Open Source Content Management

Table of Content:

Please be informed that following up on the Ministry of Health’s rulings published on May 14 and 15, 2020 in the Official Federal Gazette, last Monday the same Ministry published the Technical Guidelines on Health Safety in the Work Environment (hereinafter, Guidelines), which as of May 18 are mandatory for the initiation of activities of the construction, mining and transport equipment manufacturing industries; as well as a reference for the rest of the industries.

Our team at Von Wobeser y Sierra, S.C. led by our Partner, Edmond Grieger and our Associate, Ariel Garfio, advised our client, Ammper Energía in the execution of a PPA with EDP Renewables. This PPA is in regards to the purchase of  power and associated products to be produced/generated by a 200MW solar PV project named “Los Cuervos” and is one of the biggest solar PV projects to be constructed and operated in Mexican history. 

On May 15, 2020, the Ministry of Energy (“SENER”) published in the afternoon edition of the Federal Official Gazette, the “Policy for Reliability, Security, Continuity and Quality in the National Electricity System” (“Reliability Policy”), which establishes the guidelines that the Members of the Electricity Industry , the Energy Regulatory Commission (“CRE”), the governments of the states and their municipalities, as well as any authority of the federal public administration and constitutionally autonomous bodies, must follow to guarantee the reliable supply of electricity throughout the country.

Today a ruling of the Ministry of Health was published in the Official Federal Gazette clarifying the terms for the resumption of the essential activities consisting of the manufacturing of transportation equipment, mining and construction. Apparently the door will be open for the companies to resume their operations before June 1, 2020 provided they present, implement and obtain the approval of certain health safety protocols that comply with the guidelines issued by various federal agencies. Those guidelines and the approval procedure have not yet been made available.

Today Annex 7 of the First Resolution of Modifications to the Omnibus Tax Bill for 2020 (“Annex 7”) was published in the Official Federal Gazette (“DOF”), which contains the normative criterion 46/IVA/N called “Withholding of 6% of the Value Added Tax referred to in section IV of article 1o-A of the Value Added Tax Law”.

Today a ruling of the Ministry of Health was published in the Official Federal Gazette that included the manufacturing of transportation equipment, mining and construction as essential activities, not subject to suspension. Therefore, those industries and activities can reinitiate their activities on June 1, provided they have implemented the health safety guidelines published by the competent authorities in their workplace.

On May 12, 2020, the First Resolution of Modifications to the Omnibus Tax Bill for 2020 (“First Resolution of Modifications”) was published in the Official Federal Gazette, which entered into force the day following its publication .

COVID-19 has already had a dramatic and profound impact upon the commercial operations and even the solvency of many businesses across many sectors of the Mexican economy. For contracting parties, it is likely to be vitally important that their business partners continue to honor their contractual obligations throughout the crisis, and that their credits are not lost in the event of their business partners’ insolvency. To best protect the rights of such businesses, it may be necessary to obtain urgent binding relief from a competent entity.

On April 29, 2020 the “Resolution to guarantee the Efficiency,  Quality,  Reliability,  Continuity and Security of the National Electric System, as a result of the recognition of the epidemic of illness from the SARS-CoV2 virus (COVID-19)” (“Resolution”) issued by the National Energy Control Center (“CENACE”) was published in the Market Information System.