A year after its publication, amendments to the Mexican class actions regime have been proposed. According to a recent initiative presented before the Senate, several provisions of the Federal Code of Civil Procedure regarding class actions are intended to be modified to provide wider protection to consumers.
The initiative provides that a class may be formed by 10 individuals, rather than 30 individuals, as under the existing law. This will reduce the threshold for initiating class actions and thus make it more accessible to consumers.
Another proposal contained in the initiative is to modify the law to entitle the judge hearing a class action to order interim measures on the court's own motion when he or she deems it urgent to do so. In contrast, the existing law provides that the judge may order interim measures only at the request of the parties.
Moreover, the initiative intends to modify the timeframes for gathering evidence and producing such evidence in the proceeding. The timeframes will be reduced by half, to 30 days for gathering evidence – with a possible 10-day extension – and 20 days for producing the evidence.
The timeframe for rendering the final decision on the merits after all the evidence has been produced will also be reduced by half, to 15 days.
Lastly, the initiative proposes that the Federal Law for Consumer Protection be amended so that the Federal Agency for Consumer Protection (PROFECO) may initiate a class action, on its own motion, in response to receiving repeated consumer claims regarding a specific product. The existing law entitles PROFECO to initiate class actions; however, it does not provide for PROFECO to do so in response to repeated claims. This proposal is significant since, in many cases, a considerable amount of consumer claims arise regarding a particular product, but such claims are then swiftly addressed by the company selling or manufacturing the product. If this amendment is approved, there could be insufficient time for the company to address such claims, since it would already be facing litigation.
Although the intention of the amendments is to protect consumers, it is important to consider the impact that they might have on the defence of the respondents and the level of exposure that companies will have if they are approved by Congress.The initiative was only recently presented before the Senate; therefore, in order for its amendments to become effective, it must still be approved by the upper chamber and thereafter by the lower chamber.
For further information on this topic please contact Luis Enrique Graham or Angelica Huacuja at Chadbourne & Parke by telephone (+52 55 3000 0600), fax (+52 55 3000 0698) or email ([email protected] or [email protected]).
This article was first published by the International Law Office, a premium online legal update service for major companies and law firms worldwide. Register for a free subscription.
