Translated for the Comparative Constitutions Project by M. Fernanda Gomez Aban
In the United Mexican States, all individuals shall be entitled to the human rights granted by this Constitution and the international treaties signed by the Mexican State, as well as to the guarantees for the protection of these rights. Such human rights shall not be restricted or suspended, except for the cases and under the conditions established by this Constitution itself.
The provisions relating to human rights shall be interpreted according to this Constitution and the international treaties on the subject, working in favor of the broader protection of people at all times.
All authorities, in their areas of competence, are obliged to promote, respect, protect and guarantee Human Rights, in accordance with the principles of universality, interdependence, indivisibility and progressiveness. As a consequence, the State must prevent, investigate, penalize and rectify violations to Human Rights, according to the law.
Slavery shall be forbidden in Mexico. Every individual who is considered as a slave at a foreign country shall be freed and protected under the law by just entering the country.
Any form of discrimination, based on ethnic or national origin, gender, age, disabilities, social status, medical conditions, religion, opinions, sexual orientation, marital status, or any other form, which violates the human dignity or seeks to annul or diminish the rights and freedoms of the people, is prohibited.
The Mexican Nation is unique and indivisible.
The nation is multicultural, based originally on its indigenous peoples, described as descendants of those inhabiting the country before colonization and that preserve their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, or some of them.
Consciousness of indigenous identity will be the fundamental criteria to determine to whom apply the provisions on indigenous people.
An indigenous community is defined as the community that constitutes a cultural, economic and social unit settled in a territory and that recognizes its own authorities, according to their customs.
Indigenous people’s right to self-determination shall be subjected to the Constitution in order to guarantee national unity. States’ and Federal District’s constitutions and laws must recognize indigenous peoples and communities, taking into account the general principles established in the previous paragraphs, as well as ethnic-linguistic and land settlement criteria.
The constitutions and laws of the States shall recognize and regulate these rights in the municipalities, with the purpose of strengthening indigenous peoples’ participation and political representation, in accordance with their traditions and regulations.
The constitutions and laws of the States and the Federal District shall establish those elements of self-determination and autonomy that may best express the conditions and aspirations of indigenous peoples in each State, as well as the rules, according to which indigenous communities will be defined as public interest entities.
In order to eliminate the scarcities and backwardness affecting indigenous towns and communities, authorities are obliged to:
In order to enforce the obligations set forth herein, the House of Representatives, the legislative bodies of the Federal District and the States, as well as the Municipal Councils, within the scope of their jurisdictions, shall establish specific budgets to comply with these obligations, as well as the procedures enabling communities to participate in the exercise and supervision thereof.
Any community comparable to indigenous peoples shall have the same rights as the indigenous people, according to the law, without detrimental to rights of natives, their communities and peoples established in this Constitution.
All people have the right of education. The State – Federation, States, Federal District and Municipalities – will provide preschool, elementary, middle and high education. Preschool, elementary and middle educations are considered as basic education; these and the high school education will be mandatory.
Education provided by the State shall develop harmoniously all human abilities and will stimulate in pupils the love for the country, respect for human rights and the principles of international solidarity, independence and justice.
The State will guarantee the quality in mandatory education, in a way that educational material and methods, school organization, educational infrastructure and the suitability of teachers and principals ensure the highest learning achievement of students.
Furthermore, state education shall:
The Governing Board will be the managing body of the Institute and will be formed with five members. The Federal Executive will present a list of three candidates for consideration of the House of Senators, which, with previous appearance of the proposed persons, shall appoint the person to fill the position. Appointment shall be decided with a two-thirds vote of the present members of the Senate or, during its recess, a two-thirds vote of the Permanent Commission, within a thirty days period not to be extended. Should the Senate fail to decide on the appointment within such time limit, the position will be filled by one of the three candidates to be selected by the Federal Executive.
In case that the Senate rejects the proposed list of three entirely, the Federal Executive shall submit a new one in accordance to the rules set forth in the previous paragraph. If the second list was rejected, the position will be filled by one of the candidates in the list to be selected by the Federal Executive.
Members of the Governing Board shall be capable and experienced individuals in the field under the purview of the Institute, and shall meet the requirements set forth by law. They shall remain in office for seven years in staggered terms, subject to only one reelection. Members of the Governing Board may not stay in office for more than fourteen years. In case of vacancy, the substitute will be appointed to complete the respective term. They can only be removed for severe cause under the terms of Title IV of this Constitution, and they shall not hold any other position job, position or commission with the exception of those in which they act in representation of Institute and those non-remunerated positions in teaching, scientific, cultural or charitable activities.
The Governing Board, in a collegiate manner shall appoint, by a 3-vote majority, the member that will preside for a term set by law.
The law shall establish the rules for the organization and operation of the Institute, which will govern its activities according to the principles of independence, transparency, objectivity, pertinence, diversity and inclusion.
The law shall establish the necessary mechanisms and actions to allow efficacious cooperation and coordination between the Institute and the federal and local education authorities to achieve a better discharge of their respective duties.
Man and woman are equal under the law. The law shall protect the organization and development of the family.
Every person has the right to decide, in a free, responsible and informed manner, about the number of children desired and the timing between each of them.
All individuals have the right to nutritional, sufficient and quality nourishment. The State shall guarantee this.
Every person has the right to health protection. The law shall determine the bases and terms to access health services and shall establish the competence of the Federation and the Local Governments in regard to sanitation according to the item XVI in Article 73 of this Constitution.
Any person has the right to a healthy environment for his/her own development and well-being. The State will guarantee the respect to such right. Environmental damage and deterioration will generate a liability for whoever provokes them in terms of the provisions by the law.
Any person has the right of access, provision and drainage of water for personal and domestic consumption in a sufficient, healthy, acceptable and affordable manner. The State will guarantee such right and the law will define the bases, subsidies and modality for the equitable and sustainable access and use of the freshwater resources, establishing the participation of the Federation, local governments and municipalities, as well as the participation of the citizens for the achievement of such purposes.
Any family has the right to enjoy a decent and respectable house. The law will set the instruments and supports necessary to achieve such objective.
Any person has the right to identity and to be registered immediately after their birth. The State shall guarantee the compliance of these rights. The competent authority shall issue, without any cost, the first certified copy of the birth certificate or registration.
The State, in all decisions it makes and all actions it carries out, will safeguard and comply with the principle of doing what is in the best interest of children, thus entirely guaranteeing their rights. Boys and girls have the right to having their nutritional, health, educational and recreational needs satisfied for their proper development. This principle should guide the design, enforcement, following up and evaluation of the public policies focused on childhood.
Ascendant relatives and guardians have the obligation of maintaining and demanding the compliance of these rights and principles.
The State will grant aid to individuals in order to assist with the compliance of the rights of children.
Every person has cultural rights, has the right of access to culture and the right to enjoy state cultural services. The State shall provide the means to spread and develop culture, taking into account the cultural diversity of our country and respecting creative freedom. The law shall provide instruments that guarantee access and participation of any cultural expression.
All individuals have a right to physical culture and the practice of sports. The State shall promote and stimulate this right by issuing laws on the matter.
No person may be prevented from performing the profession, industry, business or work of his choice, provided that it is lawful. This right may only be banned by judicial resolution, when third parties’ rights are infringed, or by government order, issued according to the law when society’s rights are infringed. No one can be deprived of legal wages, except by a judicial ruling.
In each state, the law shall determine which professions require a degree to be practiced, the requirements for such degree and the appropriate authorities to issue it.
No one can be compelled to work or render personal services without obtaining a fair compensation and without his full consent, unless the work has been imposed as a penalty by a judicial authority, which shall be subjected to the provisions established in the Article 123, sections I and II.
Only the following public services may be mandatory, and always according to the respective law: military service, jury service, councilman service and positions granted through the direct or indirect vote. Electoral and census duties shall be mandatory and free; however, those services performed professionally shall be paid as provided by this Constitution and any applicable laws. Social professional services shall be mandatory and remunerated according to the law and with the exceptions established in it.
Any contract, pact or agreement, which purpose is the demerit, loss or irrevocable sacrifice of a person’s liberty is prohibited.
Any contract by which a person agrees to his own proscription or exile, or by which he temporarily or permanently waives his right to practice certain profession, industry or business shall not be authorized either.
A work contract will oblige the person only to render the service mentioned in that contract during the term established by law, which may not exceed one year in detriment of the worker. The work contract cannot include the waiver, loss or damage of any political or civil right.
In the event that the worker fails to fulfill said contract, he only may be subjected to civil liability, but never may be exerted any coercion on him.
Expression of ideas shall not be subject to judicial or administrative inquiry, except for those cases when such expression of ideas goes against the moral, privacy or the rights of third parties, causes perpetration of a felony, or disturbs the public order. The right of reply shall be exercised according to law. The State shall guarantee the right to information.
Every person shall be entitled to free access to plural and timely information, as well as to search for, receive and distribute information and ideas of any kind, through any means of expression.
The State shall guarantee access to information and communication technology, access to the services of radio broadcast, telecommunications and broadband Internet. To that end, the State shall establish effective competition conditions for the provision of such services.
To accomplish the provisions of this article, the following points shall be observed:
The autonomous transparency agency established in this fraction will be governed by the transparency and access to public information law, as well as the law for the protection on personal data held by obligated subjects, in the terms established by the general law issued by the Congress to set the basic principles, basis and procedures for the exercise of the information rights.
This agency will be governed by the principles of certainty, legality, independence, impartiality, efficiency, objectiveness, professionalism, transparency and maximum publicity.
The autonomous transparency agency has competence to receive inquiries related to the right of access to public information and the protection of personal data from any authority, entity, organism or agency that belongs to any of the Executive, Legislative or Judicial Powers, as well as any autonomous agency, political parties public trusts and public funds, or any other person, group, union or organization that receives or use public resources or that exercise authority at the federal domain with exception of those issues that correspond to the jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme Court, in which case a committee of three Supreme Court Justices would decide the issue. The autonomous transparency agency has, also the competence to receive the inquiries from individuals in regard to the resolutions issued by the local autonomous specialized transparency agencies and the Federal District transparency agency that ruled the inexistence, reserve, and confidentiality of information or that refuses to disclose information according to the terms established by law.
The National Transparency Agency [organismo garante], ex oficio or by substantiated petition of the local agency from the States or the Federal District may receive or analyze the inquiries that due to its importance or transcendence are in the interest of the National Transparency Agency.
The law will determine the information that shall be considered as reserved or confidential.
The resolutions of the National Transparency Agency are mandatory, definitive and indisputable for the obligated subjects (obligors). Only in the cases that the resolutions may be considered to endanger public security according to the law in the matter, the Legal Councilor of the Federal Government may present a review inquiry to the Supreme Court.
The National Transparency Agency [organismo garante] shall be constituted by seven commissioners. To appoint them, the Senate, previous extensive consultation to social actors and by proposal of the different parliamentary groups, will appoint the commissioner with the vote of two-thirds of the Senators present in the session according to the vacancy that must be covered and following the procedure established by law. The President may oppose the appointment within ten business days. If the President does not oppose the appointment within the given days, then the person appointed by the Senate will assume the commissioner office.
Given the case that the President opposes the appointment, the Senate will present a new proposal to occupy the vacancy according to the previous paragraph. However, to approve the proposal the vote of three-fifths of the Senators present is required. If this second appointment were objected, the Senate, according to the procedures in the previous paragraph, with the approval of three-fifths of the Senators present would appoint definitively the commissioner that will occupy the vacancy.
The commissioner office will be held during seven years, and the commissioners shall fulfill the requirements provided in the fractions I, II, IV, V and VI of the article 95th of this Constitution. The commissioners shall not hold other office, have an additional employment, or other commission with exception of the non-profit chairs or offices related to charities and academic or scientific institutions. The commissioners can only be removed from office according to the terms in the Fourth Title of this Constitution and they will be subject to political trial.
The conformation of the National Transparency Agency shall promote gender equality.
The Commissioner President shall be selected by a peer process, through the secret vote of the commissioners. The Commissioner President will remain in office for three years, with the possibility of being reelected to other three years. The commissioner president must render an annual report before the Senate in the date and terms described by the law.
The National Transparency Agency [organo garante] shall have an Advisory Board, formed with ten council members that shall be elected by the vote of two thirds of the present Senators. The law will establish the procedures to present the proposals to the Senate. Each year, the two council members with longer tenure will be replaced, unless they were proposed and ratified for a second term in office.
The law will establish the emergency measures and procedures that the Agency could implement to guarantee the fulfillment of its decisions.
Every authority and public servant is compelled to help the National Transparency Agency and its Commissioners for the adequate performance of the Agency.
The National Transparency Agency will coordinate its actions with the Federal Superior Comptroller Office [Entidad de Fiscalizacion Superior de la Federacion], the entity specialized in archives and files, the organ in charge of gathering and process of statistical and geographical data, as well as, with the local agencies in the States and the Federal District in order to strengthen the accountability within the Mexican State.
The agency shall have a citizens’ council to secure independence and an impartial and objective editorial policy. The council shall have nine members to be elected, after ample public consultation, with a two-thirds vote by the Senate or, during recess, by the Permanent Committee. Council members shall serve in staggered terms. Each year, the two most senior members shall be replaced unless ratified for a second term by the Senate.
The Senate or, during recess, the Permanent Committee, shall appoint the President of the agency, upon the proposal of the Federal Executive, with a two-thirds vote. The President shall stay in office for five years, and may be re-appointed for only one additional term. The President may only be removed with a two-thirds vote by the Senate.
The President of the agency shall present and annual report of activities to the Executive and Legislative branches, and he will appear before both chambers of Congress in accordance with the law.
Freedom of speech, opinion, ideas and information through any means shall not be abridged. Said right shall neither be abridged through any indirect means, such as abuse of official or private control over paper, radio electric frequencies or any other materials or devices used to deliver information, or through any other means or information and communication technologies aimed at impeding transmission or circulation of ideas and opinions.
No statute or authority shall establish prior restraints, nor shall it abridge freedom of speech, which shall be subject to no other limitation than those foreseen in the first paragraph of Article 6 of this Constitution. Under no circumstances shall the assets used for the transmission of information, opinions and ideas be subject to seizure on the grounds of being an instrumentality of a felony.
Public officers and employees will respect the exercise of the right to petition provided that petition is made in writing and in a peaceful and respectful manner. Regarding political petitioning, only citizens have this right.
Every petition must be decided in writing by the authority to whom it was addressed, who has the duty to reply to the petitioner within a brief term.
The right to peacefully associate or assembly for any licit purpose cannot be restricted. Only citizens of the Republic may take part in the political affairs of the country. No armed meeting has the right to deliberate.
Meetings organized to make a petition or to submit a protest to any authority cannot be considered as unlawful, nor be broken, provided that no insults are uttered against the authority and no violence or threats are used to intimidate or force the decision of such authority.
The inhabitants of the United Mexican States have the right to keep arms at home, for their protection and legitimate defense, with the exception of those prohibited by the Federal Law and those reserved for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, Air Force and National Guard. Federal Law will state the cases, conditions, requirements and places where inhabitants can be authorized to carry weapons.
Every person has the right to enter and leave the country, to travel through its territory and to move house without the necessity of a letter of safe passage, passport, safe-conduct or any other similar requirement. In the event of criminal or civil liability, the exercise of this right shall be subject to the judicial authority. Relating to limitations imposed by the laws on immigration and public health, or in respect to undesirable aliens residing in the country, the exercise of this right shall be subject to the administrative authority.
In case of political persecution, any person has the right to seek political asylum, which will be provided for humanitarian reasons. The law shall regulate the cases in which political asylum should be provided, as well as the exceptions.
No titles of nobility, nor prerogatives and hereditary honors shall be granted in the United Mexican States. Furthermore, those granted by any other country shall have no effect.
No one can be tried under special laws or special courts. No person or corporation can have any privileges, nor enjoy emoluments, other than those given in compensation for public services and which must be established by the law. Military jurisdiction prevails for crimes and faults against military discipline; but, under no case and for no circumstance, military courts can extend their jurisdiction over persons who are not members of the Armed Forces. Civilians involved in military crimes or faults shall be put on trial before the competent civil authority.
No law will have retroactive effect in detriment of any person.
No one can be deprived of his freedom, properties or rights without a trial before previously established courts, complying with the essential formalities of the proceedings and according to those laws issued beforehand.
With regard to criminal trials, it is forbidden to impose any penalty which has not been expressly decreed by a law applicable to the crime in question, arguing mere analogy or majority of reason.
In civil trials, final sentence must agree with the law writing or the legal interpretation thereof. In the case of lack of the appropriate law, sentence must be based on the general principles of law.
The United Mexican States disallow international treaties for extradition when the person to be extradited is politically persecuted, or accused of ordinary crime while having the condition of a slave in the country where he/she committed the crime, as well as the agreements or treaties that alter the human rights established by this Constitution and the international treaties signed by the Mexican State.
No person shall be disturbed in his private affairs, his/her family, papers, properties or be invaded at home without a written order from a competent authority, duly explaining the legal cause of the proceeding.
All people have the right to enjoy protection on his personal data, and to access, correct and cancel such data. All people have the right to oppose the disclosure of his data, according to the law. The law shall establish exceptions to the criteria that rule the handling of data, due to national security reasons, law and order, public security, public health, or protection of third party’s rights.
Only judicial authority can issue an arrest warrant. Such arrest warrant shall always be preceded by a formal accusation or charge of misconduct considered as criminal offence, punishable with imprisonment, provided that there is evidence to prove that a crime has been committed and that the defendant is criminally liable.
The authority executing an arrest warrant shall bring the accused before the judge without any delay and under its sole responsibility. Failure to comply with this provision will be punished under criminal law.
In cases of flagante delicto, any person may arrest the offender, turning him over without delay to the nearest authorities, which in turn, shall bring him before the Public Prosecution Service. A record of such arrest must be done immediately.
The Public Prosecution Service may order arrest of the accused, explaining the causes of such decision, only under the following circumstances all together: a) in urgent cases, b) when dealing with serious offence, c) under reasonable risk that the accused could evade the justice and, d) because of the time, place or circumstance, accused cannot be brought before judicial authority.
In cases of urgency or flagrancy, the judge before whom the prisoner is presented shall immediately confirm the arrest or order his release, according to the conditions established in the law.
In the case of organized crime, and at the request of the Public Prosecution Service, judicial authority can order to put a person into hold restraint, complying with the terms of time and place established by law and without exceeding forty days, whenever necessary for the success of the investigation, the protection of people or legal goods, or when there is reason to believe that the accused could avoid the action of justice. The forty days term can be extended, provided that the Public Prosecution Service proves that the causes that originate hold restraint still remain. In any case, the hold restraint shall not last more than eighty days.
The term organized crime is defined as the organization of three or more people gathered together to commit crimes in a permanent or frequent manner, in the terms provided by the correspondent law.
No accused person shall be held by the Public Prosecution Service for more than forty-eight hours. After this term, his release shall be ordered or he shall be brought before a judicial authority. Such term may be duplicated in case of organized crime. Any abuse shall be punished by criminal law.
Only a judicial authority can issue a search warrant at the request of the Public Prosecution Service. The search warrant must describe the place to be searched, the person or persons to be apprehended and the objects to be seized. Upon the conclusion of the search, a report must be compiled at the site and before two witnesses proposed by the occupant of the place searched or, in his absence or refusal, by the acting authority.
Private communications shall not be breached. The law shall punish any action against the liberty and privacy of such communications, except when they are voluntarily given by one of the individuals involved in them. A judge shall assess the implications of such communications, provided they contain information related to the perpetration of a crime. Communications that violate confidentiality established by law shall not be admitted in any case.
Only the federal judicial authority can authorize telephone tapping and interception of private communications, at the request of the appropriate federal authority or the State Public Prosecution Service. The authority that makes the request shall present in writing the legal causes for the request, describing therein the kind of interception required, the individuals subjected to interception and the term thereof. The federal judicial authority cannot authorize telephone tapping nor interception of communications in the following cases: a) when the matters involved are of electoral, fiscal, commercial, civil, labor or administrative nature, b) communications between defendant and his attorney.
The judiciaries shall have control judges who shall immediately and by any means solve the precautionary measures requests and investigation techniques, ensuring compliance with the rights of the accused and the victims. An authentic registry of all the communications between judges and the Public Prosecution Service and other competent authorities shall be kept.
Authorized telephone tapping and interception of communications shall be subjected to the requirements and limitations set forth in the law. The results of telephone tapping and interception of communications that do not comply with the aforesaid requirements will not be admitted as evidence.
Administrative authorities shall have powers to search private households only in order to enforce sanitary and police regulations. Administrative authorities can require the accounts books and documents to corroborate compliance with fiscal provisions, following the procedures and formalities established for search warrants.
The sealed correspondence circulating through the mail shall be exempt from any search and the violation thereof shall be punishable by the law.
During peacetime, no member of the Army can be quartered in a private house against the owner’s will nor impose any requirements. During a war, soldiers can demand lodging, baggage, food and other requirements in the terms set forth by the applicable martial law.
Nobody can take justice into their own hands, nor have resort to violence to enforce his rights.
All people have the right to enjoy justice before the courts and under the terms and conditions set forth by the laws. The courts shall issue their rulings in a prompt, complete and impartial manner. Court’s services shall be free, judicial fees are prohibited.
The Mexican Congress shall enact laws to regulate collective actions. Such laws shall establish the cases in which each law applies, as well as the judicial proceedings and the remedies for redress. Only the federal judges have jurisdiction on these proceedings.
The laws shall provide alternative mechanisms to resolve controversies. Regarding to criminal matter, the laws shall regulate application of such mechanisms, ensure redress and establish the cases in which judicial supervision is required.
The sentences by which an oral proceeding ends shall be explained in a public hearing before the parties.
Federal and local laws shall provide the necessary means to guarantee the independence of the courts and the full enforcement of their rulings.
The Federation, the States and the Federal District must guarantee the existence of a quality public defender office and shall provide the conditions for a professional career service for the defenders. The defenders’ fees shall not be inferior to the public prosecutors’ fees.
Imprisonment shall be forbidden as a way to punish exclusively civil debts.
Preventive custody shall be reserved for crimes punishable by imprisonment. Preventive prisons shall be completely separated from the prisons used for convicted persons.
The prison system shall be organized on the basis of respect for human rights, as well as work, training, education, health and sports as a means to achieve inmate’s social rehabilitation, pursuing that he/she will not commit a crime again and following the benefits that the law establishes for him/her. Women and men shall be imprisoned in separate places.
The Federation, the States and the Federal District can make and execute agreements to send the inmates convicted for crimes under its jurisdictions to serve their sentence in other prisons under a different jurisdiction.
The Federation, the States and the Federal District shall establish, within the field of their respective powers, an integral justice system for minor offenders that shall be used for those persons that have been found guilty of committing or participating in a crime as stated by the law and that their age ranges from twelve years old and less than eighteen years old. The system shall guarantee the human rights recognized by this Constitution for every person, as well as those specific rights that due to the their status as a person under development have been granted to children. People under twelve years of age who have been found guilty of having committed or participated in a crime as stated by the law shall only be subjected to social assistance.
The management of this system will be organized by institutions, courts and authorities specializing in justice administration and legal proceedings regarding teenagers. The system shall use advice, protection and treatment methods that apply on each particular case following the principles of comprehensive protection and superior interest of the teenager.
If appropriate, alternative forms of justice should be used in this system. The judicial process for teenager’s justice shall be through an oral adversarial system in which due process shall be strictly followed as well as the principle of independence among authorities in charge of the process or the conviction. Measures imposed to teenagers shall be proportional to the misconduct and shall seek teenager’s social and family reintegration, as well as the complete development of his person and capabilities. Confinement shall only be used as an extreme measure and for the briefest period of time that applies to the case. Confinement can be applied only to teenagers above fourteen years old who have committed or participated in an act that the law describes as a crime.
Mexicans who are serving imprisonment penalties in foreign countries may be brought to the United Mexican States to serve their sentences according to the rehabilitation systems provided in this article. Foreigners who are serving imprisonment penalties may be transferred to their countries, in accordance with international treaties. Prisoner must grant his/her consent for the transfer.
Convicts may serve their sentence in the penitentiaries closer to their home, in order to encourage their reintegration to the community. This provision shall not be applicable to organized crime and to inmates who require special security measures.
Special centers shall be created for preventive imprisonment and for penalties regarding organized crime. The competent authority can restrict communication between accused person or prisoner and third parties in the event of organized crime, except for defender. The authority also can impose measures of special surveillance on these inmates. This provision can be applied to other inmates who require special security measures.
Detentions before a judicial authority in excess of 72 hours, counted from the moment the accused is presented to the authority, are prohibited without presenting formal charges indicating the crime, place, time and circumstances of such crime; as well as the evidence of the crime and of the probable liability of the accused.
The Public Prosecution Service can request of the judge preventive prison only when other precautionary measures are not enough to ensure the presence of the accused in his trial, the development of the investigation, the protection of the victim, witnesses or community, as well as when the accused is on trial or had been previously convicted for having committed an intentional crime. Also, the judge will order preventive prison, by its own motion, in the following cases: organized crime; deceitful homicide; rape; kidnap; trafficking in persons; crimes committed using firearms, explosives or other violent instruments; and serious crimes against national security, the right to freely develop personality and the public health.
The law shall establish the cases in which the judge can revoke liberty granted to the individuals subjected to trial.
The term to issue the association order may be extended only at the request of the accused, according to the procedure set forth by the law. Prolonging the detention shall be sanctioned by penal law. The authority in charge of the establishment where the accused is shall attract the judge’s attention if it does not receive a copy of the detention order or the extension request in the term indicated above as soon as the term ends. If the authority does not receive the detention order within the next three hours, the accused shall be freed.
Every proceeding will treat only the crime or crimes mentioned in the detention order. If within the course of proceedings, another crime appears, it shall be charged on a separate investigation. Charge accumulation may be ordered, if appropriate.
In the event that, after the detention order has been issued for an organized crime charge, the accused evades the justice or is transferred to a foreign judge, the trial and the expiry date of the criminal action will be suspended.
Treatment during the arrest or imprisonment, any annoyance without legal justification, any tax or contribution in jails, constitute an abuse which the law shall correct and the authorities shall repress.
Criminal proceedings will be oral and adversarial. It shall be ruled by the principles of open trial, contradiction, concentration, continuity and contiguity.
The law shall establish benefits for the accused or convicted person who provides effective assistance in the investigation of felonies related to organized crime.
In the case of organized crime, all acts performed during the investigation shall serve as evidence when they cannot be reproduced during the trial or there is a risk for witnesses or victims. The accused has the right to object or contest such evidence.
The accused and his counsel can access to the investigation records: a) when the accused is under arrest, b) when he makes his statement or is interviewed, c) before the first hearing. Once the first hearing has been carried out, information on investigation cannot be kept in secret, except for exceptional cases determined by the law, whenever that is imperative to ensure the success of the investigation and provided that they are revealed in time to safeguard defendant’s rights.
The defendant has the right that his lawyer appears in every acts of the process. Defendant’s lawyer is obliged to appear in all the acts related to defendant’s proceeding.
Preventive prison cannot exceed the time established by law as maximum punishment for the crime in question. In no case, preventive prison shall exceed the term of two years, unless defendant asks for a longer time to prepare his defense. If after said term a sentence has not been pronounced, the defendant shall be freed immediately while the trial continues. However, other precautionary measures may be used.
The duration of detention will count for the sentence term.
Whenever the Public Prosecution Service does not consider necessary to carry out the steps required by the victim, he must state the grounds of law and fact justifying his refusal.
The law shall set forth agile procedures to enforce redress sentences.
The Public Prosecution Service shall ensure the protection of victims, offended parties, witnesses and all others who take part in the trial. The judges are obliged to oversee proper compliance with this obligation.
It is the Public Prosecution Service’s responsibility to investigate crimes together with police bodies, who shall work under the Public Prosecution Service’s command.
The exercise of the criminal prosecution before the courts is exclusive to the Public Prosecution Service. The law shall define the cases in which civilians can exercise criminal prosecution before the judicial authority.
Only judicial authority can impose penalties, modify them and state the pertinent term for them.
It is the administrative authority’s responsibility to apply the penalties for breaking the regulations. Such penalties may be fines, arrest up to thirty-six hours or community work. The fine may be exchanged by the appropriate incarceration term, which shall never exceed thirty-six hours.
If the offender is a laborer, worker or employee, he may not be fined for an amount exceeding one day of wage.
If the offender is not a salaried worker, the fine shall not exceed the amount equivalent to one day of his income.
The Public Prosecution Service can state exceptions to support exercising of criminal prosecution in the cases and conditions set forth by the Law.
The President of the Mexican Republic can accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, provided that he has obtained Senate’s approval.
Public security is a responsibility of the Federation, the Federal District, the States and the Municipal Councils. Public security includes prevention of crimes, investigation and prosecution, as well as punishment for breaking the administrative rules, according to the law and the respective provisions stated in this Constitution. Performance of the institutions in charge of public security shall be ruled by the principles of legality, objectivity, efficiency, professionalism, honesty and respect to the human rights acknowledged by this Constitution.
Institutions in charge of public security shall be of a civil nature, disciplined and professional. The Public Prosecution Service and the police forces of three government levels shall coordinate each other to guarantee public security. They shall constitute the Public Security National System, which shall be subjected to the following provisions:
Penalties of death, mutilation, infamy, marks, physical punishments, torture, excessive fines, confiscation of assets, and other cruel punishments are prohibited. Every penalty shall be in proportion to the crime committed and to the legally protected interest.
Appropriation of assets shall not be considered as confiscation when such appropriation is ordered by the authority for the payment of taxes, fines or civil liability. Appropriation in the following cases shall not be deemed as confiscation: a) appropriation of property ordered by the judicial authority under the terms provided by Article 109 in case of illicit enrichment; b) appropriation of seized goods that were abandoned by the owner; and c) appropriation of goods, which ownership has been declared extinct by a sentence. In the event of ownership extinction, there shall be a procedure according to the following regulations:
No criminal trial shall have more than three instances. No one can be tried twice for the same crime, whether he was acquitted or convicted. Acquitting form the instance is prohibited.
Every person has the right to have freedom of ethical convictions, of conscience and of religion, and to have or to adopt, as the case may be, the one of her preference. Such freedom includes the right to participate, individually or collectively, in both public and private ceremonies, worship or religious acts of the respective cult, as long as they are not a felony or a misdemeanor punished by law. No person is allowed to use these public acts of religious expression with political ends, for campaigning or as means of political propaganda.
Congress cannot dictate laws that establish or abolish any given religion.
Ordinarily, all religious acts will be practiced in temples, and those that extraordinarily are practiced outside temples must adhere to law.
The State shall command the development of the Nation to: be integral and sustainable; strengthen national sovereignty and democracy; and, through competitiveness, fostering economic growth, employment rates and a fair distribution of income and wealth, to allow the full exercise of liberty and dignity to individuals, groups and social strata, which security is protected by this Constitution. Competitiveness shall be understood as those conditions necessary to generate increased economic growth while promoting investment and job creation.
The State shall promote the stability of public finances and of the fiscal system to create favorable conditions for economic growth and employment. The National Development Plan, the States and Municipals plans shall follow this principle.
The State shall plan, conduct, coordinate and direct national economic activity and shall carry out the regulation and promotion of the activities required by public interest within the frame of liberties established by this Constitution.
The public, social and private sectors shall contribute to the national economic development, with social responsibility, without detriment to other forms of economic activity that contribute to the development of the country.
The public sector shall exclusively be in charge of those strategic areas established in Article 28, paragraph fourth of the Constitution. The Federal Government shall at all times keep ownership and control over agencies and public productive corporations that have been established. In the case of planning and control of the national power system, the public power transmission and distribution systems, as well as the exploration and exploitation of oil and other hydrocarbons, the Nation shall be empowered to carry on those activities pursuant to paragraphs sixth and seventh of Article 27 of this Constitution. In the aforementioned cases, a law shall establish the rules concerning the administration, organization, functioning, procurement and other legal acts to be executed by the State-owned companies, as well as the remuneration regime for the personnel, to guarantee its efficiency, efficacy, honesty, productivity, transparency and accountability in accordance with best practices; the law shall also determine other activities that they may carry out.
Likewise, the State may, alone or together with the social and private sectors, stimulate and organize such areas, which are a priority for development, in accordance with the law.
Social and private sector enterprises shall be supported and fostered under criteria of social equity, productivity and sustainability, subject to the public interest and to the use of the productive resources for the general good, preserving them and the environment.
The Law shall establish mechanisms to facilitate organization and expansion of economic activity of the social sector: farming cooperatives (ejidos), workers’ organizations, cooperatives, rural communities, enterprises which are majority or exclusively owned by workers and, in general, all the different social organizations for production, distribution and consumption of such goods and services that are necessary for society.
The law shall promote and protect economic activities carried out by private parties and it shall also generate those conditions necessary to foster private sector growth leading to the benefit of national economic development, promoting competitiveness and implementing a national policy aimed at industrial development that shall include sectorial and regional components, according to the terms set forth by this Constitution.
National objectives included in this Constitution shall determine national planning. National planning shall be democratic and deliberative. Through the democratic participation mechanisms, the planning system shall collect the different aspirations and demands from the whole society to include them into the development programs and to the National Development Plan. All the programs carried out by the federal government must be subjected to the National Development Plan.
The law shall empower the President of the Republic to establish the appropriate procedures of popular participation and consultation for the national democratic planning system, as well as the criteria to prepare, implement, control and assess the development plan and programs. The law shall determine which agencies shall be responsible for the planning process and shall also determine the basis upon which the President of the Republic shall coordinate, through agreements with state governments and through agreement with private parties, the activities intended to prepare and implement the National Development Plan. The National Development Plan shall take into consideration the continuity and necessary adaptations of the national policy for the industrial development, paying attention to sectorial and regional considerations.
The law shall define the intervention of the Mexican Congress in the democratic planning system.
The National System of Statistical and Geographical Information shall be ruled and coordinated by an organism, which shall have technical, and management autonomy, legal personality and its own assets. Such organism will have the necessary powers to regulate data collection, processing and publication of information.
The organism shall have a Board of Government composed by five members, one of them shall be the chairman of both the board and the organism. The five members shall be designated by the President of the United Mexican States and approved by the Senate, or by the Permanent Committee during recess.
The law shall define the organization and functioning of the National System of Statistical and Geographical Information, according to the principles of access to information, transparency, objectivity and independence. The law also shall establish the requirements to become a member of the board, as well as the tenure term and the staggered renewal of the members.
The members of the board may be removed only due to a serious cause. They cannot have any other job, position or assignment, except for unpaid services in educational, scientific, cultural or altruistic institutions. Board members shall be subjected to that established in the Title Four of this Constitution.
The National Council for the Evaluation of the Social Development Policy shall be formed with one president and six councilors that shall be Mexican citizens with recognition for their work in the private or social sector, the academia or by their professional merits. They shall have at least ten years of experience in the social development sector and they must not be affiliated with any political party or have been a candidate for public office through electoral process. The Councilors shall be appointed by two thirds of the present members of the Chamber of Representatives, according to the procedures established by law. The Mexican President may object the appointment within ten business days, if the President does not present any objection, the person appointed shall occupy the office of Councilor. Every four years, the two Councilors with higher seniority shall be substituted unless they were nominated and appointed for a second term in office.
The President of the National Council for the Evaluation of the Social Development Policy shall be appointed in the same manner as the previous paragraph and shall be in office for five years after this period, he/she could be reelected for one more period and may only be removed in the terms stated in the Fourth Title of this Constitution.
Each year, the President of the National Council for the Evaluation of the Social Development Policy shall present a report of activities before both Chambers of the Congress according to the law provisions.
The property of all land and water within national territory is originally owned by the Nation, who has the right to transfer this ownership to particulars. Hence, private property is a privilege created by the Nation.
Expropriation is authorized only where appropriate in the public interest and subject to payment of compensation.
The Nation shall at all time have the right to impose on private property such restrictions as the public interest may demand, as well as to regulate, for social benefit, the use of those natural resources which are susceptible of appropriation, in order to make an equitable distribution of public wealth, to conserve them, to achieve a balanced development of the country and to improve the living conditions of rural and urban population. Consequently, appropriate measures shall be issued to put in order human settlements and to define adequate provisions, reserves and use of land, water and forest. Such measures shall seek construction of infrastructure; planning and regulation of the new settlements and their maintenance, improvement and growth; preservation and restoration of environmental balance; division of large rural estates; collective exploitation and organization of the farming cooperatives; development of the small rural property; stimulation of agriculture, livestock farming, forestry and other economic activities in rural communities; and to avoid destruction of natural resources and damages against property to the detriment of society.
The following elements are the property of the Nation: all natural resources of the continental shelf and the seabed of the islands; all minerals and substances that are in seams, layers, masses or deposits and that have a nature different from the components of the soil, such as minerals from which metals and metalloids are extracted; beds with gemstones or salt; salt mines formed by sea water; the products derived from rock breaking, when their exploitation requires underground works; minerals or organic deposits susceptible to be utilized as fertilizers; solid mineral fuels; petroleum and all solid, liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons; and the space located over national territory, according to the extension and terms established by International Law.
The following elements are the property of the Nation, according to the extension and terms established by International Law: waters of the territorial sea; internal sea waters; waters of lagoons and estuaries permanently or intermittently connected with the sea; waters of natural lakes which are directly connected with streams constantly flowing; river and affluent waters, from the site where the first permanent, intermittent or torrential waters start to flow, to the mouth in the sea, lakes, lagoons or estuaries owned by the nation; waters of the continuous or intermittent currents and their direct or indirect affluent, whenever their bed serves as border of national territory or between two states, or when they flow from one state to another or cross the country’s border; waters of lakes, lagoons or estuaries, which vessels, zones or shores are crossed by borderlines dividing one or more states or between the country and a neighboring country, or when the shoreline serves as a border between two states or between the country and a neighboring country; waters of springs flowing from beaches, maritime areas, streams, vessels or shores; waters extracted from mines; and the internal beds, shores and banks. Underground waters may be freely extracted by artificial works and may be appropriated by the owner of the land. However, when the public interest so requires or whenever other uses are affected, the President of the Republic may regulate extraction and use of underground waters and, even, establish prohibited zones. The same criteria shall apply to other waters belonging to the nation. Any other waters not included in the foregoing list, shall be considered as an integral part of the land through which they flow. Nevertheless, if such waters are located in two or more properties, their use shall be considered as public, complying with provisions issued by the states.
In the cases referred to in the two previous paragraphs, the dominion by the State shall be inalienable and imprescriptible, and the exploitation, use or development of those resources, be that by individuals or by corporations incorporated in accordance with Mexican laws, shall not be carried out but through concessions granted by the Federal Executive in accordance with the rules and requirements so established by the laws; exception be made of broadcasting and telecommunications concessions, which shall be granted by the Federal Telecommunications Institute. Legal norms regarding works or efforts to exploit minerals and others substances referred to in paragraph four shall govern the execution and oversight of those carried out, or that ought to be carried out as of their entry into force, regardless of the granting date of the concessions, and the breach thereof shall result in the termination of the concessions. The Federal Government is empowered to establish and revoke national reserves. Such declarations shall be made by the Executive in those cases and under the conditions set forth by the laws. No concession shall be granted in the case of radioactive minerals. The Nation shall exclusively carry out the planning and control over the national electric system, and over the power transmission and distribution utilities. No concession shall be granted in these activities, notwithstanding the power of the State to execute contracts with private parties in accordance with the laws, which shall determine the ways in which private parties may participate in all other activities related to the electric power industry.
In the case of petroleum and solid, liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons found underneath the surface, dominion by the Nation shall be inalienable and imprescriptible, and no concessions shall be granted. In order to obtain revenue for the State and contribute to the long-term development of the Nation, the Sate shall explore for and exploit oil and other hydrocarbons through assignment to productive state-owned companies, or through contracts to be executed with them or private parties, in accordance with the implementing law. To fulfill the purpose of said allocations and contracts, the productive state-owned companies may enter into contracts with private parties. In any event, subsoil hydrocarbons shall remain property of the Nation and it shall be so expressed in the allocation and contracts.
Only the State can use nuclear minerals to generate nuclear energy. The State shall regulate the use of nuclear minerals. Nuclear energy will be used only for peaceful goals.
The Nation has sovereign rights and jurisdiction on the exclusive economic zone, situated outside and beside the territorial sea. The exclusive economic zone stretches from the seaward edge of the country’s territorial sea out to two hundred nautical miles. In cases where said zone should produce a superposition over the exclusive economic zones of other countries, fixing of the boundaries shall be done through agreements with such countries.
The legal capacity to own Nation’s lands and waters shall be governed by the following provisions:
The State can authorize foreign States to acquire real estate for their embassies or legations in the same city where federal government powers reside, in accordance to the principle of reciprocity and to the national public interest and at consideration of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The maximum area of land that such class of companies can hold in ownership for agricultural, livestock farming or forest activities is equivalent to twenty five times the limits specified in section XV of this Article. The law shall determine the capital structure and minimum number of shareholders so that the lands owned by each shareholder do not exceed the limits established for small rural property. All individual rural properties, based on shares, will be cumulative for this purpose. Likewise, the law shall establish the requirements for the participation of foreigners in said corporations.
The law shall establish the registration and control procedures required to comply with the provisions of this section.
Federal and State laws, according to their respective jurisdiction, shall establish the cases in which expropriation of private property is necessary for the public welfare, issuing the corresponding statement. Compensation for expropriation shall be based on the property value registered in the records of the land registry or Tax collector’s office, regardless such value has been defined by the owner or by the State and tacitly accepted by owner when paying taxes. Only the increased or decreased value of said private property, due to any improvements or deteriorations made after the tax appraisal, can be subjected to assessment by experts and to judicial resolution. Objects, which value is not fixed in tax collector’s office, can also be subjected to assessment by experts and to judicial resolution.
The Nation shall execute the actions established in this Article through judicial proceedings. During said proceedings and under the appropriate court’s order, which shall be issued within one month, administrative authorities shall occupy, manage, auction or sell the lands or waters in question along with their appurtenances. In no case may such actions be revoked by the corresponding authorities before the execution sentence is pronounced.
The law shall protect the wholeness of the indigenous groups’ lands.
In order to promote respect and strengthening of the community life of farming cooperatives and communal land, the law shall protect the lands for human settlements and shall regulate the uses of communal lands, forests and waters. The State shall implement actions to improve the quality of life of in such communities.
The law shall regulate the exercise of indigenous peoples’ rights over their land and of joint-title farmers over their parcels, respecting their will to adopt the best conditions for the use of their productive resources. The law shall establish the procedures whereby the members of a cooperative and indigenous people may: associate among themselves or with the State or with third parties; grant the use of their lands; transfer their land rights to other members of their rural community, in the event of farming cooperative. The law shall also set forth the requirements and procedures whereby the cooperative assembly shall grant their members private rights over land. In cases of transfer of ownership, the right of preference set forth by the law shall be respected.
Within a same rural community, no member of a cooperative can hold land exceeding five percent of the total land belonging to the farming cooperative. Land ownership must always adjust to the restrictions established in section XV.
The general assembly is the supreme authority of the farming cooperative or indigenous community, within the organizational structure and powers granted by law. The communal property commission is a body democratically elected according to the terms provided by the law. It is the representative organ of the farming cooperative and the one responsible to carry out the assembly’s decisions.
Restitution of lands, forests and waters to rural communities shall be done according to the terms provided in the law.
The only lands excepted from the nullity herein mentioned are those which have been distributed in accordance with the Law published on June 25, 1856, and have been owned for more than ten years, provided that the area does not exceed fifty hectares.
Small agricultural property is defined as the land which area does not exceed one hundred hectares of irrigated or damp soil per person, or the equivalent in other kind of soil.
Equivalence: one hectare of irrigated soil equals two hectares of seasonal soil equals four hectares of good quality pastureland equals eight hectares of forest, mountain or arid pastureland.
The following properties are also considered as small agricultural property: a) up to one hundred and fifty hectares per person when the ground is dedicated to cotton cultivation if the lands are irrigated; b) up to three hundred hectares when dedicated to cultivate banana, sugar cane, coffee, henequen, rubber, palm, grapevine, olives, quinine, vanilla, cacao, agave, prickly pear or fruit trees.
Small livestock property is defined as the area that does not exceed the land necessary to maintain up to five hundred heads of big livestock or the equivalent in small livestock per person, in accordance with the law and with the fodder capacity of the soil.
When the owners or users improve the quality of land by reason of irrigation, drainage or any other works, the land will still be considered as small agricultural property, even if it exceeds the maximum limits established for good quality lands, provided that the requirements established by the law are met.
If the owner or user of a small livestock property improves the land and uses it for agricultural purposes, the area so utilized shall not exceed the limits mentioned under paragraphs second and third of this section corresponding to the quality of said lands before the improvement.
Excess land shall be partitioned and sold by the owner within a term of one year from the date of notification. If at the end of such term the excess land has not been transferred, it shall be sold by public auction. Under equal conditions, the right of preference established in the Statutory Law shall be respected.
Local laws shall organize the family estate, establishing which properties and goods must compose it. Family estate shall be inalienable and unencumbered
All conflicts that could arise or are pending between two or more communities related to land limits or land ownership, are under federal jurisdiction. The law shall establish agrarian courts vested with autonomy and full jurisdiction, which shall be made up of judges proposed by the President of the Republic and approved by the Senate or by the Permanent Commission during recess period.
The law shall establish an agency that provides agrarian justice to peasant farmers.
The comprehensive and sustainable rural development referred to in the previous paragraph shall also include, among its aims that the State shall guarantee the sufficient and timely supply of basic nourishment established by law.
In the United Mexican States, all monopolies, monopoly practices, state monopolies and tax exemptions are prohibited. Protectionist policies are also prohibited.
Consequently, the law shall severely punish, and authorities shall efficaciously police, all concentration or hoarding of articles deemed of necessary consumption in one or few hands, which purpose is to generate a price increase; every contract, procedure or combination of producers, industrialists, traders or service entrepreneurs resulting in restraint of free trade and competition among themselves, or forcing consumers to pay unreasonable prices, and, in general, any action resulting in an exclusive, unwarranted advantage in favor of one or many determined persons with prejudice for the general public or a social class.
The laws shall establish bases to set maximum prices for articles, commodities or products considered as essential for the country’s economy or for popular consumption. Such laws shall also define distribution of said articles, commodities and products, in order to prevent that unnecessary or excessive intermediation cause shortage or price increases. The law shall protect and promote the organization of consumers for the better protection of their interests.
The functions carried out by the State in an exclusive manner in the following strategic economic sectors shall not be considered monopolistic: post, telegraph, radiotelegraphy; radioactive minerals and nuclear power generation; planning and control of the national power system and the public power transmission and distribution systems; the exploration and exploitation of oil and other hydrocarbons, pursuant to paragraphs six and seven of the 27th Article of this Constitution, as well as any other activity expressly determined by the laws issued by Congress. . Satellite communications and railroads are priority areas for national development, in accordance with Article 25 of this Constitution. The State shall protect national security and sovereignty when exercising its ruling power and, when granting concessions or permits, it shall maintain or establish its dominion of the means of communication in accordance with applicable laws.
The State shall have the agencies and companies required to efficiently manage the strategic and priority areas, where it may participate alone or together with the private and social sectors.
The State shall have a Central Bank that shall be autonomous in the exercise of its functions and its administration. Its primary objective shall be to attain the stability of the purchasing power of the national currency, strengthening the guiding role of the State with regard to national development. No authority can order the Central Bank to provide financing. The Sate shall have a public trust denominated Mexican Oil Fund for Stabilization and Development, which fiduciary agent shall be the Central Bank, that will be tasked, under the terms set forth by the laws, with receiving, managing and distributing revenues—taxes excluded—derived from allocations and contracts referred to in paragraph seven of Article 27 of this Constitution.
Those functions carried out exclusively by the State through the Central Bank in the strategic areas of coining and note printing, shall not be deemed monopolistic. The Central Bank shall regulate exchange rates, as well as banking and financial services, in accordance with the law and with the intervention of any competent authorities. The Central Bank shall have all the necessary powers to carry out said regulation and the enforcement thereof. The management of the Central Bank shall be entrusted to the persons appointed by the President of the Republic with the consent of the Senate or the Permanent Committee, as the case may be. They shall hold office for the terms which duration and staggered sequences are best suited to the autonomous exercise of their duties; they may only be removed for a serious cause and they cannot hold any other employment, position or assignment, except for those in which they act in the name of the Bank, and those unpaid activities carried out in educational, scientific, cultural or charitable organizations. The persons in charge of the Central Bank may be subjected to impeachment in accordance with the provisions established in the Article 110 of this Constitution.
The Executive Branch shall have coordinated regulatory agencies for the energy sector, denominated National Hydrocarbons Commission and Energy Regulatory Commission, in accordance with the terms set forth by the law.
Unions and workers associations will not be considered monopolies, which have been constituted to protect their own interests. Producers’ cooperatives or associations will not be considered monopolies either, provided that their objective is to sell directly in foreign markets the domestic and industrial products which are the main source of wealth in the region where they are produced or which are not essential products. Such associations shall always be under the supervision or protection of federal or state government and shall obtain the previous authorization from the appropriate legislative body. Such legislative bodies can repeal any authorization granted to constitute the associations in question, by themselves or by the President of the Republic’s request.
Privileges granted for a given period of time to authors and artists for them to produce their pieces of work and to inventors and those individuals who improve inventions will not be considered monopolies.
The State can grant concessions for the provision of public services or for the exploitation and use of property owned by the Nation, except for the exceptions established by the law. The laws shall set forth the requisites and conditions to guarantee that licensed services will be efficient and goods will be used for society’s interest.
The laws shall prevent concentration of State property in private hands. Concession of public services shall be carried out according to this Constitution.
Subsidies can be granted to economic key activities, provided that such benefits general and temporary and do not impact substantially the Nation’s finances. The State shall supervise application of subsidies and evaluate their results.
The State shall have a Federal Economic Competition Commission, which shall be autonomous, shall have legal entity and its own assets, and shall guarantee free competition and maximized turnout to the marketplace, as well as prevent, investigate and police monopolies, monopolistic practices, economic concentrations and any other restrictions to the efficient operation of markets, in accordance with the Constitution and the law. The Commission shall have all the necessary powers to: efficaciously accomplish its task, including the power to issue orders to remove competition barriers and free access to the marketplace; regulate access to essential raw materials, and order divestment of certain assets, rights, stakes or shares of economic agents, in the proportion needed to remove anti-competitive effects.
The Federal Telecommunications Institute is an autonomous body, with legal entity and its own assets, tasked with the efficient development of broadcasting and telecommunications in accordance with this Constitution and the provisions set forth by the laws. To that end, it shall regulate, promote and oversee the use, enjoyment and exploitation of the radio electric spectrum, the networks and the performance of broadcasting and telecommunication services, as well as the access to active and passive infrastructure and to other essential materials, to guarantee what this Constitution provides in Articles 6 and 7.
The Federal Telecommunications Institute shall also: be the authority with competence on economic competition for the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors, where the Institute shall exclusively exercise the powers established in this article and the laws in favor of the Federal Economic Competition Commission; regulate participants in those markets asymmetrically to efficaciously eliminate barriers to competition and free access to the marketplace; set limits to the national and regional concentration of frequencies, concessions and cross-ownership as a means to control several media units with broadcasting and telecommunication concessions serving a given market or geographical coverage area; and order the divestment of assets, rights or quotas necessary to secure compliance of these limits, to guarantee what this Constitution provides in Articles 6 and 7.
The Institute shall have the power to grant, revoke, as well as authorize assignment, changes of control, ownership or operation of legal entities in connection with broadcasting and telecommunications concessions. The Institute shall notify the Secretary of the corresponding jurisdiction prior to rendering a decision, who may issue a technical opinion on the matter. Concessions may be for commercial, public, private or social use, the latter including community and indigenous use, in accordance with their purpose, and subject to the principles set forth in Articles 2, 3, 6 and 7 of this Constitution. The Institute shall set the amount of consideration to be paid for the award of these concessions, as well as for the authorization of services related to them, after receiving the opinion of the treasury authority. The opinions aforementioned shall not be binding and shall be issues within thirty days; once that term is elapsed, should the opinions be still pending, the Institute shall proceed with the corresponding proceeding.
All concessions of radio electric spectrum shall be granted through a public call for bids, to ensure maximum participation, taking into consideration concentration phenomena to the detriment of public interest, and securing the least price level for final consumers; the economic factor shall not have controlling weight in the concession award decision-making process. Concessions for public or social use will be nonprofit and shall be awarded directly in accordance with the law and under conditions that shall guarantee transparency in the proceedings. The Federal Telecommunications Institute shall keep a public registry of all concessions. A statute shall provide for an effective punitive scheme that will include, as grounds for revoking the concession, among others, the breach of final resolutions in cases of anti-competitive conduct. When revoking a concession the Institute shall serve prior notice to the Federal Executive to allow, eventually, the exercise of its power as needed to secure the continuity of service.
The Federal Telecommunications Institute shall guarantee that the Federal Government is awarded with all necessary concessions for the discharge of its functions.
The Federal Economic Competition Commission and the Federal Telecommunications Institute shall be independent agencies in their functioning and decision-making processes, professional in the performance of their roles, and impartial in their proceedings; and shall be subject to the following [rules and standards]:
The governing bodies of both the Federal Economic Competition Commission and the Federal Telecommunications Institute shall have seven Commissioners, including the Presiding Commissioner, to be appointed staggered upon the proposal of the Federal Executive with the consent of the Senate.
The Presiding Commissioner of each agency shall be selected by the Senate among the Commissioners with a two-thirds vote of its present members, to serve for a four-year term, with only one reelection. When the appointment of the Presiding Commissioner falls upon a Commissioner whose term is to finish before the four-year term, then the presidency shall only last for the remainder of his term as Commissioner.
Commissioners must meet the following requirements:
Commissioners shall refrain from performing under any other employment, work, public or private commission, except for teaching positions; they shall refrain from hearing cases in which they may have a direct or indirect stake pursuant to applicable law, and shall be subject to the accountability regime set forth in Title Four of this Constitution and impeachment. A statute shall regulate the modality under which Commissioners may have contact with people representing regulated economic agents to discuss matters of their competence.
Commissioners shall serve for nine years and under no circumstances will they be appointed for a second term. In case of vacancy of any position, a replacement shall be appointed to complete the remainder of the term, pursuant to the procedure set forth in this Article.
Candidates to the position of Commissioner shall substantiate their compliance with the requirements set forth above before an Evaluation Committee formed by the heads of the Bank of Mexico, the National Institute for Educational Evaluation and the National Geographical and Statistical Institute. To that end, the Evaluation Committee shall hold hearings every [time] a vacancy opens, shall decide by majority vote and shall be presided by the most senior head of agency, who will have a quality vote.
The Committee shall issue public calls to fill the vacancy. It shall verify candidates’ compliance with the requirements set forth in this Article and shall further administer a test of knowledge in the field to be taken by those candidates that meet them. The proceedings must observe transparency, publicity and maximized turnout standards.
To prepare the test on knowledge, the Evaluation Committee shall consider the opinion of at least two higher education institutions and shall follow the best practices in the field.
The Evaluation Committee shall send, to cover each vacancy, a list with a minimum of three and a maximum of five candidates with the highest scores. In case of not reaching the minimum number of candidates, a new public call for candidates shall be issued. The Executive shall select, from among the candidates in the list, the one to be proposed to the Senate for its consent. Consent by the Senate shall be given with a two-thirds vote of the present members, within thirty business days as of the day of filing of the proposal. When in recess, the Permanent Commission shall summon the Senate. In case the Senate rejects the candidate proposed by the Executive, the President of the Republic shall submit a new proposal in accordance with the previous paragraph. This procedure shall be repeated, as many times as needed should new rejections take place, until there is only one candidate approved by the Evaluation Committee in the list, who shall then be directly appointed Commissioner by the Executive.
No act pertaining to the selection and appointment of Commissioners proceedings shall be subject to challenge.
In case of invasion, serious breach of the peace or any other event which may place society in severe danger or conflict, only the President of the Republic can suspend, throughout the country or in a certain region, those constitutional rights and guarantees which may constitute obstacles for the State to face the situation easily and rapidly as required by the emergency. For this purpose, the President must obtain the Congress of the Union’s approval, or in the recess, the Permanent Committee’s approval. Such suspension of constitutional rights and guarantees shall be temporary through general provisions, never can a suspension be applied on a single person. If suspension of constitutional rights and guarantees is requested within the period when the Congress is working, it shall grant the necessary authorizations for the President to cope with the situation. However, if suspension is requested during the Congress recess, the Congress will be convened immediately so it can agree about the authorizations required.
However, the decrees enacted under the situations described in the previous paragraph cannot restrict or suspend the exercise of the following rights and principles: the right to non-discrimination, the right to legal personality, the right to life, the right of personal integrity, the right of protection to the family, the right to have a name, the right to have a nationality, the children’s rights, the political rights, the freedom of thought, the freedom of religion, the principles of legality and retroactivity, the prohibition on the death penalty, the prohibition on slavery and servitude, the prohibition of disappearance and torture, nor the judicial guarantees that are necessary to protect these rights and principles.
Restriction or suspension of constitutional rights and guarantees should be based and justified on the provisions established by this Constitution, should be proportional to the danger, and should observe the principles of legality, rationality, notification, publicity and non discrimination.
When the restriction or suspension of the constitutional rights and guarantees ends, because the deadline was met or the Congress so ordered, all legal and administrative measures taken during the restriction or suspension will be void immediately. The President of the Republic cannot make comments to the decree, through which the Congress revokes the restriction or suspension of the constitutional rights and guarantees.
The decrees enacted by the President of the Republic, during the restriction or suspension of the constitutional rights and guarantees, shall be immediately reviewed by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, which shall rule on their constitutionality and validity as soon as possible.
Mexican nationality is acquired by birth or by naturalization.
Obligations of the Mexicans are:
The law shall regulate the exercise of the rights that the Mexican legislation grants to its citizens that also have a second nationality and shall issue norms to avoid double citizenship conflicts.
The government positions and offices that by the terms established in this Constitution it is required to be a Mexican citizen by birth shall be reserved to those citizens that meet this criteria and that do not acquire another nationality. This provision shall also apply to the cases stated by other laws enacted by the Mexican Congress.
During peacetime, foreigners shall neither serve in the Army nor in the police or security bodies. During peacetime, only Mexicans by birth can serve in the Army, in the Navy or in the Air Force as well can perform any employment or commission within such corporations.
The same condition applies to captains, pilots, skippers, ship engineers, flight engineers and, in general, to every crew member in a ship or an airplane carrying the Mexican flag. In the same way, only Mexicans by birth can be port harbormasters, steersmen and airport superintendents.
Mexicans shall have priority over foreigners, under equal circumstances, for all kind of concessions, employments, positions or commissions of the government in which the status of citizenship is not indispensable.
The individuals that do not meet the criteria determined by Article 30 shall be considered as foreigners. They shall be entitled to the human rights and guarantees conferred by this Constitution.
The President of the Republic shall have the power to expel from national territory any foreigner, according to the law and after a hearing. The law shall establish the administrative procedure for this purpose, as well as the place where the foreigner should be detained and the time that the detention lasts.
Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country.
Mexican citizens shall be those individuals who are considered as Mexicans and fulfill the following conditions:
Rights of citizens:
With the exception of the hypothesis mentioned in item c) above, the petition should be approved by the majority of each Chamber of the Congress of the Union.
Responsibilities of Mexican citizens:
The National Citizen Register, its organization and permanent functions, as well as the issuance of the document that certifies the Mexican citizenship are public services under the State and citizen responsibility according to the provisions stated by the law.
The President of the Republic, Senators and Representatives and Supreme Court Justices may freely accept and use foreign decorations.
Citizens’ rights and prerogatives can be suspended in the following cases:
The law shall define the ways in which citizens’ rights will be revoked or suspended, as well as the recovery procedures.
The national sovereignty is vested, originally and essentially, in the people. Public power comes from the people and it is institutionalized for the people’s benefit. People, at all times have the inalienable right to change or modify its form of government.
It is in the will of the Mexican people to constitute into a representative, democratic, secular, federal, Republic, made up by free and sovereign States in everything related to its domestic regime, but united in a federation established according to the principles of this fundamental law.
People exercise sovereignty through the Powers of the Union and the state powers, according to the distribution of jurisdictions as it is established in this Constitution and the respective States’ Constitutions. The states’ constitutions, by no means shall challenge the stipulations and premises of the federal pact.
The legislative and the executive branches of Federal Government shall be renewed by the means of free, authentic and periodical elections. Such elections shall be subjected to the following principles:
The political parties’ main objectives shall be: a) to promote people’s participation in democracy, b) to contribute to the integration of national representative entities and as citizens organizations, c) to allow access by citizens to public power, according to their programs, principles and ideas and through universal, free, secret and direct vote, as well as the rules to guarantee gender equality on candidates to local and federal Congress. Only citizens can form a political party and may join, individually and freely to them. Intervention of labor unions, social associations or any other group affiliation is prohibited.
Electoral authorities can intervene in the internal issues of political parties only within the scope of the law and this Constitution.
The national political parties will have the right to participate in the federal, local and municipal elections. The national political party that does not obtain, at least, three percent of the total valid votes emitted in any elections held for the renewal of the Federal Executive or the renewal of both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will have its registration cancelled.
Public funding for political parties shall consist of: a) public financing directed to cover the expenses generated by their ordinary and permanent activities, b) public financing for electoral activities during electoral processes. Public funding will be provided according to the law and the following principles:
The law shall define limits for spending in the internal process for candidate selection, as well as for electoral campaigns. The law shall also establish maximum limits for monetary contributions provided by sympathizers and affiliates. The law shall also establish procedures to control and monitor the origin and use of financial resources of the parties, and shall determine the measures to punish any illegal activity in this respect.
The law shall establish procedures to help parties to pay their liabilities in the event that they lose registration, as well as to regulate the way their properties will be transferred to the State.
Political parties or candidates cannot, in any time, buy airtime on television or radio by themselves or through third persons.
No private individual or legal entity can buy airtime on television or radio to influence political preference, or to promote or attack certain candidate or party. Such kind of media messages that have been contracted in a foreign country cannot be transmitted in the Mexican territory.
The States and the Federal District shall issue laws to enforce observance of the provisions established in the two previous paragraphs.
If the National Electoral Institute considers that total airtime in radio and television granted by this and the previous paragraphs were not enough for its own purposes, for another electoral authority’s purposes or for the independent candidates, it can issue orders to cover the deficit within the powers vested to it.
During federal and local election campaigns until the election day, all governmental advertising shall be suspended, no matter it belongs to federal, state or municipal government, or to the Federal District government or to any other governmental agency. The only exceptions shall be: a) informative campaigns carried out by electoral authorities, b) educational and health campaigns and c) civil protection campaigns in the event of emergencies.
The duration of the electoral campaign when there are elections for the President of the Republic, senators and representatives shall be of ninety days. The duration of the electoral campaign shall be sixty days for the year that only representatives will be elected. Never the duration of run-up to the election campaign shall exceed two-thirds of the period granted for electoral campaigns.
Infringement of these provisions by parties, private individuals or legal entities will be punished according to the law.
The National Electoral Institute shall have electoral jurisdiction and independent character regarding its decisions and functioning, and its performance shall be professional. National Electoral Institute structure shall include managerial, executive, technical and surveillance organs. The General Council will be the directive and executive body, it will be formed with one President of the Electoral Council and ten Electoral Councilors with the right to vote and participate in the debate; in addition, congressional Councilors, representatives of the political parties and an Executive Secretary, these will participate in the debate but will not be able to vote. Law shall regulate the organization and functioning of the Institute’s organs, the relationship between them and the relationship between them and the local electoral entities. The executive and technical organs shall employ the qualified personnel necessary to execute its attributions. The internal comptroller office shall be in charge of the accountability and surveillance procedures of all the incomes and expenses of the Institute, this office must be granted with managerial and technical autonomy to do so. The internal working relations and procedures with the public servants shall be regulated by the dispositions in the electoral law and the statute that the General Council approves. The surveillance organ of the electoral register [padrón electoral] must be formed mainly with representatives of the national political parties. During the election day, citizens must be in charge of the directive organs at the poll stations.
All the sessions of the directive and collegiate organs in the institution shall be public in the terms described by the law.
The Institute shall have an electoral office that is legally vested with public trust to attest for any electoral acts. The law will describe its attributions, powers and functioning.
The President of the Council and the Electoral Councilors shall be elected to serve for a period of nine years and may not be reelected. They shall be elected through the vote of two-thirds of the members present in the House of Representatives according to the following procedures:
Given the absolute absence of the President of the Electoral Council or from any of the Electoral Councilors during the first six years of their term in office, a substitute shall be elected to finish the corresponding period of the vacancy. If the absence happens during the last three years of the office period a new Electoral Councilor shall be elected for a new office period.
The President of the Electoral Council and the Electoral Councilors shall not have another employment or hold any other office or commission with exception of those that represent the General Council or the non-remunerated positions in academic, scientific, research, cultural or philanthropic associations.
The head of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Institute shall be designated by the vote of two thirds of the present members of the House of Representatives and by proposal of the public institutions of superior education, according to the terms described by law. The Comptroller General shall remain in office for six years and may only be reelected once. This office shall be administratively dependent of the General Council and will maintain the technical coordination with the Superior Comptroller General.
The Executive Secretary shall be appointed by two-thirds of the General Council after his nomination by the President of the Electoral Council.
The law shall establish the requirements that every individual must meet in order to be appointed as the President of the Electoral Council, Electoral Councilor, the Internal Comptroller or the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Institute. Those individuals having served as President of the Electoral Council, Electoral Councilor or Executive Secretary may not hold a position in those public offices or powers where they were involved in the election of the members of that office or power, nor they can be hired by the executive organs of political parties or being candidates of public office for the next two years after their time in office at the Institute have concluded.
Congressional Councilors shall be appointed by the parliamentary groups with party affiliation in any of the two Chambers of Congress, at a ratio of one per each parliamentary group notwithstanding their recognition in both Chambers of the Congress.
The National Electoral Institute may assume, by agreement with the competent authorities at the local entities that ask for, the organization of the local electoral processes in the terms that the applicable legislation states. By petition of the political parties and using their monetary prerogative, the institute may also organize their internal elections to elect their leadership.
The financial accountability and supervision of the political parties and the candidates’ campaigns shall be responsibility of the General Council of the National Electoral Institute. The law shall detail the General Council attributions for that specific function as well as the creation of the technical organs, dependent of it, in charge of the surveillance and proceedings to establish the corresponding sanctions. For the accomplishment of this function, the General Council is not limited by banking, fiscal or fiduciary secrecy and shall be supported and assisted by the local and federal authorities.
In case that the National Electoral Institute delegates the accountability and supervision functions, its technical organ shall be entitled to the attributions of the previous paragraph to avoid the limitation of its functions.
According to the postulates established by the law and with the approval of a majority of at least eight votes at the General Council, the National Electoral Institute may:
The National Electoral Institute shall have the attribution to appoint or remove the members of the executive organ at the local public organs in the terms established by this constitution.
In the electoral matters, legal or constitutional appeals will not result in the suspension of the appealed resolution or act.
The law will establish the electoral nullification system for the local and federal elections due to serious, fraudulent and determinant violations according to the following cases:
The previous violations shall be presented in a physical and objective manner. Violations shall be presumed to be determinant when the voting difference between the first and second candidate is less than five percent.
In case a nullification of the election, an extraordinary election shall be announced and the rebuked person will not be able to run for office.
National territory is composed of:
The Mexican territory is comprised of the following states: Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Colima, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, State of Mexico, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatán, Zacatecas and the Federal District.
The Mexico City is the Federal District and the capital of the United Mexican States. Mexico City is seat of the federal government and the Powers of the Union. It shall be integrated by its current territory and in the event that federal government has to be moved to another place, Mexico City will be a part of the State of Valle de México. The Congress shall set down the limits and territorial extension for the new State.
The states will keep their current borders and extensions, as long as there is not a controversy about it.
The States can deal with their respective limits by friendly agreements among each other at any time; however, these arrangements will not be effective without the approval of the Senate.
Should there not be an agreement referred in the above paragraph, and at the request of any of the conflicting parties, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation will know, substantiate and resolve with an unassailable capacity, disputes on territory limits that take place between States, and under the terms of section I of article 105 of this Constitution.
The State of Nayarit shall have the territorial area and boundaries that presently comprise the territory of Tepic.
Federal government shall be in charge of: a) all the islands, cays and reefs within the adjacent seas belonging to national territory; b) the continental shelf; c) the seabed of islands, cays and reefs; d) territorial seas; e) inland maritime waters and f) the space located above the national territory; except by the islands that belong to the states.
The political authority or power is divided into the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary branches. Two or more of these powers cannot be united in one single person or corporation, nor shall the legislative branch be vested in one single person, except for the case where extraordinary powers are granted to the President of the Republic as provided in Article 29. In no other case, except as provided under the second paragraph of Article 131, extraordinary powers to legislate shall be granted.
The legislative power is vested in the Congress of the United Mexican States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives is composed by representatives of the nation. All of them shall be elected every three years. For each representative, a substitute shall be elected.
The House of Representatives shall be integrated by 300 members, who shall be elected according to the principle of majority voting through the uninominal voting system in all the electoral districts; and the remaining 200 members shall be chosen according to the principle of proportional representation, using a system of regional lists voted in multimember districts.
The borders separating the 300 uninominal electoral districts from each other shall be set down after dividing the country’s population by the number of districts, taking into account the most recent census. Each state shall have at least two representatives elected under the principle of majority voting.
In order to elect 200 representatives under the principle of proportional representation, using a system of regional lists, five multimember electoral districts shall be established in the country. The law shall set down the ways in which such territorial division will be made.
The election of the 200 representatives under the principle of proportional representation, using a system of regional lists, shall be subjected to the following principles:
Requirements to be a Representative:
In order to qualify for registration in the regional lists of multimember districts, the candidate must be a native of one of the states included in such multimember district, or be a resident of that district for at least six months prior to the date of the election.
Residence is not lost in cases where absence is because he/she has been elected to a public office.
Not to be Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice, Magistrate, Secretary at the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power of the Mexican Federation, President of the Council or Electoral Councilor in the General Council, Local or District Councils at the National Electoral Institute, nor Executive Secretary, Executive Director or directive personnel of this Institute, unless the candidate has definitely separated from his duties at least three years before election date takes place.
State Governors and the Federal District Mayor cannot be elected to represent the states over which they have jurisdiction, even though they definitely separate themselves from their duties.
State Secretaries, the Secretaries of the Federal District, the federal or state judges, the judges of the Federal District, the mayors in the states and persons in charge of any political-administrative entity in the Federal District, cannot be elected in the states where they exercise their respective duties, unless they resign their positions definitively at least ninety days before the election.
The Senate shall be composed of 128 senators, two Senators from each state and the Federal District elected in accordance to the principle of majority voting and one Senator shall be apportioned to the largest minority. For this purpose, political parties must register a list with two sets of candidates. The largest minority seat shall be granted to the set of candidates heading the list of the political party that shall have attained the second place in the number of votes casted in the corresponding state.
The remaining thirty-two senators shall be elected under the principle of proportional representation, through the system of lists voted in one sole national multimember district. The law shall establish the regulations and formalities that shall be applied for these purposes.
The Senate shall be totally renewed every six years.
There shall be an elected substitute for each senator.
The Senators shall fulfill the same requirements than the Representatives, except by the age. All senators must be at least 25 years old on the election date.
Senators may be elected up to two consecutive periods and the deputies of the House of Representatives may be elected up to four consecutive periods. The candidate may only be nominated by the same party by which the congressmen/women was elected or by any of the parties that formed the coalition by which the congressmen/women were elected, unless that they had resigned or lost their membership to the party in the first half of their mandate.
The National Electoral Institute established in the Article 41 of this Constitution and in accordance to the legal dispositions, shall declare the validity of the elections for both, representatives and senators in each one of the uninominal districts, as well as in each state. The National Electoral Institute shall also issue the respective certificates to the candidates who have obtained the majority of votes. The National Electoral Institute shall appoint the senators corresponding to the largest minority, according to the Article 56 of this Constitution and the law. Likewise, the National Electoral Institute shall declare validity of the election and shall appoint the representatives corresponding to the principle of proportional representation, in accordance to the Article 54 of this Constitution and the law.
The resolutions made on validity of the election, on awarding certificates and on the appointed representatives or senators can be appealed before the regional courts of the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power, according to the procedures established by law.
The regional court’s rulings may be reviewed only by the High Court of the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power, through the appeals submitted by political parties, provided that such offences could modify an election result. The verdicts given by the High Court of the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power shall be definitive and irrefutable. The law shall establish the conditions, requirements and formalities for such appeal system.
Representatives and senators shall be above criticism related to their opinions in the performance of their duties; they may never be questioned for such opinions.
The speaker of each House shall be responsible for enforcing respect to House members’ constitutional immunity and to the inviolability of the place where the House of Representatives meets.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any federal or state government office which grants emolument without a license granted by the respective House. In such case, representative duties shall be suspended for as long as their new occupation lasts. The same rule shall be applied to the substitute representatives and senators if they have been called to service. Removal from office shall be the punishment imposed on any offender of this article’s rules.
In order to open sessions and to exercise the duties of the offices, the House of Representatives and the Senate shall have more than fifty percent of attendance of the total number of their members. Those present shall compel the absentees to attend within the next thirty days, under the condition that if they do not present themselves the Chamber shall understand that they do not accept their office. In such case, the substitutes shall be called, they must appear within the next thirty days. In the event that substitute does not appear either, the seat shall be declared vacant. All vacancies shall be filled, no matter if the vacancy happened at the beginning of legislature or during the legislative period. Regarding Representatives or Senators elected under the principle of majority voting, the respective House shall call extraordinary elections according to the Article 77, paragraph IV of this Constitution. Regarding representatives appointed by the principle of proportional representation, the next candidate in the regional list of the party in question shall fill vacancy. Regarding Senators appointed by the principle of proportional representation, the next candidate in the national list of the party in question shall fill vacancy. Regarding Senators appointed by the principle of largest minority, vacancy shall be filled by the second candidate in the list of the party in question of the respective state.
Representatives and Senators shall inform their Speaker about absences. Any Representative or Senator who have been absent from his duties for ten days in a raw without the permit of the Speaker or justified cause shall not be allowed to take his seats back until the opening of the following period of sessions. In such a case, substitutes shall be called to service.
In the event of lack of quorum in either House so that the legislature can be opened or to exercise their duties, the substitute shall be called immediately to attend as promptly as possible, while the aforesaid thirty days term elapses.
Those Representatives or Senators that being elected do not present themselves to fulfill their duties and without a justified cause for the absence, shall be liable and subjected to the penalties established by the law.
National political parties shall also be liable and subjected to the penalties set forth by the law if they agree with their candidates not to appear in the respective House to perform their duties.
Representatives and Senators who, unjustifiably and without a permit, are absent from one session, shall not be entitled to claim any wage for that particular day.
The Congress shall assemble every year on September 1st, for the first ordinary period of sessions, except for the year when the President of the Republic begins his term in office on the date described in the Article 83 of this Constitution. In this case the Congress shall meet from August 1st. For the second ordinary period of sessions, the Congress shall meet every year on February 1st.
In both periods of sessions, the Congress shall study, discuss and vote the bills of law submitted thereto and shall resolve any other affairs pertaining to it according to this Constitution.
The Congress shall preferably devote itself to the issues established by its Organic Law.
Each ordinary period of sessions shall last as long as necessary to solve the affairs mentioned at the previous article. The first period cannot be extended beyond December 15 of the respective year, except on those years when according to Article 83, a new President of the Republic is going to be inaugurated. In such a case, sessions may be extended until December 31. The second period shall not be extended beyond April 30 of the respective year.
In the case that both Houses cannot reach an agreement about the closing dates of the sessions, the President of the Republic shall resolve the dispute.
The Congress or just one of the Houses, when dealing with an issue under its exclusive jurisdiction, shall assemble in extraordinary period of sessions at the Permanent Committee’s request. In such case, the Congress shall only resolve the issue or issues submitted by the Permanent Committee and indicated in the notification.
Both Houses shall be located at the same place and shall not be moved to a different one without a previous agreement on moving, period and procedure, but both Houses must reside in the same site. If no agreement is reached on the transfer’s duration, procedures and place, the President of the Republic resolves the issue by choosing one of the alternatives. No House shall adjourn sessions for more than three days without the explicit consent from the other one.
Every year, at the opening of the first ordinary period of sessions, the President of the Republic shall provide a written report, indicating the state of the country’s public administration. At the opening of an extraordinary period of sessions of the Congress, or only of one of the Houses, the Speaker of the Permanent Committee shall inform about the reasons leading to such extraordinary period of sessions.
Each of the Houses shall analyze the report and can request the President of the Republic to expand on the information through written questions. The Houses can summon the Secretaries of State and the chairmen of the decentralized entities, who shall appear before the Congress to report under oath to tell the truth. The law and regulations of the Congress shall rule this attribution.
During the first year of his term in office and in the opening ceremony of the second period of ordinary sessions, the President shall present before the Senate the National Strategy for Public Safety for its approval and shall present an annual report about its status.
Every resolution of the Congress shall have force of law or decree. Laws and decrees shall be communicated to the President of the Republic by a document signed by the Speakers of both Houses and by a Secretary of each one of them. Laws and decrees shall be enacted as follows: “The Congress of the United Mexican States decrees: (text of the respective law or decree)”.
The Congress shall issue a law that will regulate its own structure and internal functioning.
Such law shall specify the ways and procedures allowing associations of representatives to be formed according to their party affiliation in order to protect the freedom of speech of all ideological trends represented at the House of Representatives.
Such a law shall never be vetoed nor require to be enacted by the President of the Republic in order to enter into force.
The ones who have the right to propose laws or decrees are:
The Law of the Congress will determine the procedure for the initiatives.
The opening day of each ordinary session period, the President of the Republic may present up to two initiatives for preferential procedure, or under such character appoint up to two initiatives that had already been presented in previous periods, when ruling pending. Each initiative should be discussed and voted by the Plenary of the Chamber of origin on a maximum of thirty natural days. Otherwise, the initiative under its terms and without any further procedures will be the first matter that will be discussed and voted in the next plenary session. If approved or modified by the originating Chamber, the respective bill of law or decree will immediately be passed to the reviewing Chamber for discussion and vote on the same period and under the mentioned conditions.
The addition or reform initiatives of this Constitution will not have a preferential character.
Every single bill or decree shall be discussed successively at both Houses, except the issues that are within the exclusive jurisdiction of one of the Houses. The House shall observe the methods, periods of time and debating and voting procedures established by the Congress Act and its regulations.
Voting for enacting laws or decrees shall be nominal.
The President of the Republic cannot make comments on the decree of call for extraordinary period of sessions issued by the Permanent Committee.
The Congress shall have the power to:
General laws shall also regulate the distribution of competences and the way to coordinate efforts among the Federation, the States, the Federal District and the Municipalities;
Federal authorities may hear cases involving ordinary felonies when said cases are connected to cases involving federal felonies, or felonies against journalists, people or infrastructure that affect, limit or abridge the right of access to information, freedom of speech or freedom of press.
In those areas of concurrent jurisdiction set forth in this Constitution, federal laws shall determine the cases in which ordinary courts may hear and decide cases involving federal felonies;
The states shall receive, under federal legislation, a percentage of the revenue generated by the special taxes. Local legislatures shall set the percentage corresponding to municipalities, in their income from tax over electric power service.
The Administrative Court shall be organized by plenary meetings or regional courts.
The Superior Court of the Administrative Tribunal will have sixteen judges and shall perform in plenary meetings or by sections. One of these sections will be in charge of the resolutions regarding the third paragraph of this article.
The judges of the Superior Court shall be appointed by the President and ratified by the votes of two-thirds of the present members of the Senate or the Permanent Committee if the Senate is in recess. The judges shall be appointed for fifteen years without possibility of remaining in office.
The judges of the Regional Courts shall be appointed by the President and ratified by the majority vote of the present members of the Senate or the Permanent Committee if the Senate is in recess. The judges shall be appointed for ten years and may be considered for a new term in office.
The judges may only be removed form office due to serious grounds stated by the law.
The Constitution grants the House of Representatives several exclusive powers:
The President of the Republic shall submit to the House of Representatives his proposal of the Income Act and the Expenditure Budget no later than September 8 and the pertinent Secretary shall appear before the House in order to clarify the accounts. The House of Representative shall approve the Budget no later than November 15.
When the President of the Republic begins his term on the date stated by the Article 83, he shall submit to the House of Representatives his proposal of the Income Act and the Expenditure Budget no later than November 15.
Only the absolutely necessary secret items may be included in the Expenditure Budget. The Secretaries shall use such secret items under written consent of the President of the Republic.
The President of the Republic can request an extension to submit his proposal of the Income Act and the Expenditure Budget, justifying the causes to the House of Representatives. The pertinent Secretary shall appear before the House to inform about the reasons for extension.
The House of Representatives shall be notified about the charges against public employees mentioned in the Article 110 of this Constitution. The House shall have the power to become an accusing organ in impeachments against civil servants.
The House of Representatives shall review the public accounts through the Federal Auditing Office. If this office finds out discrepancies related to revenues or expenditures, or if it finds out inaccuracy or unjustified revenues or expenditures, the law shall be applied to punish misconduct. Regarding achievement of the objectives stated in the several programs, the House can only issue a recommendation in accordance to the law.
Public account shall be submitted to the House of Representative no later than April 30 of the next year. This term may be extended only in the case mentioned in paragraph IV, last rows, of this Article. Extension shall not exceed 30 days. In such case, the Federal Auditing Office shall have the same extension to present the respective report.
The Chamber will complete the review of the Public Account, the latest, on October 31 of the following year after presentation, based on the analysis of the content and technical conclusions of the result report of the Federal Auditing Office, referred in Article 79 of this Constitution, recognizing that the observation procedures, recommendation and actions filed by the Federal Auditing Office will continue under the terms provided in such article.
The Chamber of Deputies will evaluate the performance of the Federal Auditing Office and may require a report about the progress of auditing works.
The House of Representatives shall indicate, in the Expenditure Budget, the wages for all public employments created under the law. In the event that the House fails to indicate such wages, the wages established in the previous Budget or in the law that created the job shall be in force.
Nonetheless, remuneration shall be established observing the provisions of the Article 127 of this Constitution and the applicable laws.
The federal executive, legislative and judicial branches, as well as autonomous bodies recognized in this Constitution, and which use public resources from the Federal Budget, shall include in their project budgets detailed tables of remunerations proposed for their public servants. Such project budgets shall observe the procedure for approval of budget expenditures provided in the Article 74, paragraph IV of this Constitution and other applicable laws.
The Constitution grants the Senate several exclusive powers:
The Senate shall have the power to approve the international treaties and conventions subscribed by the President of the Republic, as well as his decision to end, condemn, suspend, modify, amend, withdraw reservations and make interpretative declarations related such treaties and conventions;
Law shall regulate the exercise of the two previous powers.
Each of the Houses may, without the intervention of the other one:
During recesses of the Congress of the Union, there shall be a Permanent Committee composed of 37 members; 19 shall be Representatives and 18 shall be Senators, appointed by their respective House the day before the closing of the ordinary period of sessions. A substitute shall be appointed for each member of the Permanent Committee.
Besides the powers conferred by this Constitution, the Permanent Committee shall have the following powers:
The Federal Auditing Office, which belongs to the House of Representatives, shall have autonomy regarding technical and managerial matters, as well as regarding its internal organization, functioning and decisions, according to the law.
Auditing function shall be exercised according to the principles of legality, definitiveness, impartiality and reliability.
The Federal Auditing Office shall begin with the auditing process on the first working day of the of the next fiscal year regardless that the observations or recommendations that in the case result shall refer to the definitive information presented in the Public Account.
In regard to the planning of the auditing procedures, the Federal Auditing Office shall request the information of the current fiscal year in regard to the finished processes.
The Federal Auditing Office shall be responsible for:
The Federal Auditing Office shall also supervise directly the management or use of federal resources made by the States, Municipalities, the Federal District and the political-administrative organs within their territories, except by federal contributions. In case the States and Municipalities have loans granted by the Federal Government, the Federal Auditing Office shall oversee the management and use of the corresponding resources. This Office will also supervise the use of federal resources granted to any public or private entity or individual, those transferred to trusts, mandates, funds or any other legal instrument, in accordance with the procedures established by law and without damage to other authorities’ jurisdiction and to the users’ rights.
Entities that are subjected to fiscal supervision according to the previous paragraph, shall accurately do and register their accounts, report the use of federal patrimony and detail the use of the budget transferred to them, in accordance with the criteria established by law.
Despite the principle of annuity, the Federal Auditing Office can request and review concrete information of previous years to that of the public account being revised, this faculty does not mean that the public account of that year has been opened again. The request for information may only be reopened when the program covers more than one year or when fulfillment of objectives is under revision. However, comments and recommendations issued by the Federal Auditing Office shall only refer to the public account belonging to the year under revision.
Regardless of the provisions in the previous paragraphs, the Federal Auditing Office, pervious authorization of its chief officer, may review government agencies during the current fiscal years or their information for past fiscal years in the situations described by the law and as consequences of accusations or lawsuits. The government agencies shall give the information requested by the Federal Auditing Office within the time limits considered by the law, if the entity does not meet the deadline and formalities, it shall be punished according to the law. The Federal Auditing Office shall submit a report about the case to the House of Representatives and, if applicable, it shall fix responsibilities or initiate responsibilities before the Administrative Courts, the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office or the appropriate authority.
For this purpose, before the submission of the general executive report and the individual reports to the House of Representatives, the Federal Auditing Office shall notify the entities under revision about the results obtained from their public accounts, so that they could submit the pertinent justifications and explanations.
The Head of the Federal Auditing Office shall send to the entities under revision the individual reports with recommendations and measures suggested no later than 10 business days after submission of the report to the House of Representatives. The entities under revision shall, within 30 business days, present the appropriate information and carry out the suitable measures. The law shall establish punishments for failures thereof. This provision shall not apply to the lists of accusations, which shall observe the procedures and terms established by law.
The Federal Auditing Office shall, within a 120 business days term, answer the explanations and justifications submitted by the entities under revision. Failure to do so means that explanations and justifications have been accepted.
Regarding fulfillment of recommendations, the entities under revision shall describe the improvements carried out or justify the inappropriateness of the measures suggested by the Federal Auditing Office.
On May 1 and November 1 of every year, the Federal Auditing Office shall submit to the House of Representatives a report about the progress of recommendations and measures suggested to the public entities in the individual reports. This report shall be public and the Federal Auditing Office shall describe the amounts that the Federal Treasury have received or the amounts that have been restore to the estate of the Government Agencies as consequence of their audits or legal procedures presented before Administrative Courts.
The Federal Auditing Office shall keep on reserve its acts and comments until the general report and the individual reports have been submitted to the House of Representatives. The law shall establish appropriate punishments for offenders thereof.
The Head of the Federal Auditing Office shall be appointed by the two-thirds of the members present in the House of Representatives, in accordance with the procedure established for this purpose. The head of the Federal Auditing Office is appointed to serve for a period of eight years and may be appointed again once only. He may be removed, exclusively for serious misdemeanor described in the law, by the vote of two-thirds of the members present in the House of Representatives. He may be also removed due to the causes established in the Title Four of this Constitution.
To qualify for the position of Head of the Federal Auditing Office, it is necessary to fill the requirements established in paragraphs I, II, IV, V and VI of the Article 95 of this Constitution, as well as the other requirements established by the law. While holding the office, the Head of the Federal Auditing Office cannot join any political party nor perform any other job, position or assignment, except for unpaid services in scientific, educational, cultural or altruistic institutions.
The different Powers of the Union, the states and the government agencies subjected to revision shall assist the Federal Auditing Office in carrying out its work. This provision applies also to federal and local employees, as well as to any private or public entity, trust, mandate or fund that uses public federal resources. This provision does not damage the jurisdiction of other authorities nor the user’s rights of the banking system. Refusal to assist the Federal Auditing Office with the information required shall be punished according to the law.
The president of the Republic shall apply an administrative proceeding to enforce payment of compensations and pecuniary penalties defined in the paragraph IV of this article.
The power of the Executive Branch is vested in one single person, the President of the United Mexican States.
The President of the United Mexican States is directly elected by the people according to the electoral law.
Qualifications for the Presidency:
The President will begin his tenure on October 1st and will last six years in office. The citizen who had performed as President of the Republic, popularly elected or under the interim or alternate character, or provisionally takes the office of the Federal Executive, in no case and under any circumstances may perform again this position.
In case of a complete absence of President of the Republic, while the Congress appoints the interim or alternate president in a term no longer than sixty days, the Minister of Interior will provisionally take the office of the Executive Power. In this case, sections II, III and VI of Article 82 of this Constitution will not be applicable.
Whoever provisionally occupies the Presidency will not be able to withdraw or appoint State Secretaries without the previous authorization of the Chamber of Senators. Likewise, he will present to the Congress a work report in no longer than ten days period counted just after his commission ends.
When there is complete absence of President during the two first years of the respective period, if the Congress of the Union were in sessions and at least two thirds of the total number of members of each Chamber were attending, the Congress shall immediately constitute itself in the Electoral College. The Electoral College through secret ballot and by the vote of the absolute majority shall appoint an interim president under the terms set by the Law of the Congress. The same Congress will issue, within ten days following such appointment, the call for the election of President that should end the respective period. Between the date of the call for elections and the Election Day there shall be no less than seven months and no more than nine months. The elected president will begin his/her term in office and swear before the Congress seven days after the electoral process has ended
If the Congress were not in sessions, the Permanent Commission will immediately call for extraordinary sessions to constitute the Electoral College, appoint an interim president and issue the call to presidential elections under the terms of the previous paragraph.
When the complete absence of President happens in the last four years of the respective period, if the Congress of the Union is in session, it will appoint an alternate president, who will complete the period, following in that capacity, the same procedure as in the case of the interim president.
If the Congress were not in sessions, the Permanent Commission will immediate call for extraordinary sessions to constitute the Electoral College and to appoint an alternate president, following in that capacity, the same procedure as in the case of interim president.
If before starting a constitutional period the election was not made or declared as valid, the President whose office has ended will cease and the interim president will be appointed by the Congress under the terms of the above Article.
If when starting a constitutional period there is a complete absence of President of the Republic, the position will be provisionally taken by the President of the Chamber of Senators, while the Congress appoints the interim president, in accordance to the above Article.
When the President requests leave to separate from the office up to sixty natural days, once authorized by the Congress, the Minister of Interior will provisionally take the office of the Executive Power.
If a temporary absence of the President becomes into an absolute absence, the Congress shall act as indicated in the previous article.
The President of the Republic can resign his position only due to a serious cause, which shall be evaluated by the Congress, to whom the resignation shall be submitted.
The President, upon taking office, takes the following oath before the Congress, or before the Permanent Committee during the recess of the Congress: “I swear to observe and uphold the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the laws that emanate from it, and to loyally and patriotically perform the position of President of the Republic, which the people have conferred upon me, pursuing the welfare and prosperity of the country; and if I do not fulfill these obligations, may the Nation demand it of me.”
If by any circumstance the President could not take the oath under the terms of the above paragraph, he will do so immediately before the Executive Boards of the Chambers of the Congress of the Union.
In case that the President could not swear in before the Congress of the Union, before the Permanent Commission or before the Executive Boards of the Chambers of the Congress of the Union, he will do so immediately before the President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
The President of the Republic can leave the national territory for up to seven days, previously notifying his reasons to the Senate or the Permanent Committee, as applicable, as well as the outcome of his activities. For absences larger than seven days, the President shall request a permit from the Senate or the Permanent Committee.
The powers and rights of the President of the Republic are the following:
The Secretaries of State and high-ranking employees of the Treasury and Foreign Affairs shall begin their functions on the date of their appointment, When they were not ratified in the terms established by this Constitution they will cease their functions.
According to the postulates about the ratification of the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Treasury Minister, when there is not a coalition government in functions, if the respective Chamber does not ratify in two occasions the appointment of the nominated Minister then the person selected by the Federal Executive shall occupy the office.
A covenant and a program shall regulate the government coalition; the majority of the present members of the Senate shall approve these programs and covenants. The covenant shall state the causes for the dissolution of the coalition.
Federal Public Administration shall be centralized and semipublic, according to the organic law issued by the Congress, which shall allocate the federal administrative affairs among the Secretariats and shall set the general basis to create semipublic entities and the participation of the Federal Executive in their operation.
The laws shall regulate the relations between semipublic entities and the President of the Republic or between them and the Secretariats.
The functions of the Legal Counselor of the Government shall depend upon the office within the Federal Executive that the law establishes for that purpose.
The Federal Executive will represent the Federation in any matters that it is a party through the office that holds the responsibility of Legal Counselor of the Government or through the Secretariats in the terms established by law.
In order to become a Secretary of State, it is required to be a Mexican citizen by birth, with legal capacity to exercise his rights, and to be 30 years old.
All regulations, decrees, covenants and orders issued by the President of the Republic shall also be signed by the Secretary of State in charge of the matter, otherwise they won’t be compulsory.
The Secretaries of State as soon as the ordinary period of sessions is open, shall answer to the Congress for the state of their respective affairs.
Any of the Houses can call the Secretaries of State, the directors and managers of semipublic entities and the heads of autonomous agencies in order to provide more information, under oath, whenever the Congress is studying or discussing a law or affair related to their activities or areas of responsibility, or to answer any inquiry that the Congress have in regard to the matter.
The House of Representatives, by request of a quarter of its members, and the Senate, by request of a half of its members, have the power to create committees to investigate the functioning of decentralized and semipublic entities. The results of the investigations shall be submitted to the President of the Republic.
Any of the Houses can require, by a written inquiry, information or documents to the heads of the federal agencies, who shall answer the inquiry within the next 15 days after request was received.
These attributions shall be exercised according to the Law and regulations of the Congress.
The judicial power of the United Mexican States is vested in a Supreme Court of Justice, an Electoral Court, specialized circuit courts, unitary circuit courts and the district courts.
The Federal Judicial Council shall deal with matters of administration, supervision and discipline for Mexican federal judges, except for the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, according to the provisions established by law.
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation shall consist of 11 Justices and shall work at plenary meetings or at courtrooms.
Sessions in plenary meeting or in courtrooms shall be public, in accordance with the law. Sessions may be secret whenever public interest or public morality should so require it.
The laws shall regulate, based on this Constitution, powers and functioning of the Supreme Court of Justice, the circuit courts, the district courts and the Electoral Court. The law shall establish liabilities for the Judicial Power’s employees.
The Federal Judicial Council shall define the number, district division, territorial competence and subject matter specialization—including broadcasting, telecommunications and economic competition—of collegiate and unitary circuit courts, as well as of the district courts.
Likewise, it shall have the power to issue general covenants in order to create circuit courts, according to the number and specialization of the collegiate courts that belong to each circuit. The laws shall regulate integration and operation of these circuit courts.
The Supreme Court of Justice in plenary meeting shall have the power to issue general covenants in order to achieve an adequate distribution of issues among the courtrooms and to submit to the specialized circuit courts those cases where they shall have established precedents and those affairs selected by the Supreme Court in order to deal with the cases promptly. Said covenants shall come into force after being published.
Constitutional adjudications [amparo], constitutional controversies and unconstitutionality claims shall have priority when one of the chambers of the Congress, through its Speaker, or the President of the Republic, through its Legal Councilor, justifies the urgency on the basis of social interest or the law and order, in accordance with the regulatory laws.
The law shall define the cases where precedents established by the federal and circuit courts shall be compulsory, relating to interpretation of the Constitution and general laws, as well as the requirements for interruption and modification thereof.
Remuneration granted to the Justices of the Supreme Court, the circuit judges, the district judges, the councilors of the Federal Judiciary and the electoral judges, may not be reduced during their term.
Justices of the Supreme Court shall be appointed for a 15 years term, they may be removed only in the cases provided in the Title Four of this Constitution. Justices shall be entitled to a retirement payment at the end of their term.
Supreme Court Justices cannot serve a second term, unless they have held the office as provisional or interim ministers.
To be appointed as Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, it is required:
Preferably, Justices shall be persons who have served with efficiency, ability and integrity in the dispensation of justice, or who have distinguished themselves by their honor, ability and career in the legal field.
For appointment of a Justice of the Supreme Court, the President of the Republic shall submit a list of three candidates to the Senate, who should present before the Senate. Within a 30-day period, the Senate shall choose one of the candidates by the vote of two thirds of the present members of the Senate. This period may not be extended. Should the Senate not decide within such term, then the President of the Republic shall appoint one person from the list he has proposed.
If the Senate rejects all the three candidates in the list, the President of the Republic shall submit a new list of three candidates, considering the provisions established in the previous paragraph. If the Senate rejects this second list completely, the President of the Republic shall appoint one person from such list.
The Federal Judicial Council, based on objective criteria and observing the requirements and procedures established by law, shall appoint district and circuit judges. District and circuit judges shall be appointed for a six years term. At the end of such term, they may be ratified or promoted, in such case, they may be dismissed only in the cases described by the law and following the established procedure.
The Supreme Court of Justice can request the Federal Judicial Council to investigate the behavior of a federal judge or magistrate.
The Supreme Court of Justice shall have the power to appoint and remove its secretary, officials and employees. Magistrates and judges shall have the power to appoint and remove the officials and employees for the circuit courts and district courts, observing the regulation about the judicial career.
Every four years, the Supreme Court of Justice, in plenary meeting, shall appoint a president for the Supreme Court from among its members. The President of the Supreme Court cannot be reelected for the next immediate term.
Each minister of the Supreme Court of Justice, upon taking office, takes the following oath before the Senate:
Speaker of the Senate: “Do you swear to loyally and patriotically perform the position of Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, which has been conferred upon you, and to observe and uphold the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the laws that emanate from it, pursuing the welfare and prosperity of the country?”
Justice: “Yes, I do.”
Speaker of the Senate: “If you do not fulfill these obligations, may the Nation demand it of you.”
Circuit magistrates and district judges shall take the oath before the Supreme Court of Justice and the Federal Judicial Council.
Whenever the absence of a Justice exceeds one month, the President of the Republic shall submit a list of three candidates to the Senate in order to elect one interim Justice according to that established in the Article 96 of this Constitution.
Should a Justice be absent by cause of death or any other definitive cause, the President of the Republic shall submit a list of three candidates to the Senate in order to elect one according to that established in the Article 96 of this Constitution.
Resignation of a Justice shall be accepted only due to serious offence. Resignation shall be submitted to the President of the Republic, who, if accepts it, shall in turn submit resignation to the Senate.
The Supreme Court of Justice can grant leave permits to the Justices if the leave do not exceed one month. Those leaves exceeding such term shall be granted by the President of the Republic with the Senate’s approval. No leave may exceed a term of two years.
The Electoral Court shall be the highest authority in this area and the specialized body of the Federal Judicial Branch, with exception of what is established in the Article 105, paragraph II, of this Constitution.
The Electoral Court shall work on a permanent basis; it shall have a Superior Electoral Court and regional electoral courts. Resolving sessions of the Electoral Court shall be public in accordance with the law. The Electoral Court shall have enough legal and administrative personnel for an appropriate performance.
The Superior Electoral Court shall be integrated by seven electoral magistrates, who shall appoint a president of the Electoral Court among them to hold the office for a period of four years.
The Electoral Court shall resolve the issues listed below, in a definitive an irrefutable manner, observing the provisions established by this Constitution and the applicable law:
The Superior electoral Court and the regional electoral courts can annul an election only due to the causes expressly indicated in the law.
The Superior Electoral Court shall carry out the final count of votes in the election of the President of the Republic, provided that contestations thereof have been resolved. Then, the Electoral Court shall declare the validity of the election and shall name the elected President, i.e., the candidate who has obtained the highest number of votes.
The courtrooms of the Electoral Court shall make use of the necessary coercive means in order to enforce their sentences and resolutions, in accordance with the terms established by law.
Without prejudice to the Article 105 of this Constitution, the courtrooms of the Electoral Court can determine not to apply electoral laws that are contrary to this Constitution. Such kind of resolutions shall be limited to the concrete case in question. In such event, the Superior Electoral Court shall notify the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
When a courtroom of the Electoral Court defends an argument on the unconstitutionality of an act or resolution, or on the interpretation of a constitutional provision, and such argument may be contradictory to the one sustained by the Supreme Court of Justice or its courtrooms, then any of the Justices, courtrooms or parties can denounce the contradiction, according to the terms established by the law. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, in plenary meeting, shall decide definitely which argument shall prevail. Such kind of resolutions shall not affect the cases already decided.
This Constitution and the laws shall regulate the organization of the Electoral Court, the jurisdiction of the courtrooms, the procedures to decide the affairs, as well as the mechanisms to set mandatory legal precedents in this matter.
The Superior Electoral Court can bring cases from regional electoral courts at their request. Likewise, the Superior Electoral Court can submit cases to the regional electoral courts for resolution. The law shall establish regulations and procedures to exercise such kind of power.
In accordance with the terms provided by the law, the administration, supervision and discipline of the Electoral Court shall pertain to a committee of the Federal Judicial Council, which shall be composed of: a) the president of the Electoral Court, who shall chair; b) a magistrate from the Superior Electoral Court, elected by secret vote; and c) three members of the Federal Judicial Council. The Electoral Court shall submit its proposal about its own budget to the president of the Supreme Court of Justice in order to be included in the budget of the federal judicial branch. The Electoral Court shall issue its own internal regulations and decrees it should require to operate adequately.
Magistrates composing the superior and the regional courts of the Electoral Court shall be proposed by the Supreme Court of Justice and elected by the vote of the two-thirds of the senators present. Election of the magistrates shall be staggered, observing the rules and procedures established by law.
Magistrates composing the Superior Electoral Court shall meet the requirements stated by the law, which may not be less than those required to be a minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. Magistrates shall hold the office for a term of nine years. This term cannot be extended. The magistrates of the Superior Electoral Court shall submit their resignations, leaves and permits to the Superior Court of the Electoral Court, which shall process and grant them, as applicable according to the Article 98 of this Constitution.
Magistrates composing the regional courts of the Electoral Court shall meet the requirements stated by the law, which may not be less than those required to be a circuit magistrate. Regional magistrates shall hold the office for a term of nine years. This term cannot be extended, unless they get a promotion.
In case of a definitive vacancy, a new magistrate shall be appointed, who shall finish the term.
Labor relations between the Electoral Court and its employees shall be regulated by the rules applicable to the federal judicial branch and by the special laws and exceptions applicable to them.
The Federal Judicial Council shall be a body belonging to the federal judicial branch and shall have technical and operational independence and shall also be independent to issue its resolutions.
The Federal Judicial Council shall be composed of seven members: the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, who shall also be the chairman of the Council; three councilors appointed by the Supreme Court in plenary meeting, by at least eight votes; the candidates proposed by the Supreme Court shall be circuit magistrates or district judges; two councilors appointed by the Senate and one councilor appointed by the President of the Republic.
All councilor shall meet the requirements established in the Article 95 of this Constitution and shall be individuals who have distinguished themselves through professional and administrative capacity, honesty and honor in the conduct of their activities. In the case of the councilor appointed by the Supreme Court, they must also have a good professional reputation within the field of the judiciary.
The Federal Judicial Council shall work at plenary meeting or at committees. The plenary meeting of the Council shall decide on appointment, assignment, ratification and dismissal of magistrates and judges, as well as on other affairs defined by the law.
Except by the chairman of the Council, the councilors shall hold the office for a period of five years, they shall be replaced in a staggered manner. Councilors cannot be appointed for a second period.
The councilors do not represent the institutions appointing them; therefore, they shall perform their duties in an independent and impartial manner. They may be dismissed only in accordance with the provisions established in the Title Four of this Constitution.
The law shall create the basis to provide training and updating to the public officials, as well as to the development of the judicial career, which shall be governed by the principles of excellence, objectivity, impartiality, professionalism and independence.
The Federal Judicial Council shall have the power to make and execute general covenants in order to achieve an adequate performance of its duties. The Supreme Court of Justice can request the Council to make and execute those general covenants that are necessary to achieve an adequate performance of the federal duties. The Supreme Court of justice can also review such covenants and, if necessary, revoke them by a majority of at least eight votes. The law shall regulate the exercise of these powers.
Federal Judicial Council’s decisions are final and irrefutable, therefore, no trial or legal instrument is accepted against such decisions, except by decisions related to appointment, assignment, ratification and dismissal of magistrates and judges. Such kind of decisions can be reviewed by the Supreme Court of Justice only with the purpose to verify they have been taken according to the rules established in the applicable organic law.
The Supreme Court of Justice shall propose its own budget, and the Federal Judicial Council shall propose the budget for the rest of the federal judicial branch, but complying with the provisions established in the Article 99, paragraph seventh, of this Constitution. These budgets shall be submitted by the President of the Supreme Court of Justice in order to include them into the Nation’s federal budget. The President of the Supreme Court of Justice shall manage the Supreme Court’s internal affairs.
Justices of the Supreme Court of Justice, circuit magistrates, district judges, their respective clerks, councilors of the Federal Judicial Council and the magistrates of the Superior Electoral Court cannot accept or perform any other job or assignment, either in a private company or in the federal or state government, or in the Federal District Government, except for those performed for free in scientific, educational, literary or charitable associations.
Justices of the Supreme Court of Justice, circuit magistrates, district judges, councilors of the Federal Judicial Council and magistrates of the Superior Electoral Court, within the two years after finishing their respective term, shall not be allowed to work as attorneys, lawyers or legal representatives in any case before the agencies belonging to the federal judicial power.
During the same term, the former Justices cannot be appointed for such positions mentioned in the Article 95, paragraph VI of this Constitution, unless they have been appointed as provisional or interim.
Impediments established in this article will apply also to the judicial officials who are granted a leave permit.
In the event of infringement of the provisions stated in the previous paragraphs, the offenders shall be punished with dismissal and loss of benefits, even benefits that could correspond to such position in the future, in addition to the other penalties established by law.
To be appointed as Attorney General it is required to be a Mexican citizen by birth; to be at least thirty five years old on the day of the appointment; to hold at least for ten years the professional degree of bachelor in law; to enjoy a good reputation; and not to have been convicted for a serious crime.
The Attorney General shall remain in office for nine years and shall be appointed and removed according to the following provisions:
If the Federal Executive does not receive the list within the time limit stated in the previous paragraph, he will freely send a list of three candidates to the Senate and shall provisionally appoint the Attorney General who will be in functions until a definitive appointment is made according to this article. In this case, the Attorney General provisionally appointed shall participate in the list of three.
In case that the Federal Executive does not send a list of three described in the previous paragraph the Senate will have ten days to appoint the Attorney General from the list of candidates described in fraction I of this article.
If the Senate does not comply with the time limits for the appointment as is stated in the previous paragraphs, the Executive shall appoint the Attorney General from the candidates drafted in the list of ten or, if it is the case, from the list of three presented.
The Public Prosecution Service shall have the power to prosecute in court all the federal crimes and to request precautionary measures or arrest warrant against the accused. The Public Prosecution Service has the duty to procure and submit evidence to prove the defendant’s liability in the acts that the law specifies as crimes; it will procure that federal criminal trials are carried out with regularity so that justice may be provided in a prompt and expeditious manner, it will also request the imposition of penalties and will intervene in all matters determined by law.
The Office of the Attorney General shall be organized, at least, by the specialized agency for the prosecution of electoral crimes and the anti-corruption specialized prosecution agency. The Attorney General has the power to appoint or remove the head prosecutors of these specialized agencies. The Senate may object the appointment or removal of those prosecutors by the vote of two thirds of the present members of the Senate within the time limit specified by law. If the Senate does not pronounce itself about the appointment or removal it would be understood that there is no objection to the act.
The law shall establishes the basis for the training and updating of the public servants that work at the Office of the Attorney General, as well as the basis for the professional development of them. These bases shall follow the principles of legality, objectivity, efficiency, professionalism, honesty, and the respect for human rights.
The Attorney General shall present before the Legislative and Executive powers a report of the activities performed by the Office he/she leads. When any of the Chambers of the Congress summons the Attorney General he shall appear before them to account for his performance or inform about his administration.
The Attorney General and his agents will be responsible of any fault, omission or violation to the law occurred by reason of their functions.
These agencies shall issue public recommendations, which shall not be compulsory. They also shall file accusations and complaints with the appropriate authorities. All public servants are obliged to answer the recommendations issued by these agencies. When the authorities or public servants responsible do not accept or enforce these recommendations, they must substantiate such refusal and make their refusal public. In addition, the Senate, the Permanent Committee or the state legislatures, as appropriate, may call, at the request of these agencies, the authorities or public servants responsible to appear and explain the reasons of such refusal.
These agencies shall not have jurisdiction over electoral and jurisdictional matters.
Such kind of agency, created by the Congress of the Union, shall be called National Human Rights Commission. It shall have managerial autonomy, legal personality and endowed with its own patrimony.
The state constitutions and the Federal District Charter shall establish and guarantee the autonomy of the agencies that protect the human rights.
The National Human Rights Commission shall have a Board of Advisors, which will be composed of ten councilors, who shall be elected by two thirds of the members present at the Senate, or at the Permanent Committee during the congress recess. The law shall establish the procedure to be followed by the Senate to nominate the candidates. Every year, the most senior councilors shall be replaced, unless they are proposed and ratified for a second term.
The President of the National Human Rights Commission, who shall also be the President of the Board of Advisors, shall be elected following the procedure established in the previous paragraph. The President of the National Human Rights Commission shall hold office for a five years term and may be reelected once only. He/she may be dismissed only in the cases established in the Title Four of this Constitution.
The election of the President of the National Human Rights Commission, as well as the members of the Board of Advisors and the heads of the state human rights commissions, shall be subject to a public consultation procedure, which shall meet the requirements established by law.
The President of the National Human Rights Commission shall submit an annual report to the three branches of the Union. For this purpose, he/she shall appear before both Houses under the terms established by law.
The National Human Rights Commission shall hear complaints against the resolutions, covenants and omissions made by the state human rights commissions.
The National Human Rights Commission can investigate serious violations of human rights when it considers so or at the request of the President of the Republic, the Senate, the House of Representatives, a governor, the Head of the Federal District Government, or a state congress.
The federal courts shall resolve all disputes concerning:
The federal courts shall have jurisdiction over:
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation shall resolve the cases related to the following topics, in accordance with the provisions established by the applicable statutory law:
The rulings taken by the Supreme Court of Justice, by a majority of eight vote, invalidating general provisions, shall have general compulsory effect; provided that the respective controversy is generated by the general provisions issued by a state or a municipal council, and which are challenged by the Federal Government; or by the general provisions issued by a municipal council and which has been challenged by the state; or in the cases indicated in paragraphs “c”, “h” and “k”.
In all other cases, the rulings pronounced by the Supreme Court of Justice shall have effect only on the particular case in question.
Unconstitutionality lawsuits shall be initiated within the 30 days after publication of the regulation, they shall be initiated by:
The only mechanism to present a non-conformity against electoral laws to the Constitution is the one stated in this article.
The federal and local electoral laws shall be enacted and issued at least ninety days before the electoral process begins given that these laws will be applied. During the electoral process there shall not be any fundamental legal modifications.
The resolutions of the Supreme Court of Justice may only declare the invalidity to the challenged norms if the resolution is approved by a majority of at least eight votes.
Invalidations mentioned in the sections I and II of this article may not have retroactive effects, except by criminal matter, where criminal general principles and legal provisions shall govern.
In case of failure to comply with the rulings mentioned in the sections I and II of this article, the procedures established in the Article 107 section XVI of this Constitution shall be applied.
The Judicial Branch shall resolve the controversies that could arise between two federal courts related to their jurisdictions, or between a federal court and a state court, or between a federal court and a Federal District’s court, or between two courts belonging to different states, or between a state court and a Federal District’s Court.
All controversies mentioned in the article 103 of this Constitution, except for electoral controversies, shall follow the legal procedures and formalities established by the statutory law, according to the following principles:
Regarding acts or rulings pronounced by administrative or labor courts, the plaintiff must argue that he/she holds a subjective right that has been directly and personally affected.
If a court rules unconstitutionality of a general provision for a second consecutive time in constitutional adjudications, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation must notify the authority that enacted such provision.
When the bodies belonging to the Federal Judicial Branch establish legal precedents by repetition, ordering unconstitutionality of a general provision, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation shall notify the authority that enacted such provision. If after 90 days the unconstitutionality is not overcome, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation shall issue a general declaration of unconstitutionality, indicating its scope and conditions, according to the statutory law. Such declaration must be approved by a majority of 8 votes.
The previous two paragraphs do not apply to general provisions for taxation.
In a constitutional adjudication, any deficiency regarding the terms “violation” and “grievances” should be corrected by the court, according to that established in the statutory law.
Whenever the acts claimed in the constitutional adjudication deprive or may deprive the farming cooperatives or communities or their members of their lands, waters, pasture and mountains, all evidence that could benefit any of the aforesaid entities or individuals must be obtained at the court’s own motion, and any proceedings that could be necessary to prove their rights must be ordered to establish their agrarian rights. Also, the nature and consequences of the claimed acts shall be defined.
In the constitutional adjudication mentioned in the preceding paragraph, dismissal of the suit because of procedural inactivity or by discontinuance shall not be admissible to the detriment of farming cooperatives or indigenous communities, or to the detriment of a native or joint-title farmer. However, this kind of proceedings shall be admissible to their benefit. Waiving or express consent shall not be accepted when the claimed acts affect the community’s rights, unless waiving or express consent are agreed by the General Assembly of the farming cooperative.
The party who has obtained a favorable ruling, as well the party who has legal interest that the act in question persists, can file a constitutional adjudication in addition to the one filed by any of the parties involved in the trial that generated the challenged act. The law shall determine the procedure and requirements to file such trial.
For the constitutional adjudication admissibility, first the plaintiff must exhaust the ordinary instruments provided by the applicable law, which may be suitable to modify or revoke the final sentence, binding judgment or ruling, except for the cases when the law allows plaintiff to waive such resources.
Violations to the procedural law should be invoked when challenging the final rulings, binding judgments or resolutions that end the trial, provided that the plaintiff has challenged them through the ordinary instruments. However, this requirement does not apply to the constitutional adjudication filed against acts which affect the rights of minors or disabled persons, or affect the marital status or the family’s order and stability, or the criminal acts filed by the defendant.
It is not necessary to exhaust such means of defense when the challenged act has no grounds, or when only direct violations to this Constitution are argued.
In federal civil cases, sentences may be challenged through the constitutional adjudication by any of the interested parties, even the Federal Government, in defense of its pecuniary interests.
The Supreme Court of Justice may, by its own motion or by motion of the collegiate circuit court, the Attorney General in the issues that concern to the Public Prosecution Service, or by the Federal Executive through its Legal Government Counselor, hear direct constitutional adjudications given that are considered important or transcendental.
The Supreme Court of Justice may, by its own motion or by motion of the collegiate circuit court or the Attorney General in the issues that concern to the Public Prosecution Service, or by the Federal Executive through its Legal Government Counselor, hear constitutional adjudications in review process that are considered important or transcendental.
In all other cases, reviews shall be lodged before a collegiate circuit court, which sentence shall be final and shall not admit any further review.
Regarding criminal matter, such suspension shall be applied while notifying the constitutional adjudication lodged. Regarding civil, mercantile and administrative matters, such suspension shall be applied when the plaintiff pays a bail, which shall be used to pay for the damages caused by the suspension to a third party. Such suspension shall be void if the other party pays an indemnity bond in order to assure re-installment of the situation as if the constitutional adjudication has been granted.
In the event that the district judge or unitary circuit court does not reside in the same place than the authority responsible, then the law shall define the appropriate judge or court to lodge the constitutional adjudication. Such judge or court can suspend temporarily the challenged act in accordance with the law.
In the event that circuit courts belonging to different circuits, or the specialized circuit courts belonging to the same circuit, or collegiate circuit courts of the same circuit with different specialization defend contradictory criteria in the matters of their jurisdiction, then the ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, the circuit courts or the bodies mentioned in the previous paragraph can report this contradiction to the Supreme Court of Justice, so that the Plenary Meeting or the respective courtroom decides which argument shall prevail.
In the event that the courtrooms belonging to the Supreme Court of the Nation defend contradictory criteria in the constitutional adjudications under their jurisdiction, then the ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation; the collegiate circuit courts and their members; the district judges; the Attorney General in criminal or criminal procedures issues or in matters related to his functions; the Federal Executive through its Legal Government Counselor; or the parties involved can report this contradiction to the Supreme Court of Justice in their plenary meeting so that they can decide which argument shall prevail according to the laws and norms.
Rulings pronounced by the plenary meeting of the Supreme Court of Justice or by one of its courtrooms, or by the circuit courts according to the previous paragraphs, shall only establish jurisprudence. They shall not affect the specific legal situations derived from the sentences pronounced in the trials where contradictory legal precedents arose.
If the act in question is repeated, given that the constitutional adjudication has been granted, the Supreme Court of Justice shall dismiss the head of the authority responsible from office, according to the procedure established by the law. The Supreme Court shall notify the Federal Public Prosecution Service, unless the authority responsible acted with no premeditation and cancels the act in question before the Supreme Court of Justice pronounces the respective ruling.
The Supreme Court of Justice can replace the sentence pronounced in a constitutional adjudication, by its own motion or at the request of plaintiff, when the execution of such sentence affects seriously the society or third parties, more than the benefits granted to the plaintiff, or when it is impossible or excessively onerous restore the previous situation. Then, the sentence should be exchanged by an economic compensation to the plaintiff. For this purpose, the parties shall sign a covenant before the Supreme Court of Justice.
The constitutional adjudication cannot be filed until the sentence is enforced.
For the purposes of this Title, public servants or civil servants are the representatives elected by popular vote; the members of the Federal Judicial Branch; the members of the Judicial Branch of the Federal District; the officials, the public employees and, in general, any person who holds any position or assignment in the Congress of the Union, in the Federal District’s Assembly of Representatives, in the federal government or in the Federal District Government. Public servants are also the persons who work in the autonomous bodies created by this Constitution. Public servants are accountable for the acts or omissions they commit in the performance of their duties.
The President of the Republic, during his term in office, may be impeached only for treason or serious common crimes.
Governors, representatives of the State Houses, magistrates of the States Supreme Courts, members of the local Judicial Councils, members of the Municipal Councils and the members of the autonomous entities established in the local constitutions or the autonomous entities established by the Federal District Charter, shall be liable for infringements against this Constitution and federal laws, as well as for mishandling federal funds and resources.
The constitutions of the States shall detail the public servants that perform any job, position or assignment in the state or municipal government according to the terms described in the first paragraph of this article in order to establish the effects of their performance. Those public servants shall be accountable for the mishandling of public resources or for public debt.
The public servants described in this article shall submit, under oath, a declaration of assets and properties and a declaration of interests before the corresponding authorities and according to the terms defined by the law.
Public servants and individuals that infringe the law in regard to the responsibilities with the State shall be penalized according to the following:
Impeachment due to expression of ideas is not accepted.
The laws shall establish the cases and circumstances in which criminal sanction shall proceed due to illicit enrichment to the public servants that during their term in office or because of it increase their assets or estate and which legal origin can not be proved. The laws shall state that this type of offence shall require confiscation of the assets as penalty among others that may apply.
The Federal Auditing Office, the Comptroller Offices or their partners in the local governments will investigate the administrative offences accordingly and the resolution will be made by the Administrative Justice Court that correspond. Other offences and sanctions will be resolved by the internal comptroller offices.
For the investigation, prosecution and resolution of the administrative responsibilities of the member of the Federal Judicial Power the procedures will follow the Article 94 of this Constitution regardless the powers of the Federal Auditing Office in terms of the accountability on the management, use and safekeeping of public resources.
The law shall establish the cases and procedures to challenge the categories given by the internal comptroller offices about administrative offences as severe or not severe.
The federal agencies shall have a comptroller office with the powers stated by the law to prevent, correct and investigate those acts or omissions that may constitute administrative responsibilities. The comptroller offices may punish those administrative offences that are not in the jurisdiction of the Federal Administrative Court, it also may supervise the revenues, expenditures, management, safe-keeping and use of the federal public resources, as well as to present inquiries for acts and omissions that may constitute a criminal offence before the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office.
The local and municipal public agencies, as well as the public agencies of the Federal District and its territorial divisions shall have internal comptroller offices that will be responsible for the local supervision and powers stated in the previous paragraph
The procedures for the punishment application in the cases mentioned in the previous paragraph shall be independent. Never shall a punishment for one single action be applied more than once.
Any citizen, by its own responsibility and presenting the corresponding evidence, may present before the House of Representatives an inquiry about the acts and omissions mentioned in this article.
Provisions in regard to fiscal and financial secrecy or protection of data in deposit, management, savings or investment operations shall not proceed when the agencies responsible of investigation and sanction of administrative responsibilities or corruption acts are performing its duties. The law shall establish the procedures in which this information will be delivered.
The Federal Auditing Office and the Ministry responsible for the internal control of the Federal Executive, may use the resolutions of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office and the Federal Administrative Justice Court, as stated in article 20 part C item VII and article 104 of this Constitution.
The State’s responsibility for the damages caused to the rights and property of the individuals due to its irregular administration shall be objective and direct. The individuals will have the right to compensation according to the basis, limits and procedures established by law.
The following civil servants may be impeached: members of the Senate, members of the House of Representatives, Justices of the Supreme Court of Justice, Councilors of the Federal Judicial Council, Secretaries of State, members of the Federal District’s Assembly of Representatives, the Head of the Federal District Government, the Attorney General of the Nation, the Attorney General of the Federal District, the circuit magistrates, district judges, magistrates and judges of ordinary courts in the Federal District, Councilors of the Federal District’s Judicial Council, the President of the Electoral Council, Electoral Councilors and the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Institute, magistrates of the Electoral Court, the members of the constitutional autonomous organs, and the general managers of the decentralized agencies, semipublic companies, associations assimilated by semipublic companies and public trusts.
Governors, local representatives, magistrates of the local superior courts and the members of the local judicial councils, as well as the members of the local agencies that the local constitutions and the Federal District Charter grants autonomy; they may only be impeached in reason of: a) serious infringement of this Constitution and the federal laws derived from it, b) mishandling federal funds and resources. However, the ruling shall be only declarative and shall be notified to the state legislature in order to implement the pertinent proceeding.
Penalties for public servants shall be: dismissal from office and disqualification to perform any public function, job, position or assignment in the public service.
The procedure shall be as follows: the House of Representatives shall substantiate the case, shall hear the accused and the absolute majority of the members of the House shall declare the impeachment. Then the House of Representatives shall submit the impeachment to the Senate.
The Senate shall carry out the necessary proceedings and shall hear the accused. The Senate then shall become jury and shall impose the appropriate penalty by the vote of the two-thirds of the members present.
Rulings pronounced by the House of Representatives and the Senate are irrefutable.
Members of the Senate, members of the Chamber of Deputies, Justices of the Supreme Court of Justice, magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Court, Councilors of the Federal Judicial Council, Secretaries of State, members of the Federal District’s Assembly of Representatives, the Head of the Federal District Government, the Attorney General of the Nation, the Attorney General of the Federal District, as well as the President of the Electoral Council and Electoral Councilors of the General Council of the National Electoral Institute may be indicted for perpetration of crimes during their terms. The House of Representatives shall declare, by absolute majority of the present deputies, whether there are grounds to proceed against the accused.
A negative declaration by the House of Representatives shall suspend any further procedure. However, such a suspension shall not resolve the indictment in a definitive way. Once the accused finish his term in office, a criminal trial shall begin if the charges remain.
If the House of Representatives declare the indictment, the individual shall be turned over the respective authorities, which shall proceed according to the law.
The President of the Republic may be charged only before the Senate and according to the provisions established by the Article 110. The senate shall resolve the case observing the applicable criminal law.
Governors, local representatives, magistrates of the local superior courts and the members of the local judicial council, and members of the local entities that are granted autonomy by the local constitution or the Federal District Charter may be indicted for federal crimes and shall follow the procedures established in this article. However, the indictment ruling shall be only declarative and shall be notified to the state legislature in order to implement the pertinent proceedings.
Rulings pronounced by the House of Representatives and the Senate are irrefutable.
If the resolution declares the indictment, the public servant shall be removed from office while is on trial. In the event of acquittal, the accused can resume duties. In the event of guilty verdict, pardon may not be granted to the accused, provided that the crime was perpetrated during his term.
Related to lawsuits on civil matter against any public servant, it is not necessary that the Congress declare the indictment.
Prison sentences shall be applied according to that established in the criminal law. In the case of crimes where the perpetrator obtains economic benefit or cause damage or loss to property, prison sentence shall be proportional to the profit obtained by the accused and to the damages and losses caused by his unlawful conduct.
Economic penalties cannot exceed three times the amount of gains obtained or the damages or losses caused.
It is not necessary that the House of Representatives declare the indictment when any public servant, mentioned in the first paragraph of the Article 111, perpetrates a crime when he is not holding office.
However, if the public servant resumes duties or has been appointed or elected for a new position, which is mentioned in the Article 111, he shall be indicted according to such article.
The National Anticorruption System will be the coordinating entity between the authorities of every government level responsible for prevention, detection and punishment of administrative responsibilities in corruption acts, as well as the surveillance and control of public resources. For the fulfillment of its objectives it will adhere to the following provisions:
As a result of this report, the System may issue nonbinding recommendations to the corresponding authority in order for them to implement the measures and procedures to strengthen the institution and prevent administrative offences and corruption acts. The authorities that receive these recommendations shall inform the Committee about the implementation of those recommendations.
The States and the Federal District shall establish local anticorruption systems to coordinate the corresponding local authorities about the prevention, detection and punishment of administrative responsibilities and corruption acts.
Impeachment against a public servant can be initiated only during the period of time he is holding office and within the first year after such term. Punishments shall be applied within the first year after that proceedings have initiated.
Crimes perpetrated by a public servant during the period of time he is holding the office shall be punished according to the statutes of limitations provided by the criminal law. Such terms shall never be shorter than three years. Statute of limitations shall be interrupted while the public servant holds any of the offices listed in the Article 111.
The law shall establish the cases where the statute of limitations shall be applied to administrative liability, taking into account the nature and consequences of the acts or omissions mentioned in the Article 109, paragraph III. Statute of limitations shall never be shorter than seven years for serious acts or omissions.
The states comprising the United Mexican States shall adopt a republican, representative, democratic, secular and popular form of government for their own organization. The states shall be divided into municipalities, which shall be the basis of the political and administrative organization according to the following criteria:
The local constitutions shall establish the consecutive election for the same office to the Presidents of the Municipal Councils, councilors and community representatives for an additional term in office whenever the term in office does not exceeds three years. These candidates shall only be nominated by the same party or coalition party that nominated them to their first term in office, unless they had resigned or lost their membership before the first half of their term in office.
State legislatures, by resolution of the two-thirds of their members, can suspend a Municipal Council, eliminate it or suspend or revoke the powers of any of its members due to a serious cause mentioned by law, provided that the members of the Municipal Council have had sufficient opportunity to submit evidence and provide arguments that to their consideration may be useful.
Substitutes shall be appointed to the vacant positions, according to the procedures described by the law.
In the event that the state legislature eliminates a Municipal Council, or in the event of resignation or absolute absence of the majority of its members, when the law does not allow the substitutes to finish the term nor to call elections, the state legislature shall appoint some inhabitants to make up a city board, which shall finish the term. The law shall establish the number of members for such city board. The members of the city board shall meet the same requirements than the councilors.
The State legislatures shall enact laws to empower Municipal Councils so they can approve and issue statutory laws, regulations and administrative rulings within their respective jurisdictions. The Municipal Councils shall have the powers to organize the municipal public administration and to regulate public procedures, functions, affairs and services and to encourage citizen participation.
The purpose of such laws shall be to define:
State legislatures shall establish the procedures to be followed in order to resolve conflicts that may arise between the municipal councils and the state government, or between two or more municipal councils, caused by the acts mentioned in the previous paragraphs “c” and “d”.
The Municipal Councils, prior agreement of their councils, can coordinate their activities and collaborate to improve public services and their functions. For this purpose, the approval of the state legislature is necessary. When two or more Municipal Councils belonging to different states want to collaborate, the approval of their respective state legislature is necessary. Likewise, a Municipal Council and the respective state can make and execute agreements to authorize the state to temporarily take charge of one or some public services, directly or through the appropriate body, or when the municipality and the state agree to provide public services in a coordinated manner.
Indigenous communities belonging to the same municipality can also coordinate their activities and collaborate according to the law and for the purposes indicated thereof.
City Councils can make and execute agreements with the state to authorize the state government to take charge of some functions regarding to management of local taxes.
Federal laws shall not restrict the power of the state legislatures to fix the taxes and prices of the public services mentioned in the previous paragraphs “a” and “c”. Federal laws shall not grant tax exemptions thereof. State laws shall not grant tax exemptions or allowances to the benefit of any person or institution. Only the properties belonging to the federal, state and municipal governments shall be exempt from taxes, provided that they are not used by semipublic or private entities for purposes different to those defined as public purpose.
Municipal Councils shall submit to the state legislature their proposal for tolls, charges, rates, taxes and the table of property value, which serve as basis to fix the property tax.
State legislatures shall approve the revenue law for the Municipal Councils, and shall review their public accounts. The Municipal Council, based on the available revenue, shall approve the expense budget and it shall include detail information about the salaries of the municipal public servants, according to that established in the Article 127 of this Constitution.
The resources constituting the municipal treasury shall be applied directly by the Municipal Council or by whomever it authorizes, according to the law.
The Municipal Councils shall have power to issue administrative regulations and provisions necessary for the performance of their duties, where applicable and according to the purposes established in the third paragraph of the Article 27 of this Constitution.
The President of the Republic shall have command of public force in the place where he resides regularly or temporarily.
Labor relations between the Municipal Council and its employees shall be guided by the applicable state laws in accordance with the Article 123 of this Constitution and its statutory provisions.
Public power of a state shall be divided into three branches: executive, legislative and judicial. Two or more of these powers cannot be united in one single person or corporation, nor shall the legislative branch be vested in one single person.
Public powers of a state shall be subjected to the state constitution, according to the following provisions:
Governors and state representatives for the Local Congress shall be elected by direct vote in accordance with the provisions established in the applicable electoral law.
State Governors elected by popular vote, in ordinary or extraordinary elections, cannot have another term in office by any motive, not even as interim, provisional or substitute.
The following public servants may never be elected for the immediate subsequent term:
To become State Governor, a person shall: a) be a Mexican citizen by birth, b) be a native of the respective state or live in such state for no less than five years immediately before the day of the election, and c) be at least 30 years old the day of the election. The state constitution can establish a younger age for the governor.
The state constitutions shall establish the consecutive election for representatives of the Local Congress up to four consecutive periods. For this matter, the candidate shall only be nominated by the same party or any coalition party that nominated him/her for the first term in office; unless, he/she had resigned or lost its membership before the first half of their tenure.
The local Congress shall be formed with elected deputies according to the principles of relative majority and proportional representation in the terms established by law. In no case a political party may have a number of deputies, by both relative majority and proportional representation principles, that exceeds, in percentage of the total legislature, by eight points its percentage of votes obtained in the election. This principle shall not be applied to the political party that by its triumphs in uninominal districts gets a percentage of representatives from the total legislature larger than the addition of its percentage of votes obtained in the election plus eight percentage points. Likewise, the minimum percentage of representation of a political party shall not be less than the percentage of voted obtained in the election minus eight percentage points.
The state legislature shall approve the corresponding annual expense budget. Salaries for the public servants shall observe the provisions established in the Article 127 of this Constitution.
The state legislative, executive and judicial branches, as well as the autonomous entities recognized by the state constitution, shall include in their proposal for expenses budget the detailed information about salaries for their employees. These proposals shall follow the procedures provided by the state constitution and the applicable state laws.
State legislatures shall have a Local Auditing Office, which shall be granted with technical and managerial autonomy, as well as autonomy to decide about its internal organization, functioning and rulings according to the law. The auditing function shall be exercised according to the principles of legality, impartiality and reliability. This office shall audit the State and Municipal management of funds, local resources and public debt. The reports of the Local Auditing Office shall be public.
The head of the Local Auditing Office shall be appointed by the two-thirds of the members present in the House of Representatives of the state. The head of the Local Auditing Office will remain in office for a period of no less than seven years. The elected official will be required to have five years experience in matters of control, financial auditing and liabilities.
The public account of the previous years shall be sent to the State Legislature before April 30th of the current year. This time limit may only be postponed upon a justified request issued by the Governor and after consideration of the Legislature.
The State Legislature will regulate the terms for the citizens to submit legislative bills before the respective Congress.
The magistrates and judges shall be granted with independence in the performance of their duties by the state constitutions and the local organic laws of the respective state. These laws shall establish the requirements for admission, training and continuity of those employees of the state judicial branch.
Local magistrates shall meet the requirements established in sections I to V of the Article 95 of this Constitution. Persons that during the previous year to the day of the appointment have held the office of Secretary or equivalent, local Attorney General or local representative of the Congress may not be magistrate.
Magistrates and judges appointed shall preferably be persons who have served efficiently and honestly in the judiciary, or who deserve the position because of their honorability, abilities and previous performance in the legal career.
Magistrates shall hold the office during the period of time specified in the local constitution, they may be reelected and they also may be removed from office only according to the state constitution and to the States’ Public Service Accountability Act.
Magistrates and judges shall receive an adequate remuneration, which is non-negotiable and may not be reduced during their term in office.
The local political party that does not obtain, at least, the three percent of the total effective votes casted in any of the elections for the renewal of the Executive Power or the local Congress will lose its registry. These norms shall not apply to the national political parties that participate in local elections.
The investigation and substantiation and punishment of the administrative responsibilities of the members of the local judicial branch shall be according to the provisions of the respective local constitution, without diminishing the responsibilities of the Auditing Office about the management, safe-keeping and use of public resources.
State government and Municipalities can execute such agreements to provide public services or perform functions mentioned in the previous paragraph.
In no case shall the states:
States and Municipal Councils may only make and execute bonds or loan agreements when such resources are to be allocated in the investment of productive public projects or to refinance them, these agreements must follow the best market conditions. The same applies to decentralized organs, public companies, public trusts or in the case of the States when they endorse Municipal debt. State Legislatures shall establish the basis on the corresponding law to follow this precept and to establish the concepts and amounts for these agreements. The executive power shall report these debt agreements in their annual accountability report. Never shall the governments pursue these debt agreements to cover regular expenditures.
State Legislatures, by a two third vote of the present members of the Congress shall authorize maximum amounts to agree on bonds and loan contracts given the best market conditions and with a previous analysis of its use, its payment capabilities, and in some cases to establish the source of payment or a payment guarantee.
Regardless the previous statement, States and Municipal Councils shall agree on liabilities to cover their short term needs but it may not surpass the maximum amounts or the conditions established by the general law issued by the National Congress. The short-term liabilities shall be fully paid no further than three months prior the end of the corresponding government period and no new liabilities shall be agreed within those last three months.
The Congress of the Union and the state legislatures shall enact laws to fight alcoholism.
Without the Congress of the Union’s consent, the states cannot:
The Powers of the Union have the duty to protect the states against foreign invasion or violence. In the event of uprising or internal social unrest, the Powers of the Union must protect the state, as long as they are called by the state legislature, or by the governor if legislature is not in session.
Each State and the Federal District are obliged to deliver, without delay, those suspected, processed or convicted persons required by another state, as well as to carry out confiscation and delivery of objects and instruments used in perpetration of the crime and the benefits thereof. These obligations will be complied through the respective organs of justice procurement, observing the conditions established in the collaboration agreements made by the states. For this purpose, the local authorities can make and execute collaboration agreements with the Federal Attorney General’s Office.
Calls for extradition, made by a foreign State, shall be processed by the President of the Republic, with the intervention of the judicial authority in accord with the provisions stated in this Constitution, in the applicable international treaties and in the statutory laws. In those cases, the writ of the judge, ordering to comply with the call for extradition, shall be enough to cause the person requested to be detained for up to 60 calendar days.
Governors are obliged to publish and uphold federal laws.
Each state of the Federation shall give full faith and credit to the public acts, registrations and judicial proceedings made by the other states. The Congress of the Union, through general laws, shall establish the way for proving such acts, registrations and judicial proceedings and their effect, in accord with the following bases:
Sentences about personal rights may only be enforced in other state when the person judged has, expressly or by reason of residence, submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the courts that pronounced such sentences, provided that the person has been summoned to appear in the trial.
The legal nature of the Federal District has been defined in the Article 44 of this Constitution. The Federal District Government is entrusted to the Powers of the Union together with the local executive, legislative and judicial branches, observing the provisions established in this article.
The local authorities of the Federal District are: the Assembly of Representatives, the Head of the Federal District Government and the Superior Court of Justice.
The Federal District’s Assembly of Representatives shall consist of a number of representatives elected according to the principle of relative majority and the principle of proportional representation, following the procedure of lists for a multi-member circumscription, according to the provisions established by this Constitution and the Federal District Charter.
The Head of the Federal District Government shall exercise the executive power and shall be responsible for the public administration of the entity. The Head of the Federal District Government shall be vested in one single person, elected through universal, free, direct and secret suffrage.
The Superior Court of Justice and the Judicial Council of the Federal District, together with the other bodies established by the Federal District Charter, shall perform the judicial functions related to common law in the Federal District.
The distribution of areas of jurisdiction among the Powers of the Union and the local authorities of the Federal District shall be subject to the following provisions:
All the legislative, executive and judicial organs of the Federal District, as well as the autonomous bodies established by the Federal District Charter, shall include the detailed salaries of their employees in their proposals of expenditure budgets. The Federal District Charter and the applicable laws shall establish the procedure to approve the expenditure budget of the Federal District.
The revenue law for the Federal District cannot include indebtedness higher than those previously approved by the Congress of the Union for the financing of the Federal District expenditure budget.
The Head of the Federal District Government can exclusively submit the revenue law and the expenditure budget. The term to submit them ends on November 30, except for the years when the election of the Head of the Federal District Government takes place, in which case deadline shall be December 20.
The Assembly of Representatives shall submit annually its proposal for the budget to the Head of the Federal District Government in order to include it in the general proposal.
The provisions included in the Article 115, section IV, point “c”, second paragraph, of this Constitution shall be applicable to the treasury of the Federal District in all matters consistent with its nature and organic system of government.
Public account of the previous year shall be submitted to the Assembly of Representatives no further than April 30. This term may be extended only when the Head of the Federal District Government justifies it sufficiently to the Assembly. The same shall apply for the extensions for submitting the revenue law and the expenditure budget.
The Federal District’s Auditing Office Reports shall be public.
The Head of the Auditing Office of the Federal District shall be elected by the two-thirds of the members present in the Assembly of Representatives, shall remain in office for at least seven years period and shall have five years experience in matters of control, financial auditing and liabilities.
In order to be eligible for the office of the Head of the Federal District Government, the individual shall meet the requirements established by the Federal District Charter, including: a) to be a Mexican citizen by birth with legal capacity to exercise his rights; b) to have lived in the Federal District for the three years previous to the date of the election, if he was born in the Federal District; c) to have lived in the Federal District for the five years previous to the date of the election, in a continuous manner, if he was born in another entity; d) to be at least 30 years old on the election day; e) not to have been Head of the Federal District Government previously under any circumstance. Being appointed to fulfill federal public duties in another state does not interrupt the residence.
In the event of dismissal of the Head of the Federal District Government, the Senate shall appoint a substitute to finish the mandate. The President of the Republic must propose such substitute. In the event of a temporary absence of the Head of the Federal District Government, the office shall be entrusted to the public servant indicated in the Federal District Charter. In case of absolute absence, because of resignation or any other cause, the Assembly of Representatives shall appoint a substitute that finishes the term. Resignation of the Head of the Federal District Government shall be accepted only due to serious causes. The Federal District Charter shall regulate the leaves for this office.
It shall also specify the criteria to carry out the territorial division of the Federal District; the responsibilities of each one of the political-administrative agencies; how to create them and detail their functioning; and, establish the relationships between such political-administrative agencies and the Head of the Federal District Government.
The directors of the political-administrative agencies shall be elected through a universal, free, secret and direct manner, according to the law.
In the event of vacancies, the Head of the Federal District Government shall submit his proposal to the Assembly of Representatives for approval. Magistrates shall hold the office for a term of six years. They may be ratified by the Assembly of Representatives, if so, they may be removed from office only in the cases established in the Title Four of this Constitution.
The Federal District Judicial Council shall appoint the judges for the Federal District, according to the provisions regulating the judicial career. The Judicial Council shall also define the quantity of courts and courtrooms belonging to the Supreme Court that shall build up the Judicial Branch of the Federal District, as well as their specialization.
Regardless the powers of the Auditing Offices about the management, safe-keeping and use of public resources, whenever the members of the Superior Justice Court are under process of investigation or sanction for administrative responsibilities, the precepts established in the fraction II, Fourth Base of this article shall be observed.
The commissions will be created by mutual agreement of the participants. The document of creation shall determine the procedure for integration, structure and functions.
Through the commissions, it shall be established:
Every person has the right to have a decent and socially useful job. Therefore, job creation and social organization of work shall be encouraged according to the law.
The Congress of the Union, without contravening the following basic principles, shall formulate labor laws, which shall apply as following:
The general minimum wage must be sufficient to satisfy the normal material, social, and cultural needs of a family, and to provide the compulsory education of children. The professional minimum wage shall be fixed by taking into account the conditions of the different industrial and commercial activities.
A national commission composed by representatives of the workers, employers, and the Government shall fix minimum wages. This national commission may be assisted by special advisory committees if it considers them necessary for a better performance of its duties.
The law shall create a body composed of representatives of the Federal Government, of the workers and of the employers to manage the resources of the national housing fund. The law shall establish the procedures to be followed by the workers in order to get a loan to acquire a house.
The companies located outside the villages are obliged to establish schools, medical services and other services necessary in the community.
In addition, in these work centers, when the population of the community exceeds 200 inhabitants, a tract of land of not less than five thousand square meters must be set aside to used them as public markets, municipal services and recreation centers.
Establishments selling intoxicating liquors and casinos are prohibited in all work centers.
When providing employment services, labor demand must be taken into account. In equal conditions, the persons who are the only income source for their family shall have preference.
The following topics shall be the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal authorities: a) labor disputes that affect two or more states; b) collective work contracts that have been declared obligatory in more than one state; c) employer’s obligations related to educational matters, according to the respective law; d) employer’s liabilities regarding training for workers, and safety and hygiene at work centers. State authorities shall assist federal authorities in matters under local jurisdiction, in accord with the applicable statutory law.
In no case, the wages of the public servants may be lower than the minimum wage established for the Federal District and the states.
In the event of unjustifiable dismissal, employees have the right to choose between reinstatement and the appropriate indemnity through the appropriate legal proceedings. In case of positions axing, the affected workers shall have the right to get another position equivalent to the position that has been eliminated or to get compensation.
Contributions made to the national housing fund shall be notified to the Social Security Institute. The law of such Institute, as well as the other applicable laws, shall regulate the administration of the national housing fund and shall establish procedures to grant loans to workers.
Disputes between the federal judicial branch and its employees shall be settled by the Federal Judicial Council. Disputes arising between the Supreme Court of Justice and its employees shall be resolved by the Supreme Court of Justice.
Public prosecutors, legal experts and members of the police forces belonging to the Federation, the Federal District, the states and the municipal councils, can be dismissed if they do not meet the requirements established by law or due to liabilities as a result of their functions. If the jurisdictional authority determines that dismissal or any other form of termination is not justified, the State shall be obliged only to pay to the employee the compensation and other benefits established by law, but this shall not mean to bring the employee back to service, regardless the ruling pronounced in the trial.
The federal, state and municipal authorities, as well as the Federal District Government, shall implement complementary social security systems to strengthen social security for the employees of the Public Prosecution System, of the police forces and of the legal services, as well as for their families.
The State shall provide active members of the Army, Air Force and Navy with the benefits mentioned in the paragraph “f” of section XI of this part, through the body created for this purpose in such institutions.
The powers not expressly granted by this Constitution to federal officials, shall be understood to be reserved to the States.
No person may hold two federal elective offices at the same time, nor one federal and one state elective office; but an elected candidate may choose which of the two he desires to hold.
No payment may be made if it is not included in the budget or provided for by a subsequent law.
Employees of the Federal Government, the State governments, the Federal District Government and the Municipal Councils, as well as the employees of any governmental agency, semipublic companies, public trusts, autonomous bodies, and of any other public entity, shall receive an adequate remuneration for their work or commission and it shall be proportional to their responsibilities.
This remuneration shall be non-negotiable and shall be fixed annually in the expenditure budgets of each organ in accord with the following bases:
Every public official, without exception, before taking office, shall swear allegiance to the Constitution and to the laws emanating thereof.
No military authority may, during peacetime, perform any functions other than those directly related to military affairs. There shall be fixed and permanent military command headquarters only in the castles, forts and warehouses immediately subordinated to the Federal Government, or in the camps, barracks or dumps established for the troops outside towns.
The historic principle of separation between the State and religion shall guide the provisions established in this article. Churches and any other religious groups shall observe the law.
Only the Congress of the Union can legislate on matters of public worship, churches and religious groups. The respective public statutory law shall develop and detail the following provisions:
The formation of any kind of political group with a name containing any word or other symbol related to any religion is strictly prohibited. No meeting of a political character may be held in churches or temples.
The simple promise of truthfulness and fulfillment, subjects the person to the penalties established by law in the event of failing to fulfill them.
Church ministers, their ascendancy, children, siblings and spouses, as well as their religious associations, cannot inherit by will from their followers, who do not have a family relationship of up to fourth grade.
Acts of marital status pertain only to the administrative authorities under the terms established by law. The law shall define the effect and validity for the marital status acts.
The law shall confer powers and duties on civil matters to the federal, state and municipal authorities.
Only the Federal Government can tax imports and exports, and merchandises that pass in transit through the national territory, as well as to regulate at all times, and even to prohibit, for security reasons, the circulation of merchandises across the country, regardless of their origin. However, the Federal Government cannot establish or enact, in the Federal District, those taxes and laws mentioned in sections VI and VII of the Article 117.
The President of the Republic can be empowered by the Congress of the Union to: increase, decrease, or abolish tariff rates on imports and exports, that were imposed by the Congress; to establish new tariff rates; to restrict and to prohibit the importation, exportation or transit of products, articles and goods in order to regulate foreign trade, the economy of the country, the stability of domestic production, or for accomplishing any other purpose to the benefit of the country. The President of the Republic shall send to the Congress, together with the annual budget, a report about the way he has exercised this power.
The forts, barracks, warehouses and other buildings used by the Federal Government to provide public services or for public use, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the federal powers in accordance with the law enacted by the Congress of the Union. However, if the Federal Government acquires properties in the future within the territory of any state, in order to put such property under federal jurisdiction, the consent of the respective legislature shall be necessary.
This Constitution, the laws derived from and enacted by the Congress of the Union, and all the treaties made and execute by the President of the Republic, with the approval of the Senate, shall be the supreme law of the country. The judges of each state shall observe the Constitution, the laws derived from it and the treaties, despite any contradictory provision that may appear in the constitutions or laws of the states.
Economic resources available for the federal, state and municipal governments, for the Federal District, and for the political-administrative bodies belonging to it, shall be managed with efficiency, effectiveness, best use of resources, transparency and honesty in order to achieve the objectives for which they are intended.
The results of the use of such resources shall be assessed by the technical agencies created by the federal, states and the Federal District Governments in order to guarantee that such resources are distributed in the appropriate budgets observing the principles stated in the previous paragraph, without prejudice to that established in the article 74, section VI, and article 79.
All contracts made by the authorities and entities mentioned before on acquisitions, renting, transfers, provision of services and works shall be awarded by open tenders, where bidders submit their sealed bids. These sealed bids will be opened in public for scrutiny and to guarantee that the State get the best market conditions available in regard to price, quality, financing, opportunity and other appropriate conditions.
When tender is not appropriate to guarantee the conditions mentioned in the previous paragraph, the law shall establish the bases, procedures, regulations, requirements and other conditions necessary to prove the good price, effectiveness, efficiency, impartiality and honesty of the process for the benefit of the State.
Management of federal economic resources by state governments, municipal governments, the Federal District Government and its political-administrative bodies shall be carried out observing the basis established in this article and the applicable statutory laws. Revision of the use of such resources shall be made by the technical state agencies mentioned in the second paragraph of this article.
Public servants shall be accountable for any violation committed against the provisions established in this article, according to the terms stated in the Title Four of this Constitution.
The public servants working in the federal, state and local governments, as well as the Federal District public servants are always obliged to impartially invest the public resources under their management and not to affect the equity of the competition between political parties.
Propaganda disseminated through any media by the government, the autonomous bodies, the government agencies or any other entity belonging to any of the three levels of government, shall be institutional and shall bring information, education or guiding. Such propaganda cannot include names, images, voices or symbols that imply the personal promotion of a public servant.
The laws shall, within their field, guarantee enforcement of the two previous paragraphs and shall define penalties to be applied to offenders.
This Constitution may be subject to amendments. The vote of two-thirds of the present members of the Congress of the Union is required to make amendments or additions to the Constitution. Once the Congress agrees on the amendments or additions, these must be approved by the majority of state legislatures.
The Congress of the Union or the Permanent Committee, as appropriate, shall count the votes of the legislatures and shall announce those additions or amendments that have been approved.
This Constitution shall not lose force and effect, even if its observance is interrupted by a rebellion. In the event that a government, whose principles are contrary to those that are sanctioned herein, is established through any public disturbance, as soon as the people recover their liberty, its observance shall be reestablished, and those who have taken part in the government emanating from the rebellion, as well as those who have cooperated with such persons, shall be judged in accordance with this Constitution and the laws derived from it.
This Constitution shall be published at once and, with the greatest solemnity, an oath of allegiance to the Constitution must be taken in order to uphold it throughout the Republic; except for the provisions relating to the election of the supreme federal and state powers, which shall enter into force at once. This Constitution will come into force the first day of May 1917. In such date, the Constitutional Congress shall be formally installed, and the citizen elected as the President of the Republic in the next elections shall swear an oath to exercise the office.
In the elections that must be called in accordance with the following article, section V of the Article 82 shall not apply, and to be in active service in the Army shall not be an impediment to become a representative or senator, provided that such service is not command of forces in the electoral district in question. In the same way, Secretaries and under-Secretaries can be elected for the next Congress of the Union, provided that they definitely resign their position on the day that the respective call is issued.
As soon as this Constitution is published, the President of the Republic shall call for elections for the federal powers, endeavoring to do this in such a way that the Congress shall be organized promptly, since it must declare the winner of the elections for the Presidency, after the count of the votes casted, so that the provisions of the preceding article could be complied.
The next constitutional term for representatives and senators shall begin to run on September first of last year, and for the President of the Republic from December 1, 1916.
Senators bearing even numbers at the next election shall hold office for two years only, in order to change the half of the Senate every two years.
The Congress of the Union shall elect the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation next May in order to have the Court installed by June first.
At this election, the Article 96 shall not govern with respect to the proposals of candidates by the local legislatures. However, the elected candidates shall hold office only for the first two-year term established in the Article 94.
The Congress of the Union shall have an extraordinary period of session, which will begin on April 15, 1917. In such period, the Congress shall become an electoral college to count the votes, approve the election for the President of the Republic and declare the winner. In this same extraordinary period of sessions, the Congress shall enact the Organic Law for the circuit and district courts and the Organic Law for the Federal District courts, so that the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation may immediately appoint the circuit magistrates and district judges. In addition, the Congress of the Union shall appoint the judges of first instance for the Federal District and shall enact all laws requested by the President of the Republic. The circuit magistrates, the district judges and the magistrates and judges of the Federal District must assume office before July 1, 1917, at which time those persons who had been appointed by the current President of the Republic shall resign.
This time only, a counting board must be created for each electoral district. The counting board of the first electoral district in each states and the Federal District shall count the votes for Senators, and these boards shall issue the majority certificate to the senators elected.
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation shall settle the pending Amparo trials, observing the current laws.
The President of the Republic is empowered to enact the Electoral Law, under which, this time the elections shall be held to create the Powers of the Union.
Persons who have taken part in the government formed by the rebellion against the legitimate Government of the Republic, or those who cooperated with it, afterwards combating with arms or holding office or employment with the factions that attacked the Constitutional Government, shall be tried under laws in force, unless they have been pardoned by the Constitutional Government.
Until the Congress of the Union and the state legislatures enact laws governing the agrarian and labor affairs, the bases established in this Constitution for such affairs shall take effect throughout the country.
Mexicans who have fought in the Constitutional Army, and their children and widows, as well as other persons who rendered services to the Revolution or to public education, shall have priority to acquire land according to the Article 27 and shall have the right to discounts specified by law.
All debts contracted by workers, by reason of their labor, until the date of this Constitution, with employers, their families, or intermediaries are hereby extinguished in full.
The Secretariat of Justice is hereby abolished.
Hereby, the President of the Republic is empowered to issue the tort law applicable to the offenders, accomplices and accessories to the crimes perpetrated against the constitutional order during the month of February 1913 and against the Constitutional Government.
The Constitutional Congress, in the next ordinary period of sessions starting on September 1 this year, shall enact all organic laws of this Constitution that have not already been enacted in the extraordinary period of sessions mentioned in the sixth transitory article. The Congress shall give priority to laws related to fundamental rights and to the Articles 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 107 and the last part of the Article 111 of this Constitution.
Churches, temples and other properties belonging to the Federal Government, based on the provisions established in the section II of the Article 27 of this Constitution, which is reformed through this decree, shall maintain their current legal status.