Bio-fuels in Mexico: Opportunities Increase With New Legislation

Excerpt from WorldTrade Executive's
Latin American Law & Business Report
By Jorge Jiménez (López Velarde, Heftye y Soria)

Mexico has finally enacted and published its new Law for the Promotion and Development of Bio-fuels (Ley de Promoción y Desarrollo de los Bioenergéticos), which is expected to foster the production in Mexico of various types of bio-fuels, and the development of the necessary infrastructure to create a market for its widespread marketing and consumption, including transportation, storage and distribution facilities and systems. The new statute was published in Mexico’s Federal Register (Diario Oficial de la Federación) on February 1, 2008, to become effective immediately. Final enactment came after months of delays from its first approval by the Mexican Congress, following a veto from President Felipe Calderon in 2007, and after the bill was initially passed in 2006. Several of the Executive’s objections were introduced to the bill prior to its final approval.

With this new legislation, Mexico is hoping to see an increase in projects such as some of the pilot infrastructure operations so far developed in Mexico, as is the case, for example, of the Nuevo Leon Bioenergy project in Monterrey, with a 7MW power plant producing from the city’s landfill.

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