Reforms to Regulations on Public Registries of Commerce and New Single Registry for Security Interests in Personal Property

On September 23, 2010, Mexico’s Department of the Economy (Secretaria de Economía) published a decree amending regulations governing Public Registries ofCommerce (Registros Públicos del Comercio). The purpose of such amendment is to create a Single Registry of Guaranties over personal property (or RUG by itsinitials in Spanish) within a separate section of the Public Registry of Commerce. The RUG will be public and available every day of the year. Entries will be made inelectronic record files of parties granting security interests in personal property. In this manner, security interests in personal property, including pledges withouttransfer of possession, guarantees based on factoring loans, industrial mortgages, security interests in aircraft and vessels, reservations of ownership clauses in thepurchase and sale of identifiable personal property, among others, are covered in the new procedures. The RUG will show security interests in personal propertycreated after the effective date of the decree.. This means that security interests granted before the RUG’s initial date of implementation will not necessarily appear in the RUG. As such, creditors holding security interests in personal property prior to the RUG’s beginning of operations should exercise caution and verify if theirsecurity interests in personal property has been included into the new RUG system.