Today, March 11, 2022, the Mexican Federal Gazette published a decree to include into the Credit Institutions Law (“CIL”), a hearing procedure for persons included in the Blocked Persons List (“BPL”). With this reform, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit will be able to add a person to the BPL when there are sufficient indications that they are related to the crimes of financing terrorism, operations with resources of illicit origin or associated with related cirmes, and consequently, in accordance with article 115 of the CIL, the credit institutions must suspend act, operations or services with clients or users.

The hearing procedure is as follows:

1.- The interested person must submit a request for a hearing before the Financial Intelligence Unit (“UIF”) within the following 5 business days as from the date of notification of their inclusion in the BPL (The UIF, ex officio or at the request of by request, may extend this term for a single occasion, up to the same period)

2.- The interested person will be granted a hearing to present in writing or verbally arguments on their benefit, offer evidence and formulate closing statements, within a period of 10 business days, counted as from the day after the credit institution notified them of their inclusion in the BPL.

3.- Within the following 15 business days, counted from the time the file completed, the UIF will issue the administrative resolution with grounds regarding the inclusion of the interested person in the BPL and whether it is appropriate to eliminate them from the BPL. Such resolution must be notified within the following 10 business days of its issuance and may be challenged in terms of the Federal Law of Administrative.

Procedure.

This decree enters into force the day after its publication.