On Thursday, April 2, 2020, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of the United Mexican States, ordered the publication in the Official Federal Gazette (“DOF”) of a decree directing the termination of public trusts (but only in respect of public trusts that do not have their own officers and employees), public mandates and similar instruments (the “Decree”), pursuant to which all ministries and entities conforming the Federal Administration, the Office of the President and the Agrarian Courts (each a “Relevant Government Agency”) are instructed to process the early termination of such public trusts, mandates and similar instruments (the “Vehicles and Instruments”) in respect of which any such Relevant Government Agency is the responsible party in respect of their administration, to the effect that all rights and obligations deriving from the Vehicles and Instruments be further assumed by each such Relevant Government Agency, respectively, and become payable against their respective annual budgets.
In that sense, each Relevant Government Agency must, as a general rule, reach out to the relevant trustees, attorneys-in-fact or agents of the Vehicles and Instruments and instruct them to transfer to the Federal Treasury, by no later than April 15, 2020, all federal public funds managed by the respective Vehicles and Instruments. Any exception to the foregoing general rule will need to be expressly authorized by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (“SHCP”), in consultation with the Ministry of Public Administration (“SFP”), but only to the extent that the head of the Relevant Government Agency provides adequate grounds, based on fact and law, to justify such authorization, and provided, further, that if SHCP fails to respond within 10 business days, the request for authorization will be deemed as denied.
Furthermore, upon effectiveness of the Decree , as a general rule each Relevant Government Agency is instructed not to use or otherwise commit federal public funds managed by Vehicles and Instruments. Only in very special circumstances, when the head of the Relevant Government Agency provides SHCP, with a copy to SFP, adequate grounds, based on fact and law, to justify an exception to the general rule, may SHCP authorize that such funds be used or committed for specific purposes; provided that if SHCP fails to respond within 10 business days, the request for authorization will be deemed as denied.
