Dear clients and friends,

On July 16, 2025, a Decree amending, among others, various provisions of the Federal Economic Competition Law (“LFCE”) was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (the “Decree”). With the Decree entering into force the day after its publication, the reform of Mexico’s economic competition regime is consolidated, following the constitutional reform on organic simplification.

Below are the most relevant points contained in the Decree:

🏛️ Creation of the National Antitrust Commission (“CNA”)

• The CNA is the new authority on economic competition in Mexico. It is a decentralized public body with technical and operational autonomy, under the oversight of the Ministry of Economy.
• The CNA replaces the Federal Economic Competition Commission (“COFECE”) and absorbs the powers related to economic competition in the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors from the now-defunct Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT).

👥 Structure and Operation

• The CNA’s Plenum will consist of five Commissioners, appointed by the Head of the Executive Power (the president) and ratified by the Senate.

📡 Telecommunications and Broadcasting

• An additional Fourth Book is added to the LFCE, specifically dedicated to the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors.
• With this, the CNA becomes the sole competition authority in Mexico and will regulate dominance, cross-ownership, and media concentration in these sectors.
• Measures are established to ensure access to plural information.

📉 Reduction of Monetary Thresholds and Deadlines (Merger Control and Investigations)

• Regulatory thresholds for merger notifications are reduced. In general terms, (i) all transactions with a value in Mexico exceeding approximately USD 96 million must be authorized by the CNA before closing; and (ii) the transactions exceeding approximately USD 44 million will require further analysis to determine if pre-merger control is necessary.
• The CNA’s deadline to issue a resolution on a merger notification is reduced from 60 to 30 business days, counted from the response to the last request for information. The extension periods that the CNA can apply for complex cases is reduced from 40 to 20 business days.
• State-owned enterprises are excluded from the merger notification regime and from investigations into anticompetitive conduct.
• The exception of pre-merger control for mainly speculative transactions (commonly carried out by investment funds) is eliminated.
• In investigations into monopolistic practices/unlawful mergers, the number of times the investigation period can be extended is reduced from 4 to 3.
• A new procedure is being introduced for classifying information and documents protected by attorney-client privilege for investigation purposes.

💰 Penalties and Fines

• Penalties for anticompetitive practices are updated and increased.
• Fines may reach up to 15% of the revenues of the economic group of the infringing economic agent. For individuals, new grounds for disqualification are introduced, and criminal liability remains in place.
• Below please find the comparative chart of the main penalties before and after the reform contained in the Decree:

Type of conduct	Previous maximum penalties	New maximum penalties
	(% of revenues of the group of companies to which the infringing economic agent belongs)
Absolute monopolistic practices (collusions)	Up to 10%.	Up to 15%.
Relative monopolistic practices (rule of reason)	Up to 8%.	Up to 10%.
Illicit concentrations	Up to 8%.	Up to 10%
Non-cleared transactions that required pre-merger control.	Up to 5%.	Up to 8% and could increase to 15% if the CNA had previously objected to the transaction.

🧾 Transitional Provisions

• COFECE will continue operating until the CNA’s Plenum is formed, as per the reformed LFCE.
• Resources, files, and functions will be transferred to the CNA. Ongoing procedures before COFECE must continue without interruption.
• A 180-day period is established to issue the new Organic Statute of the CNA and the LFCE Regulations, counted from the integration of the CNA’s Plenary.

If you have any questions or need advice regarding the Decree, its interpretation, or the analysis of current or anticipated consequences, our team of experts is at your service.

Yakov Kobets: ykobets@k-g.com.mx

Patricio Gorozpe: patricio@k-g.com.mx