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Mexican Legal Framework of Business Insolvency - White & Case

Mexican Legal Framework of Business Insolvency - White & Case

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26<br />

the lack <strong>of</strong> a definition <strong>of</strong> what constitutes an entrepreneurial activity, and in which<br />

cases would a trust estate be deemed devoted to such entrepreneurial activity.<br />

Unfortunately, the author knows <strong>of</strong> no binding precedent on the subject for purposes<br />

<strong>of</strong> the <strong>Insolvency</strong> Law.<br />

Tax laws regulate the concept <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurial activities [CFF 16] and the tax regime<br />

applicable to trusts devoted to an entrepreneurial pursuit [LISR 13]. A simplistic route<br />

<strong>of</strong> interpretation suggests that a trust is subject to the <strong>Insolvency</strong> Law if such trust is<br />

taxed as a trust devoted to an entrepreneurial pursuit. However, this interpretation has<br />

serious flaws since the tax laws do not constitute admissible secondary sources <strong>of</strong><br />

interpretation <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Insolvency</strong> Law [LCM 8]. 13 A correct legal interpretation requires<br />

a more technically rigorous analysis.<br />

Activity is defined as a set <strong>of</strong> operations or tasks <strong>of</strong> a person or entity, whereas<br />

entrepreneurial is defined as belonging or pertaining to an enterprise. 14 That is, an<br />

entrepreneurial activity could be defined as a set <strong>of</strong> operations or tasks <strong>of</strong> a person<br />

or entity pertaining to an enterprise.<br />

The concept <strong>of</strong> enterprise is at the heart <strong>of</strong> the concept <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurial activity.<br />

A recent court precedent (and, as far as the author is aware, the only available<br />

binding precedent on the subject) attempts to define enterprise but does so in a<br />

very imprecise manner:<br />

ENTERPRISE. ITS CONCEPT IN ANTITRUST MATTERS.<br />

“The elucidation <strong>of</strong> the concept must consider, in a functional manner, and include, any<br />

entity that exercises an economic activity, without regard to its legal status or legal nature;<br />

therefore, if an entity does not exercise any economic activity, it is impossible to consider it as<br />

an enterprise.”<br />

13 In an unrelated matter (the dismissal <strong>of</strong> Vitro’s prepackaged concurso), the judge relied heavily on some concepts in<br />

the tax laws to issue his ruling.<br />

14<br />

Real Academia de la Lengua.

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