LFPCA Amendments Impose Shorter Timelines for Administrative Litigation

January 6, 2016

On June 2016, the Code for Contentious Administrative Federal Proceedings (LFPCA) was amended. The LFPCA is applied by the Federal Court for Tax and Administrative Affairs (FCTA) and its specialized Benches for IP and Regulatory matters. The code sets out the procedure for challenging any administrative acts or decisions issued by agencies within the federal government, such as the Mexican Patent Office (IMPI), the National Institute of Copyright (INDAUTOR) and the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS). The recent amendments are aimed at reducing the length of administrative litigation.

The key amendments include:

• The period for both filing and responding to an appeal has been reduced from 45 working days to 30 working days.
• The period to broaden the scope of the original action has been reduced from 20 working days to 10 working days.
• The FCTA must resolve requests for preliminary injunctions within 24 hours.
• The FCTA Magistrate has the option of not admitting a counter-bond (to lift the injunction) under certain circumstances.

• The term for filing closing arguments has been reduced from 15 working days to 10 working days.
• The period in which a ruling must be rendered has been reduced from 45 working days to 30 working days after final allegations.
• New rules for service were also included.

These reforms are already in force in Mexico; therefore, precautions must be taken in order to avoid missing deadlines and potentially forfeiting rights. The effectiveness of the reduced timeframes for litigation should be evident in the coming months, as they are already in force. We will update clients accordingly as this development unfolds.