Mexico: New Interpretation of Anti-Laundering Law Provision Regarding Outsourcing

On October 21, 2016, Mexico's Ministry of Finance and Public Credit¹ (“SHCP” for its acronym in Spanish) published its interpretation of a provision under the Anti-Laundering Law² that adds outsourcing to the list of activities that must be disclosed and reported to the government.

Specifically, section XI, subsection b) of Article 17 of the Anti-Laundering Law establishes that providing independent administration and financial management services to a client outside of an employment relationship shall be considered an activity that must be disclosed.  In the recently published interpretation, the SHCP specified that contractors under Article 15-A of the Federal Labor Law are covered under the Anti-Laundering Law’s provision and are, therefore, subject to these disclosure obligations.

The concern is that a company’s voluntary compliance with the obligations contained in the Anti-Laundering Law could be deemed an acknowledgement of outsourcing, which might not be the case for the company. Whether a company is engaging in outsourcing of services requires a fact-specific analysis and legal determination. A company’s inadvertent acknowledgement of engaging in outsourcing could be used as evidence against the company in subsequent litigation. 

It is recommended that, before filing any disclosures pursuant to this Anti-Laundering Law requirement, companies verify whether their existing relationship with a contractor would, in fact, be deemed as engaging in outsourcing activities, as defined under the Federal Labor Law.