The government of Mexico is increasingly choosing its armed (Sedena and Semar) forces for the construction and administration of economic infrastructure, highlights the Report on the State of Investments in Mexico 2021, prepared by the State Department.

In the last two years, the government entrusted the Army (Sedena) with the construction of the new airport in Mexico City, and sections 6, 7 and part of section 5 of the Mayan Train railway project in the state of Yucatán.

Likewise, the government announced plans to hand over to the Navy (Semar) the rights for the construction, administration and operation of the Transisthmian Train project to connect the ports of Coatzacoalcos in the state of Veracruz with the port of Salina Cruz in the state of Oaxaca.

Sedena

The government is also in the process of transferring responsibilities for managing land and sea ports from the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) to Sedena and Semar respectively.

On the other hand, Mexican labor law requires that at least 90% of a company’s employees be Mexican citizens.

Employers may hire foreign workers in specialized positions as long as foreigners do not exceed 10% of all workers in that specialized category.

Mexico does not follow a policy of «forced location»; the law does not require foreign investors to use local content in goods or technology.

However, investors who intend to produce goods in Mexico for export to the United States must take note of the requirements of the rules of origin contained in the T-MEC if they wish to benefit from the T-MEC treatment.

Chapter four of the T-MEC introduces new rules of origin and labor content, which entered into force on July 1, 2020.

In 2020, the Mexican central bank (Banco de México or Banxico) and the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV, Mexico’s main banking regulator) drafted regulations that oblige the largest financial technology companies operating in Mexico to host data on a backup server outside of the United States, if its principal is in the United States, or on physical servers in Mexico.

The draft regulations remain pending public comment and the financial services industry is concerned that they may violate the provisions of the financial services chapter of the T-MEC that prohibits data localization.