Extended work suspension of law enforcement bodies.

Today, the Plenary of the Federal Judiciary Council (Consejo de la Judicatura Federal) approved the General Agreement 6/2020, which amends and adds the similar 4/2020, relating to contingency measures in the jurisdictional bodies for the public health occurrence derived from COVID-19.

The following measures were taken pursuant to the Agreement:

a) Labours in the jurisdictional bodies of the Federal Judiciary (Poder Judicial de la Federación) are fully suspended from March 18 to May 5, 2020, with some exceptions.

An exception has been agreed for courts on call, exclusively for urgent matters, according to the timetables that can be consulted in the following links: (i) the District Courts on duty from March 18 to April 19, 2020; and (ii) the District Courts on duty from April 20 to May 6, 2020 at 8:29 a.m. and the courts that must follow up on urgent determinations, in order to provide complete justice.

For the purposes of the above, all the Unitary Courts (Tribunales Unitarios) that are on duty within the time limits indicated in the above-mentioned links have been authorized to hear the cases derived from the Federal Criminal Justice Centers (Centros de Justicia Penal Federal) that correspond to them by residence.

Urgent matters should be understood as those included in articles 15 of the Amparo Law (Ley de Amparo) and 48 of the General Agreement of the Plenary of the Federal Judiciary Council, which sets forth the provisions on the administrative activity of the courts. The cases to be considered as part of section XII will be based on an analysis of the human rights at stake, the significance of their possible transgression and the consequences that waiting for the conclusion of the contingency period could bring, the extension and ramifications of which differ from those of a simple recess.

The following are examples of some of the issues that are considered to be urgent: (i) criminal proceedings with a detainee; (ii) criminal proceedings without a detainee for crimes classified as serious; (iii) applications for amparo against acts involving the risk of deprivation of life, attacks on personal freedom outside of judicial proceedings, deportation or expulsion, banishment, extradition, forced disappearance of persons, ill-treatment, psychological torture, segregation and other acts prohibited by article 22 of the Constitution and those presented for lack of specialized medical care of persons deprived of their liberty in a detention center; and (iv) no strike declaration.

b) Working hours at the above-mentioned bodies shall be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., without prejudice to the possibility of urgent matters arising outside the established hours.

c) For the purposes of appeals arising from amparo proceedings that are considered urgent, especially the complaint mentioned in Article 97, section I, paragraph (b), of the Amparo Law and those which, because of the contingency, require the same urgent attention at the discretion of the judge himself or herself and the president of the reviewing body, the Collegiate Circuit Courts (Tribunales Colegiados de Circuito) determined by the Plenary of the Federal Judiciary Council and specified in the links above will be authorized.

Furthermore, the General Plenary of the Superior Chamber of the Federal Court of Administrative Justice agreed to suspend the jurisdictional activities of the Federal Court of Administrative Justice from April 20 to May 5, 2020, therefore, the days included in said term will be considered as non-working days, and agreed to implement temporary guards to attend and resolve requests in urgent cases that do not admit delay, for precautionary measures or suspension of the contested act, which are presented during the suspension term of jurisdictional activities.

In their turn, the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice, has also agreed to suspend jurisdictional activities from April 20 to May 5, however, remote sessions will be held by the plenary and the chambers and the guard will be maintained to receive constitutional controversies in which the suspension is requested.

Finally, please keep in mind that the General Plenary of the Superior Chamber of the Administrative Justice Court of Mexico City, also approved today the Agreement setting forth as non-working days from April 20 to May 05, 2020.

Please note that the aforementioned agreements, to be considered as mandatory, shall be published in the Federal Official Gazette or in the Official Gazette of Mexico City, as applicable.

If you have any questions or require advice in relation to the above, please do not hesitate to contact any of our partners or associates.

Sincerely,

Cannizzo, Ortiz y Asociados, S.C.