Following up on our October 2024 communication regarding the reform initiative to the Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Operations with Resources of Illicit Origin (LFPIORPI) and the Federal Penal Code (CPF), we inform you that after being postponed in previous months, on June 18, the United Commissions of Justice and Legislative Studies of the Senate discussed and generally approved the corresponding reform opinion.
Following up on our October 2024 communication regarding the reform initiative to the Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Operations with Resources of Illicit Origin (LFPIORPI) and the Federal Penal Code (CPF), we inform you that after being postponed in previous months, on June 18, the United Commissions of Justice and Legislative Studies of the Senate discussed and generally approved the corresponding reform opinion. This Opinion consolidates the original proposal we analyzed at the end of last year (and which you can consult at the following links: Spanish: http://bit.ly/4kQCB1b, English: http://bit.ly/4leeuJB), maintaining its main axes such as the explicit inclusion of Terrorism Financing (FT), strengthening the powers of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), modifications in the identification of the Final Beneficiary, and adjustments to the catalog of Vulnerable Activities and their obligations. The text approved by the commissions incorporates very relevant technical precisions and adjustments derived from the legislative analysis, as well as two reservations approved during the discussion, which we analyze below:
Key Points on Implementation:
A. Entry into Force: It is anticipated that the reform will come into force the day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) with certain exceptions. This speed seems to respond to Mexico's evaluation by the FATF in 2025, so obligated subjects will have little time to adapt to these new measures.
B. Deadlines and complementary rules:
• The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) will have 12 months from the entry into force of the decree to modify the general rules.
• The periods for developing training programs and annual audits will begin on January 1, 2026. However, the general rules may set additional deadlines for these obligations, as well as for those related to the evaluation under a Risk-Based Approach, Internal Policy Manual, personnel selection processes, and automated mechanisms for monitoring operations.
C. Supplementary Laws: The General Law of Credit Instruments and Operations is recognized and added as a supplementary law to the LFPIORPI.
Flash News: Senate Commissions Approve Opinion and Advance the Reform Proposal to the Anti-Money Laundering Law (LFPIORPI) and Federal Penal Code
1. From MXN$56,570 to MXN$226,280 (approximately between USD$2,828 and USD$11,314, considering an exchange rate of MXN$20 per dollar).
2. 1,605 UMAs, currently MXN$181,589.7 (approx. USD$9,079.40 considering an exchange rate of MXN$20 per dollar)
D. Adjustments to the Sanctioning Regime:
◦ Administrative (Art. 55): The benefit for spontaneous compliance that exempts from sanction in the case of a first infraction is modified in two ways:
i. An additional benefit is incorporated for subsequent infractions, allowing the SHCP to reduce the fine by up to 50% if the obligated subject regularizes spontaneously before the start of verification powers., and
ii. It is specified that, both for first and subsequent infractions, the express acknowledgment of the fault(s) must be made within the initial period of the sanctioning procedure.
◦ Special Penal (Arts. 62): Article 62 is reformed to typify as a crime the incorporation of illegible information, documentation, data, or images in notices or responses to information requirements, willfully or negligently, that prevent effective knowledge of their content. Article 62 establishes a prison sentence of 2 to 8 years and a fine of 500 to 2000 UMAs 1 and adds an exclusion of the crime if it is a correctable error spontaneously before the authority becomes aware of the crime.
E. Additional key modifications:
i. Art. 17 sec. VI: The notice threshold in the habitual commercialization of jewelry, metals, and precious stones is modified. Currently, the obligation to give notice only applies to cash operations that exceed a certain amount 2. With the reform, the threshold is expanded to any act or operation that exceeds said amount, regardless of the payment method used.
ii. Art. 18: The Opinion specifies the safeguarding of information at the address registered with the SHCP.
iii. Art. 51 Bis: It is added and empowers the SHCP to request information from any public entity in the country, using specific channels for political or union data. Additionally, it obliges state companies and their subsidiaries to implement internal measures to mitigate the risk of being used in illicit operations.
iv. Art. 51 Ter: Establishes the obligation of the SHCP to prepare and maintain an updated list of Politically Exposed Persons available to obligated subjects, for the identification of clients and users.
v. The proposal to recognize the UIF's character as a victim or offended party is removed from the CPF reform project, reaffirming that (i) it is the Public Prosecutor's Office's power to investigate conduct in which services of financial system institutions are used, and (ii) a formal complaint filed by the SHCP will be required for criminal action to be exercised.
F. Approved Reservations:
i. Article 3, section I Bis of the Opinion: The proposal to incorporate the definition of non-profit associations and societies, including political parties and similar groups, was eliminated.
ii. Article 17, section XII, subsection c) of the Opinion: The notice threshold for the incorporation of legal entities, capital increases or decreases, mergers, spin-offs, and the purchase and sale of shares or social parts before a public notary was modified. From this modification, all these operations will be subject to mandatory notice to the authority, regardless of the amount.
Additional Considerations
