Latin America and the Caribbean
Source tier A. Conventions checked 2026-07-29.
Drug and firearms law in Mexico: statutes on record and in force
Mexico, in Latin America and the Caribbean, is party to all four of the instruments tracked here, the last of them since 2004. It appears on neither FATF list. Its confirmed instrument on record is the Código Penal Federal. Nothing below is asserted without the document it came from being named alongside it.
International framework
Mexico is bound by all four instruments this dataset tracks, the earliest from 1990 and the most recent from 2004.
| Instrument | Adopted | Ratified or acceded | Depositary reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 Convention | 1988 | 11 Apr 1990 | Chapter VI-19 |
| UNTOC | 2000 | 4 Mar 2003 | Chapter XVIII-12 |
| UNCAC | 2003 | 20 Jul 2004 | Chapter XVIII-14 |
| Firearms Protocol | 2001 | 10 Apr 2003 | Chapter XVIII-12-c |
What each instrument obliges a party to do is set out once, per instrument, in the conventions reference. The dates above are what is specific to Mexico: they are the points from which each obligation began to bind, taken from the depositary's own status tables.
National legislation
These are the instruments an official source confirms for Mexico. The list is what could be cited, not necessarily everything in force.
Código Penal Federal — A code rather than a dedicated statute: the offences sit within the general body of law and are read together with its provisions on attempt, participation and sentencing. Confirmed against www.unodc.org, checked 2026-07-30.
Enforcement authorities
2 bodies are named in the record for Mexico, each confirmed on Mexico's own government domain. Naming the body matters because the treaty obligations above bind the state, while the powers to act on them sit with particular institutions under national law.
Ratification sequence
How a state assembled its treaty position is itself a fact about the position. Mexico came to these instruments over 14 years, beginning with the 1988 Convention in 1990 and ending with the UNCAC in 2004. Measured against each instrument's own adoption, the shortest gap was the UNCAC at 1 year, the longest the UNTOC at 3.
Mexico became a party to the 1988 Convention in 1990, 2 years after it was adopted — faster than the median lag of 5 years across this dataset.
The years in between are the ones a case from that period would have to be judged against. For the 13 years between 1990 and 2003, Mexico was bound by the 1988 Convention but not yet by the UNTOC, the Firearms Protocol or the UNCAC. Nothing in the later instruments reaches back into that window, which is why a complete position today says little about a case from then.
On coverage, Mexico is one of 81 jurisdiction s here party to 4 of the four, against 81 party to all four. Latin America and the Caribbean accounts for 33 of the records here; 3 of them carry a current monitoring listing.
Position on the trafficking corridors
Mexico sits on the central american isthmus, one of the six corridors profiled here. How this leg compares with the others is the question the figures below answer.
The Central American isthmus — 9 jurisdictions, carrying cocaine. The legs either side of Mexico in the reporting are Belize. Across the corridor as a whole, 7 of the 9 legs are party to all four instruments, 2 sit outside the Firearms Protocol, every leg carries a confirmed national instrument , and none is under increased monitoring. Mexico clears all three of those checks. The full corridor profile lists the jurisdictions it runs through in order.
Financial-crime monitoring
As of the FATF plenary statements of 2026-06-19, Mexico is recorded as Not listed . Absence from both lists is not a clean bill of health: it means no strategic deficiency has been identified, which is not the same as none existing. The mechanics of listing and delisting are on the FATF grey list tracker.
Questions about drug and firearms law in Mexico
Which drug-control conventions has Mexico ratified?
All four: the 1988 Convention on 11 Apr 1990, the UNTOC on 4 Mar 2003, the UNCAC on 20 Jul 2004, the Firearms Protocol on 10 Apr 2003.
Is Mexico on the FATF grey list?
No. Mexico appears on neither the increased-monitoring list nor the call-for-action list in the FATF statements of 19 June 2026.
What national drug legislation is on record for Mexico?
Código Penal Federal, confirmed against www.unodc.org.
Which register confirms the legislation on this page?
Each instrument names its own. For Mexico that is www.unodc.org. Following the link reaches the document itself; nothing here paraphrases an instrument it has not cited.
What is source tier A, and why is this record in it?
Tier A means a national instrument has been confirmed against an official register — for Mexico, 1 of them. The treaty dates and the listing status are separately sourced, so all three layers of this record carry a citation.
Why does the ratification date matter?
The date is the point from which the obligations bind. Mexico's earliest of these commitments dates from 1990, its most recent from 2004; the gap between them is a rough measure of how long the framework took to assemble.
Sources
- Ratification dates: United Nations Treaty Collection, depositary status tables (chapters VI-19, XVIII-12, XVIII-14, XVIII-12-c). Checked 2026-07-29.
- Listing status: FATF, Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring and High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action, 2026-06-19.
- Código Penal Federal: www.unodc.org, checked 2026-07-30.