The Secretariat of Economic Development (Sedeco) of Mexico City repealed the new rules for the regulation and operation of public markets.
Through the Official Gazette, the local agency indicated that the organization and operation guidelines for these commercial units are without effect; the measures proposed a new sanitary, administrative and financial supervision.
In addition, new forms of operation and prohibition guidelines would be applied as impediments for several premises to belong to the same family and to house electrical appliances that do not belong to the business of the premises.
“The Miscellaneous by which the Rules for the Regulation and Operation of the Public Markets of Mexico City, published in the Official Gazette of Mexico City on May 20, 2022, as well as its Explanatory Note to them, published in said official media outlet on May 27, 2022”, the document refers.
Precisely because of these rules, last week members of the Plural Movement of Public Market Merchants demonstrated in different roads and assured that the new rules could affect them.
“If you and your family are dedicated to the same line of business, they consider you a monopoly and their family businesses are at risk, which with so much work and so many years has cost them to build,” they published in a spread.
The Economist consulted the head of Sedeco, Fadlala Akabani Hneide, who pointed out that the new provisions are repealed due to lack of consensus with all the tenants of the public markets.
“They feel that many of the procedures remain in the hands of the authority of the mayor’s office and that for this reason they could be subject to extortion; for example, with the hereditary tract of a local identity card, they feel that the rule was not deep enough and therefore there could be some opportunity for discretion and corruption, ”he reported.
The secretary pointed out that one of the concerns that were expressed is that not all public markets participated in the elaboration of the new rules, added to the fact that it was necessary to apply a campaign or tables focused on the promotion of the new operating guidelines.
“That they do not feel that there was a discretionary call, but that they are going to be new, open, public calls and with the knowledge of all the interested public. Yes, we are going to make a new publication and we are going to make a work table for the mayor’s office in the coming months”, he referred.
It will be from July when the work tables for the new operating rules will start, in October it is contemplated to finish the process so that at the end of this year or the beginning of 2023 they can come into force.
“We are a democratic government and our conviction is to take them into account (…) We are going to attend to the citizen’s claim at all times, we attend to all the city’s requests,” he stressed.
Fadlala Akabani announced that yesterday the Sedeco focused on informing the members of the public markets of the repeal of the new guidelines. “The mood was positive, in the sense that they want to reconcile a regulation, more attached to their needs.”
Guidelines
The secretary explained that the merchants requested to resolve three points generated from the new rules: the decisions in the management of the operation certificate of the premises, the management of the changes of business of each business and in the hereditary tract.
According to the publication of May 20, the new provisions indicated that the mayor’s offices would administer the markets and will be in charge of issuing the registration certificates and keeping the Register of Tenants or Permanent Merchants up to date.
It was proposed that the Merchants’ Registration System of Mexico City would be a digital platform that would contain the registers of merchants of the different supply distribution channels, through which the tenants could carry out the procedures.
A Single Window was also established for the mayors’ offices for registration certificates to carry out commercial activities in public markets, the endorsement of the registration, the authorization of change of business of the premises.
At the same time, each tenant could have up to three authorized businesses, avoiding merging premises or stalls and forming family monopolies.
Nor could the rights derived from the premises (Cédula de Empadronamiento) be leased or transferred by any means, as well as the storage and operation of unnecessary electrical devices and appliances for the authorized line of business, in addition to modifying or altering the electrical installations.
According to Sedeco, Mexico City is the second entity in the country where there is the largest number of public markets.
At the end of 2021, there is a record of 335 public markets with more than 72,000 stores, with 282,000 sources of employment and contributing 1.7% to commercial GDP.