Recent Jurisprudence – Adverse Possession. Setting Aside the Legal Precedent, by Adrián Salgado.Recently, the First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation issued jurisprudence by contradiction of legal opinion number 1a./J. 82/2014 (10a.) titled: “Adverse Possession. Even though applicable law may not require equitable title or the act transferring ownership to have an exact date, the certainty of the date of the legal act must be duly proven as an element of establishing equitable title (setting aside legal opinion 1a./J. 9/2008).” In such legal opinion, the Chamber deviates from the previously established criteria in the sense that “for the applicability of good faith adverse possession, the private document that shows the cause that generated possession must have an exact date resulting from the fact that: a) it was recorded in the Public Registry of Property; b) it was filed before an authority given his official capacity; or c) one of the signatories died.” This, considering that both the certainty of the date and the execution of the legal act transferring ownership may be proven through various means of evidence that must be evaluated by the trier of fact. In addition, meeting one of the three requirements above is not an ideal form of proving “equitable title”. Meanwhile, the Chamber has determined that the applicability of adverse possession to a holder in good faith should be based on the determination by the trier of fact with respect to the authenticity of title and the date on which possession began by the holder, considering the different means of proof offered by the person asserting adverse possession who has the burden of proof.Combating disloyal business practices to support the National Textile-Manufacturing Industry, by Iker Dieguez On December 3rd, 2014, the Department of Treasury and Public Credit (“SHCP” by its Spanish acronym) announced a new strategy to combat disloyal business practices and to support the growth and improvement in productivity of the Mexican Textile-Manufacturing Industry. The strategy announced covers the following measures.-- Creation of the Textile Manufacturing Sectorial Registration as a requirement to import;-- Establishing the automatic notice as a requirement before importation;-- Major supervision on disloyal business practices in the sector;-- Splitting up of customs duty fractions in Textile-Manufacturing to 10 digits;-- Suspension of decreasing customs duty for 80 customs duty fractions of Textile-Manufacturing until 2018; and-- Establishing a system of estimated prices on imports to avoid undervaluation.Even when the announcement establishes the implementation of such measures before January 1, 2015, during December 2014 only the guidelines to establish the Textile Manufacturing Importers Sectorial Registration and for the system of estimated rates were officially published, therefore, the necessary guidelines to implement the rest of the announced measures shall be published.The Textile-Manufacturing Importers Registration was established through the “FIFTH Resolution of Amendments to the Rules of General Character in regards to Exterior Commerce for 2014 and its annexes 1 and 4” published in the Federal Official Gazette on December 26, 2014, which became in effect as from January 1st, 2015, except for the new suspension grounds of the Specific Sectors and Importers Register, which will become effective February 1st, 2015. In conformity with such amendments, those interested in the importation in a temporal or permanent form of textile products or clothing, shall apply for and obtain the new registration during the month of January, because as of February 1st the registration will be mandatory to import. The application is presented in an electronic form through the Tax Administration Service portal (SAT by its acronym in Spanish). The authority counts on 15 business days to make a resolution. The requirements for the application can be found on the “Instructions to apply for Importers Registration and/or Register of Importers of Specific Sectors, in accordance with rule 1.3.2.The system to estimate rates for the Textile-Manufacturing sector is established through the “Resolution that modifies and publishes Annex 4 of the diverse that establishes a mechanism that guarantees the payment of contributions of goods subject to the rates estimated by the Department of Treasury and Public Credit”, published in the Federal Official Gazette, on the 29th of December, 2014, which will be effective as of February 2nd, 2015. The establishments of reference prices is to combat and avoid undervaluation practices of goods at the moment of importation, in a manner that guarantees the payment of taxes on permanent imports, based on the estimated rate set by SHCP for calculation purposes and the whole taxes on imports, without having one case being inferior to another. Through the referenced decree the estimated rates that will be applicable to specified customs duty fractions, which is classified under merchandise of the textile and manufacturing sector, are published.However it is worth mentioning that the Department of Economy has joined the strategy announced by the SHCP, having also been published in the Federal Official Gazette on December 26th, 2014 the “Decree by which the measures for productivity, competitiveness, and combat of undervaluation practices of the textile and manufacturing sector are established”, which not only pins down the economic politics, it also instructs the SHCP to implement actions to combat and avoid the practice of undervaluation on the importation of goods.
