On February 18, 2025, an initiative with a draft decree to issue the Federal Antimonopoly and Competition Law (the “Initiative of the LFACE”)(1) was published in the Parliamentary Gazette of the Chamber of Deputies, which would replace the current Federal Economic Competition Law (“LFCE” or Ley Federal de Competencia Económica). Congressman Alfonso Ramírez Cuéllar, from the Morena Parliamentary Group, submitted for the consideration of the Chamber of Deputies such initiative, which still needs to be discussed and approved by both Chambers of the Mexican Congress. Below, please find a summary of relevant aspects of the Initiative of the LFACE: 

1.Nature and structure of the New Regulatory Agency. 

The Initiative of the LFACE proposes the creation of the National Agency for Competition and Economic Welfare (the “Agency” or Agencia Nacional para la Competencia y el Bienestar Económico), an organism that would replace the Federal Economic Competition Commission (“COFECE” or Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica) and the Federal Telecommunications Institute (“IFT” or Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones), implementing the constitutional reform approved by the Mexican Congress on November 28, 2024. In this respect, the Initiative of the LFACE contemplates unifying the functions in matters of competition in a single authority, including within its jurisdiction telecommunications and radio broadcasting, which are currently matters of exclusive jurisdiction of the IFT. 

The Agency would constitute a public decentralized organism, with its own legal personality and patrimony, endowed with technical and operational independence in its decisions, organization and functioning, as well as professional and impartial in its actions. The Initiative of the LFACE sets out that the Agency’s institutional work program would need to be consistent with the objectives, strategies and priorities of the National Development Plan (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo) and the applicable sectoral programs. 

The new Agency would maintain the separation between the Antitrust Prosecutor’s Office –the body in charge of the investigation currently called the Investigating Authority– and the Board of Commissioners (Pleno) –the governing and resolution body. The Board of Commissioners (Pleno) of the Agency would be composed of five commissioners, as opposed to the seven that currently make up the Board of Commissioners of COFECE. The Initiative of the LFACE also contains new criteria and procedures for the selection of commissioners. 

2.Telecommunications and Radio Broadcasting. 

The Initiative of the LFACE seeks to incorporate into the Agency’s powers and attributes all economic competition matters related to the telecommunications and radio broadcasting industries.

3.Changes in the Thresholds for the Notification of Concentrations. 

The Initiative of the LFACE proposes a reduction of the amounts contemplated in the statutory merger control thresholds to determine if a transaction requires prior authorization from the Agency and contemplates an entirely new threshold related to collaboration agreements.

To know more we invite you to read the full article.

If you require additional information, please contact Octavio Olivo Villa ([email protected]) or James E. Ritch ([email protected]), leaders of the competition and antitrust practice area of Ritch Mueller.

Visit our site www.ritch.com.mx or reach us at (+52) 55 9178 7000 | [email protected]


(1) Please see: https://gaceta.diputados.gob.mx/PDF/66/2025/feb/20250218-II-1-1.pdf