Mexico City, November 25th 2024.
On November 21, the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill amending, repealing and adding various articles to the Mexican Constitution, including Article 28. This amendment incorporates the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) and the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) into the Ministry of Energy, as a decentralized body with technical independence.
The rationale for the reform, proposed by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in February of this year, states that its primary objective is to eliminate overlapping functions between the CRE and the CNH, thereby reducing budgetary allocations under the concept of republican austerity. It is expected that the savings generated by the dissolution of these autonomous bodies will be allocated to the Federal Pension Fund.
To implement the reform, a decentralized body under the Ministry of Energy will be established, alongside several amendments to secondary laws. These amendments must be issued and/or harmonized within 90 days following the reform’s entry into force. The reform also stipulates that the autonomous bodies will remain operational until February 28, 2025.
The bill will now be sent to the Senate for discussion and approval. Then, it must be approved by two-thirds of the congresses of the Mexican states before it becomes binding and being published in the Mexican Official Gazette.
The lawyers from the Energy and Infrastructure practice at our firm are at your disposal for any questions or comments regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
Juan Carlos Serra
Pablo Nosti Herrera
Pamela Salas García
Iván Sánchez López
Paola Arcos Seoane
