After obtaining more than a hundred indefinite suspensions issued by the two specialized competition judges, the private ones begin to see their defense fall and the reform of the law could obtain the green light to enter into force in the coming months. In recent weeks, the collegiate courts in administrative matters specialized in economic competition, broadcasting and telecommunications have ruled as inadmissible some of the suspensions granted by judges Rodrigo de la Peza and Juan Pablo Gómez Fierro in recent months and that kept the reform stopped, after the federal executive and the Ministry of Energy presented appeals for review.
Both bodies of justice determined that the reform did not cause any affectation per se to the companies in the sector, since the modifications included in it had not been implemented and the federal government had not started specific acts to begin their application.
The courts must dictate as inadmissible each of the suspensions obtained by private parties days after the publication of the reform in the Official Gazette of the Federation and order its revocation. For now, they have thrown back just a dozen protections promoted by private initiative. But to achieve the implementation of the reform, devised by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the courts will have to do the same with each of the appeals filed by the companies.
“When is the reform going to take effect? When the collegiate (court) decides to revoke until the last suspension ”, explains Bernardo Cortés, a lawyer in the sector. “What has to happen with the amparo that they admitted and in which they did suspend is that they issue a judgment on the merits where the amparo is dismissed, and the merits issue has already been analyzed, which is the same as a dismissal.”
Companies have also begun to see their defense fall in specialized competition courts. Juan Pablo Gómez Fierro, one of the two judges who admitted the first lawsuits of the companies, has decided to change the criteria of his decisions -after the court ruling- and in recent days he has ordered the dismissal of the rest of the injunctions promoted by the private and that were not yet admitted for processing.
Just yesterday, Monday, according to the lists of the Federal Judicial Council, the judge – who was accused by the president of defending interest groups – ordered the dismissal of more than 100 injunctions promoted by private initiative. His peer, Rodrigo de la Peza, has not yet chosen the same criteria.
The reform of the Hydrocarbons Law is so far the most aggressive attempt by the federal executive to modify the dynamics of the fuel market, although in recent months the federal government has suspended a series of gasoline import permits and the Energy Regulatory Commission has paused the issuance of new authorizations in the sector.
The reform includes a series of guidelines that have concerned the private sector, such as giving the power to the state-owned Pemex to occupy the facilities of private companies whose permits have been suspended or the cancellation of permits if they represent an “imminent danger” to national security. , energy security or the national economy.