Overview
- The Chamber of Deputies approved the Ley de Economía Digital para Pagos Digitales y Electrónicos by a vote of 327–122 on Wednesday, October 7 and sent the bill to the Senate for further review.
- The draft, promoted by President Claudia Sheinbaum, aims to push wider use of cards, transfers, QR codes and NFC, and to allow CURP Digital and an Expediente Digital Ciudadano to speed remote financial onboarding.
- Article 13 would let the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público (SHCP) designate “sectors estratégicos y actividades relevantes” where digital payments could become the only accepted form, a power criticized by opposition lawmakers for its breadth.
- Supporters say the law modernizes payments and expands inclusion but critics warn Mexico lacks uniform infrastructure, clear privacy safeguards and concrete measures for small merchants and unbanked people; the text does require cash or check be allowed during short technology outages.
- If the Senate approves the bill, regulators and sectoral authorities will set the technical rules and transition timetables, and the change will build on existing systems such as SPEI, CoDi and DiMo while confronting the fact that cash still dominates small transactions in Mexico.