Chapter 19 of the NAFTA and the Mexican juicio de amparo : When international law collides with the Mexican legal order.

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the impact and consequences of Chapter 19 of the NAFTA on the Mexican legal order and more particularly on the constitutional remedy of the juicio de amparo. The thesis deals with four main issues: (1) a study of the specific elements of the domestic judicial review process in antidumping and countervailing duty cases in Mexico with an emphasis on the functions and applications of the juicio de amparo , seeking to demonstrate the importance of the juicio de amparo to the Mexican legal order and its application in the context of the Mexican foreign trade law regime; (2) a study of the specific elements of the review procedure of Chapter 19 of the NAFTA to show that the Parties1 intended to prohibit the application of domestic judicial review; (3) an analysis of the constitutional issues surrounding the establishment of a panel, to demonstrate that the doctrine of the exhaustion of local remedies does not apply to Chapter 19 of the NAFTA; and lastly (4) an analysis of the application of the juicio de amparo to the decisions of the binational panels and to the determinations on remand of the Mexican investigative authority. This thesis will show that binational panels are not authorities for the purposes of the juicio de amparo but that the juicio de amparo can apply to determinations, made pursuant to a remand for action of the panel, in certain circumstances. 1Parties pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") include Canada, Mexico and the United States.