- CRE’s Administrative Units will once again authorize certain application for permit updates without the intervention of the Governing Body.
- The Governing Body of the CRE maintains the authority to authorize certain important updates (changes in corporate control, adding or removing refined products to be stored, transported, distributed or sold, adding or removing commercial brands (retail and transport), among others.
- If approved, Order A/019/2021 published last year will be repealed completely.
Today Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission (“CRE”) submitted to a public consultation process a draft of the Order whereby the Energy Regulatory Commission establishes the events that constitute a permit update (the “Preliminary Draft”). In this link link you will find the full regulatory impact file of the Proposed Regulation.
Background:On 25 June 2021, the CRE published the Order No. A/019/2021 in the Federal Register (“DOF”), which established that all applications to update permits granted by the CRE shall be authorized by the Governing Body. This resulted in several multiple update applications remaining unresolved since issues such as changes in the address of permit holders, among others, had to be authorized by the Governing Body prior to its implementation.
In summary, the Proposed Regulation once again empowers the Hydrocarbons Unit and the Electricity Unit so that they authorize permit updates (this means, without having to be approved by the Governing Body of the CRE) in, among many others, the following matters:
For all permits:
- Change of name or corporate name of the permit holder
- Change of address of the permit holder
- Change of address data of the permitted facilities
- Corrections to permits due to omissions or minor capture errors
Regarding Hydrocarbons/Refined Products (except some activities):
- Replacement of equipment and facilities
- Registration, cancellation or modification of routes and destinations in transportation and distribution systems by means other than pipelines
- Change in the project investment amount
- Change of operator
- Change, registration or deregistration of the vehicle fleet for transportation and distribution permits by means other than pipelines for refined products, liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas.
- Registration or cancellation of parking yards for the vehicle fleet
Regarding electricity generation:
- Decrease in the authorized capacity, as well as the authorized demand for importation
- Change of direct current capacity in electric power generation equipment
- Change of location of mobile power plants (in cases of reliability auctions and for corrective protocol)
Once published in the DOF: (i) the Proposed Regulation would enter into force the following day; (ii) Order No. A/019/2021 that establishes that all that all updates must be authorized by the Governing Body of the CRE would be repealed; and (iii) unresolved permit update applications may be resolved in accordance with the new regulation, which means that some applications may be resolved by the Administrative Units of the CRE as soon as possible.
The Proposed Regulation is subject to public consultation on the website of the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (“CONAMER”). Its regulatory impact process (public consultation) is expected to be brief.
We highlight that the text of the Proposed Regulation does not mention the Order suspending legal terms and deadlines at the CRE as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it could be assumed that the CRE already considers or will consider that such Order is no longer in effect.
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If you have any questions or comments on the matter, please contact us.
This document does not constitute legal advice.
