Chihuahua, Chih., April 7th, 2021.

Dear Clients and Friends,

We hereby inform you that on April 5th, 2021, the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social Federal “STPS”), issued newsletter No. 041/2021, whereby it discloses the outcome of the negotiations aimed at modifying the outsourcing amendment bill submitted by the Federal Executive before the Congress.

The workers’ and business sectors are awaiting the final version of the bill, in order to carry out a precise analysis and study; nevertheless, the main agreements on this particular issue should be highlighted.

The outsourcing of personnel is prohibited. Said document precisely defines it, which is important in order to distinguish outsourcing of personnel from other forms of outsourcing.

The aforementioned prohibition is excluded and therefore the outsourcing of goods and services is allowed, provided that they do not fall within the corporate purpose or the main economic activity of the contracting party (recipient of the service).

Suppliers of specialized goods and services must register before the national registry, which will be created for said purposes and will be under the STPS’s authority; the establishment of the agency is still pending, as well as the guidelines for its operation.

If a registration request is filed before said Registry and the authority does not reply within 20 days, a new request must be filed, and if the authority does not reply within the following three days, the registry will be deemed as granted.

The aforementioned registry must be renewed every three years, and upon renewal, the contracting party must demonstrate that the payment of taxes and social security contributions is up to date.

The failure to register will result in sanctions, including the non-deductibility of the invoice and the non-crediting of the corresponding Value Added Tax (VAT).

Shared services are acknowledged as a specialized activity (it is still necessary to know the precise wording in order to specify its content and scope).

A temporary mechanism is provided (three months) in order to transfer the employees from the services’ company to the main company under the “employer substitution” mechanism, this to maintain the labor risks premium.

It should be noted that the petition made by the business sector to limit the payable amount for Employee Profit Sharing (Participación de los Trabajadores en las Utilidades de las Empresas “PTU”) to a maximum of three months of salary or the average of the last three years, whichever suits each employee, was promptly complied with.

We remain at your service for any inquires or comments regarding the above-mentioned information, it is suggested to have the final published versions in order to make a correct decision making in the administration and compliance of your business, therefore, we recommend being vigilant of the new provisions to be issued on this particular matter.

Published by,
Mr. Daniel Alfonso Jiménez Lara / Partner of the Labor Practice Group