On June 8, 2020, the Plenary of the Federal Judiciary Council (“CJF”) issued General Agreements 12/2020, 13/2020 and 14/2020 (“CJF Agreements”), which establish the working structure that the Federal Judicial Branch will adopt during the period from June 15 to 30, 2020, as well as with respect to the processing of proceedings by electronic means.
By means of the Agreements, the CJF determined that the suspension of the physical activities of the courts and tribunals of the Federal Judicial Branch will be extended until June 30, 2020, and therefore, the federal courts and tribunals will only continue to physically process “urgent cases.” The CJF considered as the sole urgent matter in commercial matters the request for precautionary measures in commercial insolvency proceedings. It is important to mention that, unlike Agreement 8/2020 previously issued by the CJF, the Agreements do specify that precautionary measures may be requested with respect to commercial insolvency proceedings already initiated or with respect to new commercial insolvency petitions or complaints. The CJF also determined that, as of June 16, 2020, commercial insolvency proceedings may be processed electronically, so that merchants who are in generalized default of their obligations may petition for commercial insolvency electronically, without the need for a determination of “urgency.” Finally, it is important to mention that the Agreements issued by the CJF also establish that, as of June 16, 2020, district courts may receive and process electronically any type of commercial proceeding (e.g., oral commercial trial, ordinary commercial trial, conventional commercial trial, among others). This implementation is historic, as it is the first time that the Federal Judicial Branch will process commercial proceedings electronically. In this sense, the door to access to electronic justice in commercial matters is open; however, given the health emergency situation arising from COVID-19, when personal notifications are required in these proceedings (such as, for example, service of process on the defendant), the judge must suspend the proceeding and wait for the resumption of jurisdictional activities. For additional information, please contact our experts: Diego Sierra, Partner: +52 (55) 5258 1039 | dsierra@vwys.com.mx Alejandro González, Associate: +52 (55) 5258 1039 | algonzalez@vwys.com.mx Juan Francisco Barrera, Associate: +52 (55) 5258 1039 | jbarrera@vwys.com.mx
