Can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently?

To take just a few, I have become a go-to member of the company’s global in-house team, for international arbitration and cross-border dispute resolution consultancy. Over the past year and a half, I have assisted general counsel in Geneva, in consultations of potential disputes across multiple jurisdictions.

My team has also been supporting the CASA Cluster (Central and South America) to transfer knowledge from the Mexico to be implemented in other markets.

Recently, we have focused on labour law reform. Mexico’s labour law was amended to restrict employee outsourcing from third party services providers. The way the reforms were enacted, with drastic changes with a limited window for implementation, was a challenge for the legal team, who had to coordinate five areas and around 20 managers to reach tight deadlines. The project included changes to the entities’ bylaws, transfer of employees amongst entities and field sales force (impacting around 800 employees), full revision of employee agreements, recognition of seniority and legal benefits, registration of JTI Mexico before the new registrar of services providers, intercompany agreements and more.

Furthermore, JTI’s distributor went bankrupt in 2019. Apart from filing all relevant documentation to support an orderly transition of operations to other distributors, I was involved in negotiations with creditors, and with the bonding institution that issued a guarantee in favour of the distributor. The bonding institution refused to pay the guarantee, so JTI filed legal proceedings. Legal proceedings have suffered delays due to Covid lockdown, however JTI has won the first two instances, currently an injunction is being decided.

The team has also coordinated filing legal proceedings against the tax ministry for reimbursement of VAT, as unduly withheld by the authority. The company has been successful in each request for reimbursement filed so far.

Which recent political, economic, or regulatory changes have impacted the company and the team the most?

Mexico’s current administration entered office in December 2018. Unfortunately, Mexico is on the verge of an economic recession, with its GDP decreasing quarter after quarter, and with governmental expenditure being higher than tax collection. The biggest challenge has been a myriad of regulatory changes driven by ideology and politics. The company has navigated through all these changes. I am proud to say that the legal department has been key in this. The processes, policies and structure are so solid, that we have been able to stand strong and adapt. This situation has been internally recognised by the Americas regional senior vice-president.

What do you think are the biggest risks facing your industry at the moment and how are you preparing your company and team to face these risks?

More changes in the law based on ideology, including prohibition of recent technologies (such as reduced risk products). We have a solid structure and set of procedures to overcome challenges, naturally linked to the business plan and expansion strategies.