As we informed in a previous communication, on March 14, 2025, the Decree that issued the Internal Regulations of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (the "Regulations") was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation.
This regulation incorporated Chapter XI, which includes changes in the purpose, powers, and structure of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (the "PROFEPA"), which foresee a significant evolution in the strategy of environmental inspection that will transcend the scope of regulated individuals and companies in Mexico.
PROFEPA was created on June 4, 1992, as a federal administrative inspectorate in the field of pollution prevention. Since then, Congress has conferred powers in different areas, including natural resources, climate change, biosafety, environmental damage, and participation in class actions and criminal judicial proceedings, creating the need for progressive modifications of the nature and strategy of action of this agency.
The Regulations continue the development of PROFEPA's enforcement model, advancing the administrative inspection functions to bring it closer to the action model of a true Environmental Department of Justice.
Article 50 of the Regulations makes visible the following five new objectives that are added to the functions that have historically guided the agency:
1. Environmental Justice Procurement: This implies a new mandate to reorient the previous focus on environmental protection to proactive action in the face of environmental conflict.
2. Defense of Human Rights: This implies that the acts of authority must primarily guarantee the protection of the fundamental rights of the people who file complaints with the institution and involves the application of mechanisms such as environmental liability provided by Article 4 of the Constitution, as well as the norms of the General Law of Victims that oblige authorities at all levels of government to ensure the protection of victims and provide them with help, assistance, and comprehensive reparation for environmental damage.
3. Collective and Criminal Judicial Actions: This power is provided by the Federal Environmental Liability Act and the National Code of Civil and Family Procedures in matters of environmental judicial litigation and class actions, as well as the Federal Criminal Code, which provides the catalog of environmental crimes attributable to both individuals and companies and the action of PROFEPA as a Counsel for environmental victims, and the National Code of Criminal Procedures, which provides the regime of corporate criminal liability.
4. Exercise of Preventive Functions: The General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection (the "LGEEPA") already provides this in Article 15 as a principle of environmental policy, as well as through instruments such as the methodological risk assessment generated by companies.
5. Recognition of the Rights of Environmental Defenders in administrative procedures: This implies applying the precepts of the LGEEPA that recognize that any person, social group, and non-governmental organization can actively participate in the administrative enforcement procedures, and in particular, people who have the status of victims of crimes and violations of human rights.
These objectives represent a substantial evolution in the way PROFEPA has been operating since its creation to date and allow for the anticipation of positive changes in the direction, strategies, and legal tools with which PROFEPA will act.
The Regulations anticipate that the verification of compliance with environmental obligations, under a broad concept of justice procurement, will not only include actions with an administrative inspectorate approach but also preventive strategies against the causes of human rights violations, infractions and environmental damage, with a different approach to conflicts that arise between regulated companies, communities, and citizens. It also implies that PROFEPA will act beyond the administrative scope before judicial bodies and the federal criminal system.
The Regulations denote a clear effort to align PROFEPA with the commitment assumed by Mexico on November 5, 2020, when the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (the "Escazú Agreement") was ratified.
These changes can be observed in the designation, powers, and interaction relationships provided for the following administrative units of PROFEPA:
A. The Division for Environmental Prevention, to which the General Directorate of Audit Operations and Environmental Prevention is assigned; and
B. The Division for Strategic Litigation and Environmental Justice, to which the General Directorate of Complaints and Victim Protection, as well as the General Directorate of Strategic Litigation, Federal Crimes, and Environmental Liability are assigned.
These administrative units have been entrusted with applying the powers provided for PROFEPA in laws such as the General Law of Victims, the Federal Environmental Liability Law, the Federal Criminal Code, the National Code of Criminal Procedures, and the National Code of Civil and Family Procedures, through the promotion of strategic litigation actions to obtain environmental damage reparation, guarantee the human rights of victims, develop the national strategy for environmental prevention, promote prevention mechanisms and due organizational control or environmental and criminal business compliance to prevent damages, infractions, and criminal acts that will be of particular importance in cases of corporate criminal liability.
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