Mexico has won an international arbitration case against the US company Access Business Group. Mexico's Ministry of Economy secured a key victory in the arbitration initiated before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The company filed a lawsuit in 2023, claiming that Mexico expropriated 280 hectares of agricultural land in Jalisco. The company alleged this was a violation of investment protection obligations under the old NAFTA and USMCA. However, the tribunal rejected this claim, as the events occurred more than two years after the termination of NAFTA. Consequently, the tribunal dismissed the claim and ordered the company to cover $1.3 million in costs and legal fees for the Mexican state. This decision sets a significant precedent for Mexico in investment arbitration. The country's defense was handled by the legal team of the Ministry of Economy, in coordination with the law firms Tereposky & DeRose and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. The arbitral award is now undergoing a confidentiality review before being published on the ICSID website.
