The Treaty between Mexico, United States and Canada (USMCA) requires changes in Mexican legislation before its expected entry into force on July 1.

For this reason, the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) urged the Senate Political Coordination Board to approve the necessary changes in Mexican legislation to bring it into conformity with the new trade agreement.

Since the beginning of September 2019, the Ministry of the Economy reported that it would send the Congress of the Union a package of reforms to laws and regulations to harmonize Mexican legislation with the T-MEC.

The so-called «USMCA Package» includes changes in Mexican legislation on industrial and intellectual property, the incorporation of the crime of unauthorized recording of cinematographic works, the establishment of regulations on plant varieties, changes in general import and export taxes. and adjustments to the standardization of conformity, among others.

The modifications will have a greater scope than the obligations derived from the USMCA, because it will be used to bring local legislation into conformity with the Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty of Trans-Pacific Association (TIPAT, or CPTPP, for its acronym in English) and modernization. of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Mexico (TLCUEM).

Also the USMCA Package will include the initiative of a new Industrial Property Law.

The USMCA

Specific changes include a reform to the Penal Code on the authorized recording of cinematographic works, a reform to the Federal Law on Plant Varieties and an adjustment to the Hague Agreement on an international registration of industrial designs.

Additionally, the approval of the sixth amendment recommendation to the commodity coding texts of the World Customs Organization, and a new Federal Metrology and Standardization Law are required.