Mexico's Digital Payments Law Took Effect November 5, With No Business Required to Stop Taking Cash Until Hacienda Names Strategic Sectors
Mexico's Ley de Economía Digital para Pagos Digitales y Electrónicos was published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on November 4, 2026 and took effect the next day, November 5. The law does not, on commencement, stop anyone accepting cash; it creates the power to designate strategic sectors in which digital payment may be the only form accepted. The finance ministry, the Secretaría de Hacienda, has 15 business days from entry into force to define the strategic sectors and activities, after which each sector's authorities have a further 15 business days to issue general rules. No sector has been formally designated; petrol stations and toll booths are cited as examples contemplated, not as designations made.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said at her morning press conference on November 9 that cash will not be removed and digital payments will be encouraged gradually, with electronic payment intended to become the form at petrol stations, a gradual transition at toll booths, and no restriction for shops and other daily-consumption establishments. Article 15 permits payment in cash or by cheque where a failure or contingency prevents electronic payment, and provides that the exception may not be used permanently or recurrently to avoid the law's obligations.
Source: Diario Oficial de la Federación
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图中是位于墨西哥城的墨西哥银行（Banco de México）大楼外立面。Wikimedia Commons — ProtoplasmaKid, CC BY 4.0
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