Executive Summary:
- On March 24, 2023, the President sent an initiative to reform various laws, including the Mining Law, with the intention of radically modifying the regulation of mining concessions.
- Such a reform would violate multiple constitutional rights, including those of legal certainty and non-retroactivity of the law.
- This initiative may be modified during the legislative process, which may alter possible violations of constitutional rights.
On March 24, 2023, the President sent to the Chamber of Deputies an initiative seeking to reform various laws, including the Mining Law. The above, with the intention of radically modifying the regulation of mining concessions.
The points we consider most relevant are the following:
- Allocations to state-owned enterprises may now be granted.
- The validity of new concessions is reduced from 50 to 15 years, which can only be extended once.
- It is incorporated as a requirement to obtain a mining concession to previously obtain a concession on national waters.
- Applications currently being processed will be discarded immediately.
- The concession titles that are currently in force will have a new extension of 15 years and will not be extendable.
We believe that such a reform would violate multiple constitutional rights, including those of legal certainty and non-retroactivity of the law.
In this regard, if applicable, the holders of concessions that were issued prior to the reform, those who have pending applications to be resolved, and even those who submit new applications will have the right to initiate an amparo trial before a District Judge.
Of course, the initiative can be modified during the legislative process, which may alter possible violations of constitutional rights.
