAS - Mexico-United States: A New Stage in Bilateral Relations
Opinion by Dr. Mario Melgar-Adalid In recent years Mexico and the United States have shared a relationship marked by diplomatic distance, disinterest and separation. Other more pressing issues, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have occupied the international attention of the United States and, with exception of the immigration issue, this has caused a distancing with Mexico. For better or worse, the effort undertaken by Mexico's government and its leader Felipe Calderon against drug... [Read More]Proposed Constitutional Amendment Affecting Amparo Tax Lawsuits
Mexico's Lower House of Congress (Cámara de Diputados) has approved a draft constitutional reform proposing to make the effects of judicial decisions in Amparo tax lawsuits that are filed to attack the validity of a tax law that has broad general effect to all taxpayers; that is, decisions which apply to alltax payers without the necessity of such individual taxpayers filing their own amparo tax lawsuits in order to be treated in accordance with the results and effects of the decision... [Read More]Mexico Imposes Compensatory Duties on Eighy-Nine U.S. Products in Response to the Cancellation of the Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Program
On March 18, 2009 an unprecedented resolution was published in Mexico's Official Journal of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación). For the first time since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) entered into force, Mexico cancelled preferential tariff rates and imposed higher duties on the importation of 89 products, most of them of an agricultural or industrial nature, originating in the United States of America. Such measures constitute a reprisal resulting from the... [Read More]Business & Politics Outlook
Political Thermometer
Federal elections will take place in Mexico on July 5th of this year. It is expected that the 2009 federal election results will have a huge impact on the future political environment of the country. The election will decide the composition of Mexico's Lower House of Congress (Cámara de Diputados), as well as its Senate, which together comprise Mexico's Federal legislative branch. The most important Congressional decisions require a super-majority. In this manner, in order to implement... [Read More]Mexico Obtains Forty-Seven Billion Dollar Line of Credit
On March 31st, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced that Mexico would activate a 47 billion dollar line of credit with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the recent fall of the Mexican peso's value against the dollar to the lowest levels in the last 16 years, the currency strengthened 12% after the news announced by President Calderon. As such, between the IMF line of credit and currency swaps with the United States Federal Reserve Bank, Mexico has at its disposal upwards of 150... [Read More]Economic Indicators
Peso/Dollar Exchange Rate
The quoted exchange rate as of April 08, 2009 was $13.3648 pesos per dollar.Mexican Stock Exchange
The Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) closed on April 08, 2009 at 20,530.63 points.Interest Rates
On April 08, 2009, the Average Interbank Interest Rate (TIEE) for a 28-day period was at 6.9150%.Mexico IP Info
Trade Secrets
Mexico's Industrial Property Law (Ley de la Propiedad Industrial) recognizes and protects trade secrets, which include information of an industrial or commercial application that is maintained confidential by an individual or corporation and which confers a competitive or economic advantage as against third parties. For such information to obtain legal protection, its owners must have adopted the means and systems necessary to preserve the confidentiality of the information and restricted access... [Read More]