The foregoing given that this tool has been used in situations that go beyond its intended purpose, said Eduardo Arrocha, an international trade expert and lawyer at the De la Vega & Martínez Rojas Firm.
He considered that “excesses” have been committed in the application of this mechanism and this causes reputational damage to the companies that are involved.
“At our Firm, we have handled six or seven cases and, in many of them, they have nothing to do with freedom of association and collective bargaining. The United States conducts the investigation, but there often is a lack of understanding of Mexican law and they decide that there are grounds for the complaint.
“But the complaint normally doesn’t prosper, because, in the end, matters are clarified. Nevertheless, in the interim reputational damage has already been done, a series of expenses have been made, there often is a need for remediation agreements to establish things that aren’t even provided for in the law or in collective agreements”, he pointed out in an interview.
The Firm has already presented its proposals to the authorities for the Mechanism to be regulated and be used only in cases of freedom of association and collective bargaining.
