The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN in Spanish) ordered the transitory suspension of the legislative decree that creates a registry of cell phone users and obliges telephone companies to request biometric data of their clients. The ruling comes in response to the judicial appeal filed by the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT in Spanish) in which it alleges that it does not have the necessary budget to safeguard the data. On June 25, the Presidency appealed the ruling.

The IFT’s constitutional complaint was presented before Minister Norma Lucía Piña Hernández, who in her resolution stated that the implementation of the registry implies “an imminent budgetary impact on the IFT that could jeopardize its constitutional autonomy”. She also determined that the sanctions for administrative liability stipulated in the decree will have no effect. Thus, the IFT will not be obliged for the time being to implement actions for the development of the platform, although it may issue guidelines for its operation.

Following the ruling, the Legal Counsel of the Presidency of the Republic appealed the measure by means of an appeal filed on June 25. Both the Counseling Office and the Congress have already sent to the SCJN copies of the legislative background and the decree issued in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF in Spanish) for its analysis and eventual resolution, which would determine whether to revoke or confirm the suspension.