The Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) will create and disseminate the List of Contracts for Specialized Services or Works, a list of companies of outsourcing which will be updated on a monthly basis and will be fed with the data that the companies will share through the Information on Contracts for Services or Specialized Works (ICSOE) every four months, based on the report that must be delivered no later than the 17th of May.
The ICSOE is a platform for specialized service companies to comply with the new legal provision established with the subcontracting reform: deliver quarterly reports to the social security authority on the contracts signed in the previous quarter or, alternatively, submit the information without data when no transactions were recorded.
Unlike the Registry of Providers of Specialized Services or Specialized Works (Repse), which coordinates the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), the ICSOE It is a platform for companies that already have the Repse to report their contracts.
This public list that the IMSS will create follows from the ICSOE guidelines published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) last April. The information that will be made public IMSS on its website will be:
- Name, denomination or business name of the contractor and contracting party
- Type of person of both the provider and the beneficiary
- Contract sheet
- Contracted service or work
- Start and end date of the contract
- Number of workers with whom the contract will be fulfilled
- Corresponding quarter of the information
- Year of the information
- Report Type
- Informative sheet
- Date of presentation.
With the outsourcing reformthe companies providing services or specialized works are obliged to report to the IMSS the contracts concluded in the four-month period, this report is delivered three times a year in the months of may, September Y January.
In various forums, the social security authorities have explained that the reports delivered through the ICSOE are intended to limit the joint and several liability that the contractors have with the contractor’s workers.
On the other hand, the same guidelines that give life to the list of specialized service contracts make official the complementary informativea resource that companies will have to correct or update the quarterly reports shared in the ICSOE, as well as the authorization that the contractor can grant to the contracting party to consult in detail the data shared with the IMSS.
Among the guidelines for ICSOE operation More teeth are also contemplated for the authority to corroborate the information provided by specialized service providers. The IMSS will be empowered to request in writing from the contractors and related third parties information and data to confirm the data on the operations reported in the four-month period by the service providers.
“If there is evidence of unreported information or differences between what is reported and what is reported by third parties, the contractor will be notified, granting 15 working days following the one in which the notification takes effect for its correction, report or clarification”, indicate the guidelines.
Although the platform will allow the delivery of complementary reports, which can reduce the risks that a service provider incurs in a fault, the firm D&M Abogados highlighted that “only up to a maximum of four supplementary statements for the same period, except in the case of the complementary update”.
They warn danger in public listing
The public list that the IMSS will make has unleashed a series of concerns and conflicting opinions among specialists in labor matters. While some observe risks, others consider that it will be a useful tool.
From the perspective of Marco Rojas, senior associate in the Employment Practice at Baker McKenzie, despite the fact that the guidelines seek to clarify the ICSOE platformthe public list that is contemplated can “go beyond the legislation”.
“In this list we could see some data that could be sensitive for some companies. They could be sensitive because some of the information on the supply chain of an employer, if I am an employer who has a supply chain and that is revealed through the IMSS platform and made public, obviously any other person can enter this list and access who my suppliers may be”, explained the specialist.
In practical terms, Marco Rojas explained, with the public list the competition of a company could know who its service providers and what services are you contracting “to reach your business model”. Although this risk is not for all companies, in cases where the supply chain plays an important role in the competitive advantage of a company.
“The risk may be higher for those employers who have a supply chain very large, where the market or the competition to reach a certain price of a product is very competitive, that is where we believe that it can be something delicate. Where we do not believe that there is much of a problem, is when you subcontract very common services that have nothing to do with your supply chain for a certain product, for example, cleaning services,” said the specialist.
From another point of view, Rodolfo Trampe, partner of Von Wobeser y Sierra, considered that the guidelines, including the public list, have the objective that the contracting party can validate the information reported by the contractor.
“Here you can authorize the contractor to review the information that the contractor uploaded, this is relevant because you have to remember that contractors are responsible solidarity of the contractor. This public list can go a little further, although it would have to be analyzed in terms of confidentiality and competition, but the purpose is that the contracting party can also review the information that its service provider is sharing”, specified the specialist.
Although one must be cautious and analyze the first publication of the list, Rafael Trampe explained that so far there are few signs that it will become something anti-competitive, but it is an issue that must be evaluated in a multidisciplinary manner. The specialist pointed out that although the IMSS will make this information public, there are no elements for companies not to comply with their reports in the ICSOE.