Mexico

Declarations made upon ratification:

EXCEPTION
Pursuant to articles 10, paragraph 1, and 70, the United Mexican States makes an exception such that the application of the provisions of this Agreement does not extend to activities with respect to marine genetic resources and digital sequence information on marine genetic resources of areas beyond national jurisdiction collected or generated before the entry into force of the Agreement for the United Mexican States.
STATEMENT
According to Article 70, no reservations or exceptions may be made to the Agreement, other than those expressly permitted by other articles thereof. A declaration or statement pursuant to Article 71 does not constitute a reservation or exception for the State making it. Consequently, the United Mexican States states that it does not consider itself bound by declarations or statements made or to be made by other States or regional economic integration organizations pursuant to Article 71 of the Agreement, which purport to exclude or modify the legal effect of the provisions of the Agreement in their application to that State or organization. The absence of any pronouncement regarding such declarations or statements shall not be construed as acceptance or rejection thereof. The United Mexican States reserves the right to take, at any time, a position on such declarations or statements.

Interpretative declaration:

… in accordance with their national legal framework, and in consideration of the best and most up-to-date scientific information available and incorporated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Mexican States understands greenhouse gas emissions to mean the release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases and/or their precursors and aerosols into the atmosphere, including, where applicable, greenhouse compounds, within a specific area and during a specific period of time.

Declaration:

In accordance with article 3, paragraph 2 of the Optional Protocol, the United Mexican States declares:
(i) That the minimum age for voluntary recruitment of its nationals into the armed forces is 18 years;
ii) That article 24 of the Military Service Act provides that only volunteers will be accepted into the armed forces for active service until the figure set annually by the Ministry of Defence has been met and provided that the following conditions are fulfilled:
I. They must submit an application;
II. They must be Mexican nationals who are over 18 but not over 30, and must be under 40 in the case of personnel enlisted as specialists in the army;
Those over 16 and under 18 shall be accepted into signals units for training as technicians under contracts with the State not exceeding five years in duration. Moreover, under article 25 of the Military Service Act, only the following persons may be accepted for early enlistment in the armed forces:
I. Those who wish to leave the country at the time when they would be required by law to undertake military service if they are over 16 at the time of requesting enlistment;
II. Those who are obliged to request early enlistment because of their studies.
The maximum number of individuals who may be allowed to enlist early shall be set every year by the Ministry of Defence; and

Interpretative declaration:

Upon ratifying the [Convention], the Government of the United Mexican States reaffirms its political will to ensure international protection of the rights of all migrant workers, in accordance with this international instrument. all the provisions of this Convention will be applied in conformity with its national legislation.
15 September 2008

Declaration under article 77:

The United Mexican States recognizes as fully binding the competence of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, established by the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families adopted in New York on 18 December 1990.
In accordance with article 77 of the Convention, the United Mexican States declares that it recognizes the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications from or on behalf of individuals subject to its jurisdiction who claim that the United Mexican States has violated their individual rights as established by the Convention.

Declaration made upon signature and confirmed upon ratification:

Mexico is signing ad referendum the Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their disposal because it duly protects its rights as a coastal State in the areas subject to its national jurisdiction, including the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf and, in so far as it is relevant, its airspace, and the exercise in those areas of its legislative and administrative competence in relation to the protection and preservation of the environment, as recognized by international law and, in particular, the law of the sea.
Mexico considers that, by means of this Convention, important progress has been made in protection of the environment through the legal regulation of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes. A framework of general obligations for States parties has been established, fundamentally with a view to reducing to a minimum the generation and transboundary movement of dangerous wastes and ensuring their environmentally rational management, promoting international co-operation for those purposes, establishing co-ordination and follow-up machinery and regulating the implementation of procedures for the peaceful settlement of disputes.
Mexico further hopes that, as an essential supplement to the standard-setting character of the Convention, a protocol will be adopted as soon as possible, establishing, in accordance with the principles and provisions of international law, appropriate procedures in the matter of responsibility and compensation for damage resulting from the transboundary movement and management of dangerous wastes.

In accordance with article 19 of the 1967 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the United Mexican States declares that it will apply the general policy regarding copyright established by the governing body of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, insofar as it reflects the principles relating to that subject embodied in the above-mentioned Paris Convention.

Declarations under articles 287 and 298:

In accordance with the terms of article 287 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Government of Mexico declares that it chooses, in no order of preference, one of the following means for the settlement of disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention:
1. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea established in accordance with annex VI;
2. The International Court of Justice;
3. A special arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with annex VIII for one or more of the categories of disputes specified therein.
"The Government of Mexico declares that, pursuant to article 298 of the Convention, it does not accept the procedures provided for in part XV, section 2, with respect to the following categories of disputes:
1. Disputes relating to sea boundary delimitations, or those involving historic bays or titles, pursuant to paragraph 1 (a) of article 298;
2. Disputes concerning military activities and the other activities referred to in paragraph 1 (b) of article 298.

Upon signature:

Declaration:
In signing ad referendum the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which the General Assembly opened for signature by States on 18 December 1979, the Government of the United Mexican States wishes to place on record that it is doing so on the understanding that the provisions of the said Convention, which agree in all essentials with the provisions of Mexican legislation, will be applied in Mexico in accordance with the modalities and procedures prescribed by Mexican legislation and that the granting of material benefits in pursuance of the Convention will be as generous as the resources available to the Mexican State permit.

In relation to article 16, the United Mexican States adhere to the scope and limitations established by the Government of Mexico on 7 November 1945, at the time when it ratified the Charter of the United Nations and the Statute of the International Court of Justice.
6 August 1987

The Government of Mexico subsequently specified that the said declaration should be understood to mean that, in so far as article 16 is concerned, the United Mexican States accede subject to the limits and restrictions laid down by the Mexican Government when recognizing, on 23 October 1947, the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in accordance with article 36, paragraph 2, of the State of the Court.

In accordance with the provisions of article 21 `Reservations' of the Protocol amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, adopted in Geneva on 25 March 1972, the Government of Mexico, in acceding to that international instrument, makes an explicit reservation in respect of the application of articles 5 (amendment to article 12, paragraph 5, of the Single Convention); 6 (amendment to article 14, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Single Convention); and 11 (new article 21 bis , Limitation of Production of Opium). Accordingly, as regards the articles in respect of which this reservation is made, Mexico will be bound by the corresponding texts of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, in their original form.

The Government of Mexico, in acceding to the Convention on Psychotropic Substances adopted on 21 February 1971, makes, pursuant to the provisions of article 32, paragraph 4, of the Convention, an express reservation with regard to the application of the said international instrument, since there still exist in its territory certain indigenous ethnic groups which, in magical or religious rites, traditionally make use of wild plants which contain psychotropic substances from among those in schedule I.

Interpretative declaration :

In accordance with article 14 of the Constitution of the United Mexican States, the Government of Mexico, when ratifying the Convention on the non-applicability of statutory limitations to war crimes and crimes against humanity, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 26 November 1968, will do so on the understanding that it will consider statutory limitations non-applicable only to crimes dealt with in the Convention which are committed after the entry into effect of the Convention with respect to Mexico.

Interpretative statements:

Article 9, paragraph 5
Under the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the relevant implementing legislation, every individual enjoys the guarantees relating to penal matters embodied therein, and consequently no person may be unlawfully arrested or detained. However, if by reason of false accusation or complaint any individual suffers an infringement of this basic right, he has, inter alia , under the provisions of the appropriate laws, an enforceable right to just compensation.
Article 18
Under the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, every person is free to profess his preferred religious belief and to practice its ceremonies, rites and religious acts, with the limitation, with regard to public religious acts, that they must be performed in places of worship and, with regard to education, that studies carried out in establishments designed for the professional education of ministers of religion are not officially recognized. The Government of Mexico believes that these limitations are included among those established in paragraph 3 of this article.
Reservations:

Article 25, subparagraph (b)
The Government of Mexico also makes a reservation to this provision, since article 130 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States provides that ministers of religion shall have neither a passive vote nor the right to form associations for political purposes.

Interpretative statement:

The Government of Mexico accedes to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with the understanding that article 8 of the Covenant shall be applied in the Mexican Republic under the conditions and in conformity with the procedure established in the applicable provisions of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the relevant implementing legislation.

does not accept that part of article 31, paragraph 4 of the Convention which refers to expropriation of consular premises. The main reason for this reservation is that that paragraph, by contemplating the possibility of expropriation of consular premises by the receiving State, presupposes that the sending State is the owner of the premises. That situation is precluded in the Mexican Republic by article 27 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, according to which foreign States cannot acquire private title to immovable property unless it is situated at the permanent seat of Federal Power and necessary for the direct use of their embassies or legations.

Article 9: The Government of Mexico enters an express reservation with regard to article 9, since it considers that government ships, irrespective of the use to which they are put, enjoy immunity; it therefore does not accept the limitation imposed in the article in question, which provides that only ships owned or operated by a State and used only on government non-commercial service shall have immunity from the jurisdiction of other States on the high seas.

The Government of Mexico considers that government ships, irrespective of the use to which they are put, enjoy immunity, and it therefore enters an express reservation with regard to article 21 of Sub-Section C (Rules applicable to government ships other than warships) in so far as it applies to article 19, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, and article 20, paragraphs 2 and 3, of Sub-Section B (Rules applicable to merchant ships).

Reservations:

The Government of Mexico is convinced of the importance of ensuring that all stateless persons can obtain wage-earning employment as a means of subsistence and affirms that stateless persons will be treated, in accordance with the law, under the same conditions as aliens in general, without prejudice to the application of article 7 of the Federal Labour Act, which establishes the proportion of alien workers that employers are authorized to employ in Mexico, as well as other legal principles relating to work by aliens in the country, for which reason the Government of Mexico lodges an express reservation to article 17 of this Convention.
The Government of Mexico does not consider itself obliged to guarantee stateless persons greater facilities for their naturalization than those accorded to aliens in general, for which reason it lodges an express reservation to the contents of article 32 of the Convention.

Declaration:

"It is expressly understood that the Government of Mexico will not deposit its instrument of ratification pending the entry into force of the amendment to the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States which is now under consideration, providing that citizenship rights shall be granted to Mexican women."

Interpretative declarations:

It will always be the task of the Government of Mexico to determine and grant, in accordance with its legal provisions in force, refugee status, without prejudice to the definition of a refugee provided for under article 1 of the Convention and article 1 of its Protocol.
The Government of Mexico has the power to grant refugees greater facilities for naturalization and assimilation than those accorded to aliens in general, within the framework of its population policy and, particularly, with regard to refugees, in accordance with its national legislation.
Reservations:

The Government of Mexico is convinced of the importance of ensuring that all refugees can obtain wage-earning employment as a means of subsistence and affirms that refugees will be treated, in accordance with the law, under the same conditions as aliens in general, including the laws and regulations which establish the proportion of alien workers that employers are authorized to employ in Mexico, and this will not affect the obligations of employers with regard to the employment of alien workers.
On the other hand, since the Government of Mexico is unable to guarantee refugees who meet any of the requirements referred to in article 17, paragraph 2 (a), (b) and (c), of the Convention, the automatic extension of the obligations for obtaining a work permit, it lodges an express reservation to these provisions.
The Government of Mexico reserves the right to assign, in accordance with its national legislation, the place or places of residence of refugees and to establish the conditions for moving within the national territory, for which reason it lodges an express reservation to articles 26 and 31 (2) of the Convention.

The Government of the United States of Mexico, in accepting the Convention on the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization, on the understanding that nothing in the said Convention is intended to change national legislation relating to restrictive business practices, expressly states that its acceptance of the above-mentioned international instrument neither has nor shall have the effect of altering or modifying in any way the application of the laws against monopolies in the territory of the Republic of Mexico.

In accepting the provisions of articles 11 and 12 of this Convention, the Government of the United States of Mexico wishes to state explicitly that its Central Office will exercise the powers granted to it by the said Convention unless such powers have been expressly conferred by the General Constitution of the Republic on an agency of a constituent State, being an agency established before the date of the entry into force of this Convention, and that the Government of the United States of Mexico reserves the right to impose in its territory–as it has already done–measures more severe than those laid down by the Convention itself, for the restriction of the cultivation or the manufacture, extraction, possession, offering for sale, importation or exportation of or traffic in the drugs to which the present Convention refers.