The Ministry of Economy (SE) assured this Monday that the Court of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an organization of the World Bank, dismissed Access Business Group’s lawsuit for 2.7 billion dollars against Mexico for alleged expropriation of land in Jalisco for lacking jurisdiction.
“On November 21, 2025, the Arbitration Court determined by majority and in favor of Mexico that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the controversy, dismissing the arbitration in its entirety,” the secretariat said in a statement.
The SE explained that it “successfully represented the Mexican State” in the arbitration initiated by Access Business Group, a company that in April 2023 presented a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the USMCA, before the ICSID.
He explained that Access stated that in 1992 and 1994, through the subsidiary Nutrilite, it acquired land that makes up a property known as “El Petacal”, located in the state of Jalisco.
“Access’s claim was based on the alleged expropriation of such properties, alleging that in July 2022 the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu) handed them over to an ejido” (a form of property and a collective entity that owns land and other assets for communal exploitation).
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Access Business Group will have to pay 1.3 million dollars to Mexico
In essence, the SE noted, “the Court concluded that it did not have jurisdiction” because the challenged measures occurred more than two years after the termination of NAFTA, “so they could not be alleged as violations of obligations that were no longer in force.”
In the words of the Court, “nothing in the text of Annex 14-C indicates that the Contracting States have extended the application of the substantive provisions of Section A of Chapter 11 beyond the termination of NAFTA.”
In addition, he noted that the Court ordered the plaintiff company to pay approximately 1.3 million dollars in favor of Mexico for the expenses and costs of the arbitration.
“The result of this arbitration constitutes a relevant achievement for the Mexican State, an important precedent in terms of investment arbitration, and makes clear the inadmissibility of a multimillion-dollar claim,” said Economía, a department headed by Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
The SE explained that “the award is currently in the review process to identify confidential information that may be protected” and that once this process is concluded, the award will be published on the ICSID website, where more information about this arbitration is available.
The text indicated that Mexico was represented by officials from the General Directorate of International Trade Legal Consulting of the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, with the support of the firms Tereposky & DeRose, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and that during the procedure, the Ministry of Economy had the institutional support of Sedatu.
With information from EFE
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