To Our Clients and Friends: 

On April 16, the Decree by which several provisions of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law were amended and added was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation ("DOF"). Said Decree came into force on April 19, 2021, creating the National Register of Mobile Telephone Users (¨PANAUT¨).  

The purpose behind the creation of this Register is, apparently to inhibit the crimes (among others, of extortion, kidnapping and fraud) that are executed through the use of mobile equipment, making it mandatory for the millions of users in the country that activate a telephone line or acquire a SIM card, to identify themselves and register in the PANAUT, for which, the telecommunications concessionaires and, where appropriate , the authorized one,  will be obliged to collect and update said information of their users before the PANAUT. 

According to what was approved, the PANAUT will contain, on each mobile telephone line, among others, the following data: 

• Mobile phone line number; 
• Date and time of activation of the mobile phone line; 
• Full name, name or company name of the user; 
• Nationality; 
• Official identification number and Unique Population Registry Code (CURP) of the line holder; 
• User's address; 
• Biometric data of the user in case that they are natural persons or their legal representative, in the case of legal entities; 

Biometric data are the physical, physiological, behavioral or personality traits, attributable to a single person and that are measurable. Among them are: 

• The fingerprint; 
• The face (facial recognition); 
• The retina; 
• The iris; 
• The geometry of the hand or fingers, among others. 

The opinion includes provisions that establish that the omission of the registry, its lateness or the falsification of the data, among other infractions, will be a reason for the definitive cancellation of the telephone line and the concessionary will be entitled to a fine. 

The IFT will be the agency in charge of installing, operating, regulating and maintaining the Register.  

The creation of the PANAUT is controversial from the perspective of data protection, right to privacy, private life and freedom, particularly with regard to the principle of proportionality and the duty of security, recognized in our legislation. Likewise, said registry violates the human rights of legal security and non-retroactivity of norms, versus the weak argument of national security, which, far from guaranteeing it, constitutes a means of infringing personal data to the detriment of the population. 

Due to this reform and depending on each particular scenario (having a specific phone line before entry into force of the Decree, or that afterwards acquire a phone line; among other hypothesis), the moment of individual aggravation (focusing on the hetero applicative aspect of the norm) may be different for every user, nevertheless, we consider that it is convenient to file a claim for protection (Amparo), in virtue of the publishing of this Decree, to avoid this violation of fundamental rights, in which case, deadline for submission, as a general rule, expires on May 31 of this year. 

We are at your service to advise you and / or file the necessary means of defense against this sensitive issue. 

Sincerely,     
Pasero Abogados, S.C.