Social Security Law

This Law is of general observance throughout the Republic, in the form and terms it establishes; its provisions are of public order and social interest.

The purpose of social security is to guarantee the right to health, medical care, the protection of the means of subsistence and the social services necessary for individual and collective well-being, as well as the granting of a pension which, where applicable and subject to compliance with the legal requirements, shall be guaranteed by the State, ensuring equal rights and treatment without discrimination on grounds of gender.

The implementation of social security shall be aligned with the right to substantive equality between women and men, through the incorporation of a gender and human rights perspective. It shall be the responsibility of federal or local public entities or agencies and of decentralized bodies, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and other legal instruments on the matter.

Social Security is the basic instrument of social security, established as a public service of a national nature under this Law, without prejudice to the systems instituted by other legal instruments.

The organization and administration of Social Security, in the terms set forth in this Law, are the responsibility of the decentralized public body with its own legal personality and assets, of tripartite operational composition, since the public, social and private sectors participate in it, named the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), which also has the status of an autonomous fiscal body.

For the purposes of this Law, the following definitions apply:

I. Law: the Social Security Law;

II. Code: the Federal Tax Code (CFF);

III. Institute: the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS);

IV. Employers, employer or employing person: the individual or legal entity that has such status under the Federal Labor Law (LFT);

V. Workers or worker: the individual whom the Federal Labor Law defines as such;

VI. Permanent worker: one who has an employment relationship for an indefinite term;

VII. Casual worker: one who has an employment relationship for a specific work or for a fixed term under the Federal Labor Law;

VIII. Obligated parties or obligated party: those indicated in Articles 12, 13, 229, 230, 241 and 250-A of the law, when they have the obligation to withhold the employer-employee contributions to Social Security or to make the payment thereof, and the others established in this law;

IX. Persons or person subject to insurance: those indicated in Articles 12, 13, 241 and 250 A of the Law;

X. Jointly and severally liable parties or jointly and severally liable party: for the purposes of social security contributions, those defined as such by Article 26 of the Code and those provided for in this Law;

XI. Insured persons or insured person: the worker or person subject to insurance registered with the Institute, under the Law;

XII. Beneficiaries: the spouse of the insured man or woman or of the male or female pensioner and, in the absence thereof, the female or male common-law partner, as the case may be, or whoever has entered into a civil union with the insured man or woman or the male or female pensioner, whatever their sex, as well as the ascendants and descendants of the insured person or of the pensioner indicated in the law;

XIII. Beneficiaries (derechohabientes) or beneficiary (derechohabiente): the insured person, the pensioner and the beneficiaries of both who, under the Law, have a current right to receive the benefits of the Institute;

XIV. Pensioners or pensioner: the insured person who, by resolution of the Institute, has been granted a pension for: total permanent disability; partial permanent disability greater than fifty percent or, as the case may be, partial permanent disability between twenty-five and fifty percent; invalidity; unemployment at an advanced age and old age, as well as the beneficiaries of such person when, by resolution of the Institute, they have been granted a widowhood, orphanhood or ascendants' pension;

XV. Employer-employee contributions or contributions: the social security contributions established in the Law payable by the employer, the worker and obligated parties;

XVI. Assessment statements or assessment statement (cédula de determinación): the magnetic, digital, electronic, optical, magneto-optical or any other medium, or the printed document, in which the employer or obligated party determines the amount of the contributions to be paid over to the Institute, which may be issued and delivered by the Institute itself;

XVII. Settlement statements or settlement statement (cédula de liquidación): the magnetic, digital, electronic or any other medium, or the printed document, by which the Institute, in the exercise of its powers as an autonomous fiscal body, determines in a liquid amount the tax debts (créditos fiscales) in its favor provided for in the Law;

XVIII. Wages or wage: the remuneration that the Federal Labor Law defines as such;

XIX. Temporary agricultural worker: the individual who performs work aimed at obtaining food or primary products through the performance of various agricultural, horticultural, livestock, forestry, aquaculture, poultry, beekeeping or other similar tasks, provided these are not subjected to any type of industrial process and as long as they are carried out in rural areas. Their hiring is for a specific work, for a fixed term or by season according to the nature or the specific needs of the aforementioned activities. If they work continuously for a period of more than twenty-seven weeks for one or several employers, they shall be considered a permanent worker. To calculate the weeks worked and determine the manner of contribution, the provisions of the law and of the respective regulations shall apply;

XX. Independent or self-employed worker: an individual who is not subject to a relationship of labor subordination and who does not receive a wage but generates income from the free exercise of his or her profession, trade or activity, as well as ejidatarios, comuneros, settlers and small landowners, employers with insured workers in their service, or those persons who cover the payment of the employer-employee contributions established for voluntary incorporation into the mandatory regime, except for the persons subject to insurance established in section V of Article 13;

XXI. Civil union: the bilateral legal act that is constituted when individuals of different or the same sex, of legal age and with full legal capacity, establish a common household with the intention of permanence and mutual support, from which support (alimony), succession or similar obligations derive, and which is recognized in the legislation of the states, whatever the name it acquires, and

XXII. Daycare service: the right of insured working mothers and fathers, widows and widowers or divorced persons with custody of their children, during their working hours.

XXIII. IMSS Mailbox (Buzón IMSS): the electronic communication system implemented and administered by the Mexican Social Security Institute and established on its Internet page, through which it may serve notice of any act, request or administrative resolution it issues in digital documents, and report on matters of interest; through which private parties may file submissions, applications and notices or comply with their obligations and with the requests made by the Institute, by means of digital documents, as well as make inquiries regarding their tax and administrative situation before the Institute, and

XXIV. Private Persons: beneficiaries (derechohabientes), employers, obligated parties, certified public accountants, authorized certified public accountants, jointly and severally liable parties, related third parties, whether individuals or legal entities, and legal representatives who carry out actions before the Institute through the IMSS Mailbox.

With respect to marriages entered into between persons of the same sex, this law recognizes such unions with the same rights and obligations as those entered into between a man and a woman.

Social Security comprises:

I. The mandatory regime, and

II. The voluntary regime.

Social Security covers the contingencies and provides the services specified with respect to each particular regime, through benefits in kind and in cash, in the forms and conditions provided for by this Law and its regulations.

In order to receive or, as the case may be, continue to enjoy the benefits granted by this Law, beneficiaries (derechohabientes) shall comply with the requirements established therein and in its regulations.

For such purpose, the Institute shall issue to all derechohabientes an identification document so that they may exercise the rights conferred on them by the Law, as the case may be.

The tax provisions of this Law that impose burdens on private parties and those that establish exceptions thereto, as well as those that set forth infractions and penalties, are of strict application. Rules referring to the subject, object, contribution base and rate are considered to impose burdens.

In the absence of an express rule in this Law, the provisions of the Federal Labor Law (LFT), of the Code or of the general law shall apply supplementarily, in that order, when their application is not contrary to the very nature of the social security regime established by this Law.

The Institute shall be subject to Title Three A of the Federal Administrative Procedure Law for the purposes provided for therein, with the exceptions indicated by said law and those corresponding to the formalities and procedures directly related to the provision of medical services of a preventive, diagnostic, rehabilitation, hospital management and treatment nature.

The benefits that correspond to insured persons and their beneficiaries are not subject to attachment. Only in cases of support (alimony) obligations owed by them may pensions and subsidies be attached by the judicial authority up to fifty percent of their amount.

The mandatory regime comprises the following insurance:

I. Occupational risks;

II. Sickness and maternity;

III. Invalidity and life;

IV. Retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age, and

V. Daycare and social benefits.

The following are persons subject to insurance under the mandatory regime:

I. Persons who, in accordance with Articles 20 and 21 of the Federal Labor Law (LFT), provide, on a permanent or casual basis, to others that are individuals or legal entities or to economic units without legal personality, a remunerated, personal and subordinated service, whatever the act giving rise to it and whatever the legal personality or economic nature of the employer, even if the employer, by virtue of a special law, is exempt from the payment of contributions;

II. Members of cooperative societies;

III. The persons determined by the Federal Executive through the respective Decree, under the terms and conditions indicated in this Law and the corresponding regulations, and

IV. Domestic workers.

The following may voluntarily be persons subject to insurance under the mandatory regime:

I. Independent or self-employed workers;

II. (Repealed.)

III. (Repealed.)

IV. (Repealed.)

V. Workers in the service of the public administrations of the Federation, states (federal entities) and municipalities that are excluded from or not included in other laws or decrees as subjects of social security.

The modalities and dates of incorporation into the mandatory regime of the persons subject to insurance included in this article shall be established by agreement with the Institute.

Said agreements shall be subject to the regulations issued for such purpose by the Federal Executive.

The agreements referred to in the preceding article shall establish:

I. The start date of the provision of services and the persons subject to insurance it covers;

II. The term;

III. The benefits to be granted;

IV. The contributions payable by the insured persons and other obligated parties;

V. The contribution payable by the Federal Government, where applicable;

VI. The registration procedures and those for the collection of contributions, and

VII. The other modalities required under this Law and its regulations.

Employers are obligated to:

I. Register themselves and enroll their workers with the Institute, report their hirings and separations, the changes in their wages and the other data, within terms not exceeding five business days;

II. Keep records, such as payrolls and pay lists in which the number of days worked and the wages received by their workers are invariably recorded, in addition to other data required by this Law and its regulations. It is mandatory to keep these records for the five years following their date;

III. Determine the employer-employee contributions payable by them and pay their amount over to the Institute;

IV. Provide the Institute with the elements necessary to determine the existence, nature and amount of the obligations payable by them established by this Law and the corresponding regulations;

V. Allow the inspections and on-site audits (visitas domiciliarias) carried out by the Institute, which shall be subject to the provisions of this Law, the Code and the respective regulations;

VI. In the case of employers engaged permanently or sporadically in construction activity, they shall issue and deliver to each worker a written record of the number of days worked and the wage received, weekly or biweekly, according to the established pay periods, which, where applicable, may be exhibited by the workers to prove their rights.

Likewise, they shall cover the employer-employee contributions, even in the event that it is not possible to determine the worker or workers to whom they should be applied, due to the employer's failure to comply with the obligations provided for in the preceding sections; in this latter case, the amount thereof shall be allocated to the General Financial and Actuarial Reserve referred to in Article 280, section IV of this Law, without prejudice to the granting of the deferred benefits that correspond to those workers who prove their rights;

VII. Comply with the obligations imposed on them by Chapter Six of Title II of this Law, in relation to the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance;

VIII. Comply with the other provisions of this Law and its regulations, and

IX. Issue and deliver, in the case of temporary or casual urban or agricultural workers, a record of the days worked in accordance with the provisions of the respective regulations.

The provisions contained in sections I, II, III and VI do not apply in cases of construction, expansion or repair of real property, when the work is performed personally by the owner, or works carried out through community cooperation, and the fact must be proven under the respective regulations.

The information referred to in sections I, II, III and IV shall be provided to the Institute in a printed document, or in magnetic, digital, electronic, optical, magneto-optical or any other media, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and its regulations.

The contracting of specialized services or the performance of specialized works shall comply with the conditions and requirements established in the Federal Labor Law (LFT).

The individual or legal entity that contracts the provision of services or the performance of works with another individual or legal entity that fails to comply with its social security obligations shall be jointly and severally liable in relation to the workers used to perform such contracts.

The individual or legal entity that provides specialized services or performs specialized works shall provide every four months, no later than the 17th day of the months of January, May and September, the information on the contracts entered into in the four-month period in question, as follows:

I. Of the parties to the contract: Name, corporate name or firm name; Federal Taxpayers Registry (RFC), registered or conventional address if different from the tax domicile, email and contact telephone number.

II. Of each contract: Purpose; term of validity; list of workers or other persons who will provide the specialized services or perform the specialized works for the benefit of the beneficiary, indicating their name, CURP, social security number and contribution base wage, as well as the name and Federal Taxpayers Registry number of the beneficiary of the services for each of the contracts.

III. Plain copy of the registration issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) for the provision of specialized services or the performance of specialized works.

For the verification of compliance with the obligations established in the Federal Labor Law and in this legal instrument, the Institute and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare shall enter into collaboration agreements for the exchange of information and the performance of joint verification actions, within their respective spheres of competence.

The Institute shall inform the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of any failure to comply with the requirements indicated in this article for the purposes indicated in the Federal Labor Law itself.

Persons who are not in the situation established in the penultimate paragraph of Article 15 of this Law, who carry out expansions or remodeling of their dwelling, or the construction of their own dwelling, and those who sporadically carry out expansions or remodeling of any type of work, may enter into an agreement for payment in installments of the employer-employee contributions payable by them, from the moment they register the workers in charge of such works, individualizing the worker's account.

Employers who, in accordance with the regulations, have an annual average of three hundred or more workers in the immediately preceding fiscal year are obligated to have their compliance with their obligations before the Institute reported on (dictaminar) by an authorized certified public accountant, under the terms indicated in the regulations issued for such purpose by the Federal Executive.

Employers who are not in the situation of the preceding paragraph may choose to have their contributions to the Institute reported on by an authorized certified public accountant, under the aforementioned regulations.

Employers who file a report (dictamen) shall not be subject to an on-site audit (visita domiciliaria) for the fiscal years reported on, unless:

I. The report has been filed with a disclaimer of opinion, with an adverse opinion or with qualifications on aspects that, in the judgment of the public accountant, concern essential elements of the report, or

II. As a result of the internal review of the report, differences payable by the employer are determined and these are not clarified and, as the case may be, paid.

When giving the notices referred to in section I of Article 15 of this Law, the employer may state in writing the grounds on which it bases any exception or doubt regarding its obligations, without thereby being relieved from paying the corresponding contributions. The Institute, within a term of forty-five business days, shall serve on the employer the resolution it issues and, where applicable, shall proceed to deregister the employer, the worker or both, as well as to make the corresponding refund.

The information provided by employers for their registration may be analyzed by the Institute in order to verify the existence of the situations and requirements established in this Law. If the Institute determines that the situations provided for in Article 12, section I, of this Law do not exist, it shall serve notice on the presumed employer so that, within a term of five business days, it may state whatever is in its interest and, in the event that it does not disprove such situations, the Institute shall proceed to deregister the presumed employer, the presumed workers or both.

In the preceding case, the Institute shall apply the amounts paid to reimburse its administrative and operating expenses, without prejudice to the rights of the presumed worker to claim, as the case may be, the amounts that have been deposited in the individual account opened in his or her name, under this Law.

Workers have the right to request their registration from the Institute, to report changes in their wages and other working conditions and, as the case may be, to submit the documentation that proves such relationship and demonstrates the period worked and the wages received. The foregoing does not release employers from compliance with their obligations nor exempt them from the penalties and liabilities they may have incurred.

Likewise, the worker, through the Institute, may carry out the administrative formalities necessary to exercise the rights deriving from the pensions established by this Law.

For the purposes of this Law, cooperative societies shall pay the contribution corresponding to employers, and each of the members referred to in section II of Article 12 of this Law shall cover their contributions as workers.

The weeks recognized for the granting of the benefits referred to in this title shall be obtained by dividing the accumulated days of contribution by seven; once this division is made, if there is a remainder of more than three days, it shall be considered as another full week, and the excess shall not be taken into account if the number of days is three or fewer.

Notices of separation of workers who are temporarily disabled for work shall not take effect for the purposes of Social Security while the state of disability lasts.

The documents, data and reports that workers, employers and other persons provide to the Institute, in compliance with the obligations imposed on them by this Law, shall be strictly confidential and may not be communicated or disclosed on a nominative and individual basis.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply when:

I. It concerns proceedings and procedures in which the Institute is a party;

II. Collaboration agreements have been entered into with the Federation, states (federal entities) or municipalities or their respective public administrations, for the exchange of information related to the fulfillment of their objectives, with the restrictions agreed upon in the agreements, which shall invariably include a clause on confidentiality and non-disclosure of the information exchanged;

III. It is requested by the Ministry of Public Administration (Secretaría de la Función Pública), the Internal Comptroller's Office of the Institute, the federal tax authorities, the social security institutions and the Federal public prosecutor's office, in the exercise of their powers, and

IV. In the cases provided for by law.

The Institute may enter into collaboration agreements with the social or private sectors for the exchange of statistical information related to the fulfillment of its objectives, with the restriction referred to in the first paragraph of this article and those agreed upon in the agreements themselves.

The information deriving from the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance shall be provided directly, where applicable, by the Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs), as well as by the information processing companies of the Retirement Savings System (SAR). This information shall be subject, as regards confidentiality, to the general provisions issued by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR), under the corresponding law.

When collective agreements grant benefits lower than those granted by this Law, the employer shall pay the Institute all the contributions proportional to the contractual benefits. To satisfy the differences between the latter and those established by the Law, the parties shall cover the corresponding contributions.

If benefits equal to those established by this Law are agreed upon in the collective agreements, the employer shall pay the Institute the employer-employee contributions in full.

In cases where the collective agreements provide for benefits greater than those granted by this Law, the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply up to the equality of benefits, and with respect to the excess benefits the employer shall remain obligated to fulfill them. In the case of economic benefits, the employer may contract with the Institute the corresponding additional insurance, under Title Three, Chapter II of this Law.

The Institute, through a technical-legal study of the collective bargaining agreements, after first hearing the interested parties, shall make the actuarial valuation of the contractual benefits, comparing them individually with those of the Law, in order to prepare the corresponding contribution distribution tables.

Employers shall have the right to deduct from the amount of the contractual benefits they must cover directly the amounts corresponding to the benefits of the same nature granted by the Institute.

In the cases provided for by Article 23, the State shall contribute the contribution that corresponds to it under this Law, regardless of the one payable by the employer resulting from the actuarial valuation of its agreement, the employer paying both its own contribution and the part of the worker's contribution that corresponds to it according to said valuation.

To cover the benefits in kind of the sickness and maternity insurance of pensioners and their beneficiaries, in the occupational risks, invalidity and life, as well as retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance, employers, workers and the State shall contribute a contribution of one point five percent of the contribution base wage. Of said contribution, the employer shall pay one point zero five percent, the workers zero point three hundred seventy-five percent and the State zero point zero seventy-five percent.

The provisions of this Law that refer to employers and workers shall apply, as appropriate, to the other obligated parties and persons subject to insurance.

The contribution base wage is made up of the payments made in cash by daily rate, bonuses, perquisites, food, housing, premiums, commissions, benefits in kind and any other amount or benefit delivered to the worker for his or her work. The following items are excluded, given their nature, as components of the contribution base wage:

I. Work instruments such as tools, clothing and other similar items;

II. Savings, when made up of a deposit of an equal weekly, biweekly or monthly amount by the worker and the company; if constituted in a different manner or if the worker may withdraw it more than twice a year, it shall form part of the wage; nor shall the amounts granted by the employer for social purposes of a union nature be taken into account;

III. The additional contributions that the employer agrees to grant in favor of its workers as contributions to the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance;

IV. The contributions that under this Law the employer must cover, the contributions to the National Workers' Housing Fund Institute (INFONAVIT), and employee profit sharing (PTU);

V. Food and housing when provided to the workers for a charge; these benefits are understood to be for a charge when the worker pays for each of them at least twenty percent of the general daily minimum wage in force in the Federal District;

VI. Groceries in kind or in cash, provided their amount does not exceed forty percent of the general daily minimum wage in force in the Federal District;

VII. Attendance and punctuality bonuses, provided the amount of each of these items does not exceed ten percent of the contribution base wage;

VIII. The amounts contributed for social purposes, these being considered as those delivered to constitute funds of a pension plan established by the employer or deriving from collective bargaining. Pension plans shall be only those that meet the requirements established by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR), and

IX. Overtime within the limits indicated in the Federal Labor Law (LFT).

For the items mentioned in this provision to be excluded as components of the contribution base wage, they shall be duly recorded in the employer's accounting records.

For the items provided for in sections VI, VII and IX, when the amount of these benefits exceeds the established percentage, only the excess shall be included in the contribution base wage.

Insured persons shall be registered with the contribution base wage they receive at the time of their enrollment, the upper limit being established as the equivalent of twenty-five times the general minimum wage in force in the Federal District and the lower limit as the general minimum wage of the respective geographic area.

The contribution base for the obligated parties indicated in section II of Article 12 of this Law shall be made up of the total perquisites they receive for the contribution of their personal work, applying as appropriate the provisions of Articles 28, 29, 30, 32 and other applicable articles of this Law.

To determine the manner of contribution, the following rules shall apply:

I. The calendar month shall be the contribution payment period;

II. To set the daily wage in the event that it is paid weekly, biweekly or monthly, the corresponding remuneration shall be divided by seven, fifteen or thirty, respectively. An analogous procedure shall be used when the wage is set for periods other than those indicated, and

III. If, due to the nature or particular features of the work, the wage is not stipulated per week or per month, but per day worked and covers fewer days than those of a week, or the insured person works reduced hours and his or her wage is determined per unit of time, in no case shall contributions be received based on a wage lower than the minimum.

To determine the daily contribution base wage, the following shall apply:

I. When, in addition to the fixed elements of the wage, the worker regularly receives other periodic remuneration of a previously known amount, these shall be added to said fixed elements;

II. If, due to the nature of the work, the wage is made up of variable elements that cannot be known in advance, the total income received during the two immediately preceding months shall be added together and divided by the number of days of wages earned in that period. In the case of a newly hired worker, the probable wage corresponding to him or her in said period shall be taken, and

III. In cases where a worker's wage is made up of fixed and variable elements, it shall be considered of a mixed nature, and therefore, for contribution purposes, the average obtained from the variable elements under the preceding section shall be added to the fixed elements.

When, due to the worker's absences from work, wages are not paid but the employment relationship continues, the monthly contribution shall be adjusted to the following rules:

I. If the worker's absences are for periods of fewer than eight consecutive or interrupted days, contributions shall be made and paid for said periods only in the sickness and maternity insurance. In these cases employers shall submit the corresponding clarification, indicating that these are contributions omitted due to absenteeism, and shall prove the non-payment of the respective wages by exhibiting the corresponding pay lists or payrolls. For this purpose, the number of days of each month shall be obtained by subtracting from the total days contained in the contribution period in question the number of absences without payment of wages corresponding to the same period.

If the worker's absences are for periods of eight consecutive days or more, the employer shall be released from the payment of the employer-employee contributions, provided it proceeds under Article 37;

II. In the cases of sections II and III of Article 30, the same rules of the preceding section shall be followed;

III. In the case of absences of workers included in section III of Article 29, whatever the nature of the wage they receive, the regulations shall determine what is appropriate in accordance with the criterion upheld in the foregoing bases, and

IV. In the case of absences covered by medical disability certificates issued by the Institute, it shall not be mandatory to cover the employer-employee contributions, except with respect to the retirement branch.

If, in addition to the wage in money, the worker receives from the employer, at no cost to the worker, housing or food, his or her wage shall be deemed increased by twenty-five percent, and if he or she receives both benefits it shall be increased by fifty percent.

When the food does not cover the three meals, but only one or two of them, the wage shall be increased by eight point thirty-three percent for each of them.

For the enjoyment of cash benefits, in the event that the insured person provides services to several employers, the sum of the wages received in the different jobs shall be taken into account; when this is lower than the upper limit established in Article 28, the employers shall separately cover the contributions to which they are obligated based on the wage that each of them pays the insured person.

When the sum of the wages received by a worker reaches or exceeds the upper limit established in Article 28 of this Law, at the request of the employers, they shall cover the contributions of the maximum contribution wage, paying among themselves the proportional part resulting between the wage each one individually covers and the total sum of the wages the worker receives.

When, while the insured person is in the service of the same employer, the stipulated wage is modified, the following shall apply:

I. In the cases provided for in section I of Article 30, the employer shall be obligated to submit to the Institute the notices of modification of the daily contribution base wage within a maximum term of five business days, counted from the day following the date on which the wage changes;

II. In the cases provided for in section II of Article 30, employers shall be obligated to report to the Institute, within the first five business days of the months of January, March, May, July, September and November, the modifications of the average daily wage obtained in the preceding two-month period, and

III. In the cases provided for in section III of Article 30, if the fixed elements of the wage are modified, the employer shall submit the notice of modification within the five business days following the date on which the wage changes. If, at the end of the respective two-month period, there was a modification of the variable elements that form part of the wage, the employer shall submit to the Institute the notice of modification under section II above.

The daily wage shall be determined by dividing the total amount of the variable income obtained in the preceding two-month period by the number of days of wages earned and adding the result to the fixed elements of the daily wage.

In all cases provided for in this article, if the modification originates from a revision of the collective agreement, it shall be reported to the Institute within the thirty calendar days following its execution.

Cooperative societies shall submit the notices of modification of the contribution base perquisites of their members, in accordance with the provisions of this article.

Changes in the contribution base wage deriving from the modifications indicated in the preceding article, as well as those that by Law must be made to the minimum wage, shall take effect as of the date on which the change occurred, both for contributions and for cash benefits.

The employer shall pay in full the contribution indicated for workers in cases where they receive the minimum wage as their daily rate.

As long as the employer does not submit to the Institute the notice of separation of the worker, its obligation to cover the respective employer-employee contributions shall continue; however, if it is proven that said worker was registered by another employer, the Institute shall return to the defaulting employer, at its request, the amount of the employer-employee contributions overpaid, as of the date of the new registration.

When paying wages to its workers, the employer shall withhold the contributions that the workers must cover.

When it does not do so in a timely manner, it may only deduct from the worker four accumulated weekly contributions, the remainder being payable by the employer.

The employer shall have the status of withholding agent of the contributions it deducts from its workers and shall determine and pay over to the Institute the employer-employee contributions, under the terms established by this Law and its regulations.

Employer-employee contributions accrue monthly in arrears, and the employer is obligated to determine their amounts on the printed forms or using the computer program authorized by the Institute. Likewise, the employer shall submit to the Institute the contribution assessment statements for the month in question and make the respective payment no later than the seventeenth day of the immediately following month.

The obligation to determine the contributions shall be fulfilled even in the event that the corresponding payment is not made within the term indicated in the preceding paragraph.

Constitutive capitals (capitales constitutivos) are final at the time they are served and must be paid to the Institute under the terms and within the time limits provided for in this Law.

Without prejudice to the provisions of the first paragraph of the preceding article, the Institute, in support of employers, may deliver a proposed assessment statement, prepared with the data it has on the enrollment movements reported to the Institute by the employers themselves and, as the case may be, by their workers under this Law.

The proposal referred to in the preceding paragraph may be delivered by the Institute in a printed document or, upon written request of the employer or its legal representative, in magnetic, digital, electronic or any other media.

In the case of employers who receive the proposal through magnetic, digital, electronic, optical, magneto-optical or any other media and choose to use it to comply with their tax obligation, they shall invariably, for payment purposes, use the computer program previously authorized by the Institute referred to in Article 39.

When employers choose to use the proposal in a printed document to comply with the tax obligation payable by them, it shall suffice for them to submit it and make payment thereof at the office authorized by the Institute, within the term indicated in Article 39 of this Law.

If employers decide to modify the data contained in the proposals delivered, they shall adhere to the provisions of this Law and its regulations and shall record in a printed document or in the payment file generated by the authorized program all the elements necessary for the exact determination of the contributions, in accordance with the procedure indicated in the corresponding regulations.

The fact that the employer does not receive the proposed assessment statement issued by the Institute does not exempt it from complying with the obligation to determine and pay over the contributions, nor does it release it from the legal consequences deriving from non-compliance with said obligations.

The assessment statements submitted to the Institute by the employer shall have the nature of a binding act for the employer.

In the event that the employer or obligated party does not timely cover the amount of the employer-employee contributions or does so incorrectly, the Institute may determine them presumptively and set them in a liquid amount, based on the data it has or on the facts it becomes aware of in the exercise of the audit powers it enjoys as a tax authority, or through the files or documents provided by other tax authorities. This determination shall take into account both the balances in favor of the Institute and those that may be in favor of the employer due to errors in what the latter submitted.

The Institute shall proceed in the same manner in cases where, upon reviewing the assessment statements paid by employers, it detects errors or omissions from which a partial failure to pay the contributions derives.

The settlement statements prepared by the Institute shall be paid by employers within the fifteen business days following the date on which service thereof takes effect, under the Code.

In the event that the employer or obligated party voluntarily chooses to regularize its tax situation, in accordance with the regularization programs that may be established, the Institute may provide it, upon written request, with the corresponding issuance either in printed form or through magnetic, digital, electronic, optical, magneto-optical or any other media.

With respect to the settlement statements issued by the Institute in the situation indicated in the second paragraph of the preceding article, the employer may, within the five business days following the date on which service takes effect, submit clarifications to the office corresponding to its employer registration, which shall be duly substantiated and may only concern arithmetical or typographical errors, enrollment notices previously submitted by the employer to the Institute, disability certificates issued by the Institute, or factual situations that do not involve a legal dispute.

The administrative clarification shall in no case suspend or interrupt the term established for making payment up to the amount acknowledged. The Institute shall have twenty business days to resolve the administrative clarification submitted by the employer. If, once this term has elapsed, the clarification has not been resolved, the count of business days indicated in the preceding paragraph shall be suspended.

The Institute may accept duly substantiated clarifications submitted by the employer after the term indicated in this article, provided that, with respect to said statement, enforcement of the guarantee granted is not in process, a complaint appeal (recurso de inconformidad) or any other means of defense has not been filed, or, having been filed, it has been withdrawn.

The settlement statements issued by the Institute for contributions, constitutive capitals, inflation adjustment, surcharges or fines shall be served on employers personally, under the terms established in the Code. The Institute may choose, at the employer's request, to serve notices through magnetic, digital, electronic, optical, magneto-optical or any other media under the Code, in which case means of electronic identification shall be used in substitution of the handwritten signature, and they shall produce the same effects as a service of notice signed by hand and, consequently, shall have the same evidentiary value that the applicable legal provisions grant to the latter.

For the purpose of service of the settlement statements by electronic transmission, employers and obligated parties shall provide in writing, through a legal representative, to the office corresponding to their employer registration, their email address, as well as any modification thereof. In addition, they shall send an electronic acknowledgment of receipt proving the date and time of the service; in its absence, the service shall be understood to have been made on the day the Institute sent it.

Said notices shall take effect on the business day following the day on which they are made.

When contributions or constitutive capitals are not paid over within the term established in the respective provisions, the employer shall cover, as of the date on which the debts became enforceable, the corresponding inflation adjustment and surcharges under the Code, without prejudice to the applicable penalties.

The following shall be accepted as forms of payment: cash, certified or cashier's checks, as well as electronic funds transfers and credit or debit cards issued by credit institutions, under the corresponding regulations. Payment may also be made through the credit notes issued by the Institute for the refund of amounts paid over without legal justification, which shall only be received at the offices authorized by the Institute.

The employer may apply the credit notes issued by the Institute within the five years following their issuance, or request their conversion into cash once said term has expired, provided it has no debts with the Institute. In the latter case, it shall submit to the corresponding office the request for conversion into cash, to which it shall attach the original credit note so that payment thereof may be processed.

Once the indicated term has elapsed without the employer having applied the credit note or requested its conversion into cash within the fifteen days following said term, the amount thereof shall prescribe in favor of the Institute. Credit notes shall not be accepted as means of payment in the case of debts for contributions or their legal ancillary charges of the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance.

Likewise, the Institute may accept, at the request of its suppliers and contractors who have accounts payable by the Institute that are liquid and enforceable, that they apply the corresponding resources against the debts they may have for employer-employee contributions, in accordance with the provisions issued for such purpose by the Technical Council.

The Institute, at the request of employers, may grant an extension for the payment of debts owed for contributions, constitutive capitals, inflation adjustment, surcharges and fines. During the term granted, surcharges shall accrue on the inflation-adjusted unpaid balance under the terms established by the Code. The term for payment in installments shall not exceed forty-eight months.

In no case shall an extension be authorized for the payment of the contributions that employers have withheld from workers under this Law, and employers shall pay them over to the Institute within the established legal term.

The processing of the requests referred to in this article shall be carried out under the terms and with the requirements established in the respective regulations.

In the case of contributions to the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance not paid in a timely manner, a term for deferred payment may only be authorized for complete periods owed, without remission of ancillary charges.

Deferred payments made by employers based on an agreement shall be applied to the individual accounts of the workers in proportion to the contribution base wages used to determine the agreed contributions.

The deferred payment of contributions to the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance shall also accrue the ancillary charges referred to in the preceding article, the inflation-adjusted contributions and surcharges being deposited in the worker's individual account.

The Institute shall inform the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR) of all extensions involving contributions to the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance. Without prejudice to the foregoing, employers shall provide a copy of the extensions involving said contributions to the National Retirement Savings System Commission, as well as to the financial entities determined by said Commission through general rules.

The Technical Council of the Institute, by the vote of at least three quarters of its members, may authorize, on an exceptional basis and upon the employer's request, payment in installments or deferred payment of the contributions payable by it that are generated for up to the six periods following the date of its request, when it meets the following requirements:

I. Having no debts in the last two fiscal years prior to the date of the request;

II. That no differences in the payment of contributions have been determined and served on it within the two preceding fiscal years, or that these have been clarified or, as the case may be, paid;

III. Covering at least ten percent of the issuance for the respective period requested;

IV. That the term requested for payment does not exceed twelve months, as of the last period to which the corresponding request refers. The percentage in excess of that indicated in the preceding section shall be paid at the end of the term indicated in the request;

V. Demonstrating to the satisfaction of the Institute the exceptional economic reasons for which it cannot comply with its obligations, and

VI. Guaranteeing the tax interest under the Code.

During the extension period authorized for payment, no surcharges shall be collected; only the inflation adjustment and financing costs shall accrue, under the Code.

An employer may not benefit from this type of authorization in the year following the one in which it received one of them, counted from the last period of the payment term granted.

All resolutions issued in favor of employers on the basis of the provisions of this article shall be made known to the general public through the means available to the Institute to disseminate the matters it considers of general interest.

The provisions of this article shall only apply to the contributions payable by the employer. The contributions corresponding to the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance, as well as those withheld from its workers, shall be covered under the terms and conditions established by this Law.

In no case may the Institute release employers from the payment of employer-employee contributions. Nor may it remit, in whole or in part, the inflation adjustment of the contributions or the corresponding surcharges.

Occupational risks are the accidents and illnesses to which workers are exposed in the course of or by reason of work.

An occupational accident is any organic injury or functional disturbance, immediate or subsequent, or death, produced suddenly in the course of or by reason of work, whatever the place and time in which said work is performed.

An accident that occurs while the worker is traveling directly from his or her home to the workplace, or from the latter to the former, shall also be considered an occupational accident.

An occupational illness is any pathological condition deriving from the continued action of a cause originating in work or in the environment in which the worker is obliged to provide his or her services. In any case, the illnesses set forth in the Federal Labor Law (LFT) shall be occupational illnesses.

When the insured worker does not agree with the final classification of the accident or illness made by the Institute, he or she may file the complaint appeal (recurso de inconformidad).

In the situation referred to in the preceding paragraph, while the respective appeal or proceeding is being processed, the Institute shall grant the insured worker or his or her legal beneficiaries the benefits to which they are entitled under the sickness and maternity or invalidity and life insurance, provided the requirements indicated by this Law are met.

As regards the other insurance, the outcome of the complaint appeal or of the means of defense established in Article 294 of this Law shall govern.

The existence of prior conditions such as physical, mental or sensory disability, intoxications or chronic illnesses is not a cause for reducing the degree of the temporary or permanent disability, nor the benefits corresponding to the worker.

For the purposes of this Law, the following shall not be considered occupational risks when they arise from any of the following causes:

I. If the accident occurs while the worker is in a state of drunkenness;

II. If the accident occurs while the worker is under the influence of a psychotropic, narcotic or enervating drug, unless there is a prescription signed by a licensed physician and the worker has exhibited it and made the foregoing known to the employer;

III. If the worker intentionally causes a disability or injury to himself or herself, alone or in agreement with another person;

IV. If the disability or loss is the result of a fight or attempted suicide, and

V. If the loss is the result of an intentional crime for which the insured worker is responsible.

In the cases indicated in the preceding article, the following rules shall be observed:

I. The insured worker shall be entitled to the benefits set forth in the sickness and maternity insurance or to the invalidity pension indicated in this Law, if he or she meets the requirements set forth in the relevant provisions, and

II. If the risk results in the death of the insured person, his or her legal beneficiaries shall be entitled to the cash benefits granted by this chapter. With respect to the sickness and maternity benefits in kind, these shall be granted in accordance with Chapter IV of this Title.

If the Institute proves that the occupational risk was intentionally caused by the employer, by itself or through a third person, the Institute shall grant the insured person the cash and in-kind benefits established by this Law, and the employer shall be obligated to fully reimburse the Institute for the expenditures it makes for such items.

Under the terms established by the Federal Labor Law (LFT), when the insured person suffers an occupational risk due to the inexcusable fault of the employer, in the judgment of the federal labor courts, the cash benefits established by this chapter in favor of the insured worker shall be increased by the percentage that said Courts determine in their resolutions. The employer shall have the obligation to pay the Institute the constitutive capital on the corresponding increase.

In order to enjoy the cash benefits referred to in this Chapter, the insured person who suffers an occupational accident or illness shall submit to the medical examinations and treatments determined by the Institute, except when he or she justifies the reason for not doing so. The Institute shall give notice to the employer when it classifies an accident or illness as occupational, or in the event of a relapse as a result thereof.

The employer shall give notice to the Institute of the occupational accident or illness, under the terms indicated in the respective regulations.

The worker, the beneficiaries of the disabled or deceased worker, or the persons in charge of representing them may immediately report to the Institute the occupational accident or illness suffered. The notice may also be brought to the attention of the corresponding labor authority, which, in turn, shall forward it to the Institute.

The employer who conceals the occurrence of an accident suffered by any of its workers during their work or improperly reports it as a commuting accident shall be liable to the penalties determined by this Law and the respective regulations.

The employer who has insured the workers in its service against occupational risks shall be relieved, under the terms indicated by this Law, from compliance with the obligations regarding liability for this class of risks established by the Federal Labor Law (LFT).

If the employer has declared a wage lower than the actual wage, the Institute shall pay the insured person the subsidy or pension referred to in this chapter according to the wage with which he or she was registered, without prejudice to the Institute paying the pension or subsidy based on the actual wage once it is proven.

In these cases, the employer shall pay the constitutive capitals corresponding to the resulting differences, including five percent for administrative expenses on the amount of said capital, as an integral part thereof.

Occupational risks may produce:

I. Temporary disability;

II. Partial permanent disability;

III. Total permanent disability, and

IV. Death.

Temporary disability, partial permanent disability and total permanent disability shall be understood as provided in the relevant articles of the Federal Labor Law (LFT).

The insured person who suffers an occupational risk is entitled to the following benefits in kind:

I. Medical, surgical and pharmaceutical care;

II. Hospitalization service;

III. Prosthetic and orthopedic devices, and

IV. Rehabilitation.

The benefits referred to in the preceding article shall be granted in accordance with the provisions of this Law and its regulations.

The insured person who suffers an occupational risk is entitled to the following cash benefits:

I. If it disables him or her from working, he or she shall receive, for as long as the incapacity lasts, one hundred percent of the wage on which he or she was contributing at the time the risk occurred.

The enjoyment of this subsidy shall be granted to the insured person until he or she is declared fit to work, or partial or total permanent disability is declared, which shall be done within the period of fifty-two weeks of medical care resulting from the accident, without prejudice to the continuation of his or her care or rehabilitation, once the corresponding disability has been determined, in accordance with the provisions of Article 61 of this Law;

II. Upon the declaration of total permanent disability of the insured person, he or she shall receive a definitive monthly pension equivalent to seventy percent of the wage on which he or she was contributing at the time the risk occurred. In the case of occupational illnesses, it shall be calculated with the average contribution base wage of the last fifty-two weeks, or those he or she has if insured for a shorter time, to determine the amount of the pension. Likewise, the disabled person shall contract survivors' insurance for the event of his or her death, granting his or her beneficiaries the pensions and other economic benefits to which they are entitled under this Law.

The pension, the survivors' insurance and the economic benefits referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be granted by the insurance institution chosen by the worker. To contract the life annuity and survivors' insurance, the Institute shall calculate the constitutive amount necessary for their contracting. The balance accumulated in the worker's individual account shall be subtracted from the constitutive amount, and the positive difference shall be the sum insured, which the Institute shall pay to the insurance institution chosen by the worker for the contracting of the life annuity and survivors' insurance. The survivors' insurance shall cover, in the event of the death of the pensioner as a result of the occupational risk, the pension and other economic benefits referred to in this chapter, for his or her beneficiaries; if at the time the occupational risk occurred the insured person had contributed at least one hundred fifty weeks, the survivors' insurance shall also cover his or her death from causes other than occupational risks or occupational illnesses.

When the worker has an amount accumulated in his or her individual account that is greater than that necessary to make up the constitutive amount to contract a life annuity higher than the pension to which he or she is entitled under this chapter, as well as to contract the survivors' insurance, he or she may choose to:

a) Withdraw the excess sum from his or her individual account in a single payment;

b) Contract a life annuity for a greater amount; or

c) Apply the excess to the payment of an additional premium to increase the benefits of the survivors' insurance.

The life annuity and survivors' insurance shall be subject to the provisions of Article 159, sections IV and VI of this Law;

III. If the declared disability is partial permanent, greater than fifty percent, the insured person shall receive a pension that shall be granted by the insurance institution he or she chooses under the preceding section.

The amount of the pension shall be calculated according to the disability valuation table contained in the Federal Labor Law, taking as a basis the amount of the pension that would correspond to total permanent disability. The percentage of the disability shall be set between the maximum and the minimum established in said table, taking into account the worker's age, the significance of the disability, whether it is absolute for the exercise of his or her profession even if he or she remains able to engage in another, or whether his or her abilities to perform it or to engage in remunerated activities similar to his or her profession or trade have simply been diminished.

If the final valuation of the disability is up to twenty-five percent, the insured person shall be paid, in substitution of the pension, a lump-sum indemnity equivalent to five annual payments of the pension that would have corresponded to him or her. Said indemnity shall be optional for the worker when the final valuation of the disability exceeds twenty-five percent without exceeding fifty percent, and

IV. The Institute shall grant pensioners for total and partial permanent disability with a minimum of more than fifty percent disability an annual year-end bonus (aguinaldo) equivalent to fifteen days of the amount of the pension they receive.

The pension granted in the case of total permanent disability shall always be higher than the one that would correspond to the insured person for invalidity, and shall include in all cases the family allowances and the welfare assistance, as well as any other cash benefit to which he or she is entitled under this chapter.

The temporary disability certificates issued by the Institute shall be subject to the provisions of the relevant regulations.

Subsidies shall be paid for periods in arrears not exceeding seven days.

Upon the declaration of permanent disability, whether partial or total, the insured worker shall be granted the corresponding pension, on a provisional basis, for an adaptation period of two years.

During that two-year period, at any time, the Institute may order, and the insured worker shall be entitled to request, a review of the disability in order to modify the amount of the pension.

Once the adaptation period has elapsed, the definitive pension shall be granted, which shall be calculated under Article 58, sections II and III of this Law.

If the insured person who suffered an occupational risk was discharged and subsequently suffers a relapse as a result of the same occupational accident or illness, he or she shall be entitled to enjoy the subsidy referred to in section I of Article 58 of this Law, whether or not his or her status as an insured person is current, provided it is the Institute that so determines.

When the insured person who has been declared to have a total or partial permanent disability entitling him or her to contract the life annuity and the survivors' insurance under the terms provided for in Articles 58, sections II and III, 61 and 159, sections IV and VI of this Law, is rehabilitated and has remunerated work in the same activity in which he or she was engaged, providing him or her an income at least equivalent to fifty percent of the usual remuneration he or she would have received had he or she continued working, he or she shall cease to be entitled to the payment of the pension by the insurance company. In this case, the insurance company shall return to the Institute and to the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) the reserve fund for the future obligations pending coverage. The proportion of the reserve fund returned by the insurance company that shall correspond to the Institute and to the Retirement Fund Administrator shall be equivalent to the proportion represented by the sum insured and the balance of the worker's individual account in the constitution of the constitutive amount. The Retirement Fund Administrator shall reopen the worker's individual account with the resources returned to it by the insurance company.

The subsidies provided for in this chapter shall be paid directly to the insured person or his or her duly accredited representative, except in the case of mental incapacity proven before the Institute, in which case they may be paid to the person or persons in whose care the incapacitated person remains.

The Institute may enter into agreements with employers for the purpose of facilitating the payment of subsidies to their disabled workers, except for the contributions provided for in Article 168 of this Law, which shall be applied to the workers' individual accounts.

The other economic benefits shall be paid under the terms provided for in this Law.

If the occupational risk results in the death of the insured person, the Institute shall calculate the constitutive amount, from which the resources accumulated in the deceased worker's individual account shall be subtracted, in order to determine the sum insured that the Institute shall pay to the insurance institution, necessary to obtain a pension, welfare assistance and other economic benefits provided for in this chapter for the beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries shall choose the insurance institution with which they wish to contract the annuity with the resources referred to in the preceding paragraph, in accordance with the provisions of Article 159, section IV of this Law. In the event that the deceased worker has accumulated in his or her individual account a balance greater than that necessary to make up the constitutive amount required to contract an annuity higher than the amount of the pensions to which his or her beneficiaries are entitled under this chapter, they may choose to:

a) Withdraw the excess sum from the deceased worker's individual account in a single payment, or

b) Contract annuities for a greater amount.

The pensions and benefits referred to in this Law shall be:

I. The payment of an amount equal to sixty days of the general minimum wage in force in the Federal District on the date of the insured person's death.

This payment shall be made to the person, preferably a family member of the insured person, who submits a copy of the death certificate and the original bill for the funeral expenses;

II. The widow or widower of the insured person, the surviving female or male common-law partner, or whoever entered into a civil union with the insured person, shall be granted a pension equivalent to forty percent of that which would have corresponded to the insured person in the case of total permanent disability. The amount of this benefit may not be lower than the minimum amount corresponding to the widowhood pension of the invalidity and life insurance;

III. Each of the orphans who has lost their father or mother and who is totally disabled shall be granted a pension equivalent to twenty percent of that which would have corresponded to the insured person in the case of total permanent disability. This pension shall terminate when the orphan recovers his or her capacity for work;

IV. Each of the orphans who has lost their father or mother and who is under sixteen years of age shall be granted a pension equivalent to twenty percent of that which would have corresponded to the insured person in the case of total permanent disability. This pension shall terminate when the orphan turns sixteen.

The enjoyment of this pension shall be granted or extended, under the respective regulations, to orphans over sixteen years of age, up to a maximum age of twenty-five years, when they are studying at schools of the national educational system, taking into consideration the economic, family and personal conditions of the beneficiary and provided he or she is not subject to the mandatory regime;

V. In the case of the two preceding sections, if the other parent subsequently dies, the orphan's pension shall be increased from twenty to thirty percent, as of the date of death of the second parent, and shall terminate under the terms established in said sections, and

VI. Each of the orphans who has lost both father and mother, who is under sixteen years of age or up to twenty-five years of age if studying at schools of the national educational system, or for as long as he or she is totally disabled due to a chronic illness or a disability resulting from physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments that prevents him or her from supporting himself or herself through his or her own work, shall be granted a pension equivalent to thirty percent of that which would have corresponded to the insured person in the case of total permanent disability.

The right to enjoy the pensions referred to in the preceding paragraph shall terminate under the same terms expressed in sections III and IV of this provision.

At the end of the orphans' pensions established in this article, the orphan shall be granted an additional payment of three monthly installments of the pension he or she was enjoying.

The persons indicated in sections II and VI of this article, as well as the ascendants pensioned under Article 66, shall be granted an annual year-end bonus (aguinaldo) equivalent to fifteen days of the amount of the pension they receive.

Only in the absence of a spouse shall the person with whom the insured person lived as if they were married during the five years immediately preceding his or her death, or with whom he or she procreated or registered children, provided both remained free of marriage during the common-law relationship, or the person with whom he or she entered into a civil union, be entitled to receive the pension indicated in section II of the preceding article. If, upon death, the insured person had several female or male common-law partners, none of them shall enjoy the pension.

The total of the pensions attributed to the persons indicated in the preceding articles, in the event of the death of the insured person, shall not exceed the pension that would have corresponded to the insured person had he or she suffered total permanent disability. In the event of an excess, each of the pensions shall be reduced proportionally.

When the right of any of the pensioners terminates, a new distribution of the pensions that remain in force shall be made among the remaining pensioners, without exceeding the partial amounts or the total amount of said pensions.

In the absence of a widow or widower, orphans, female or male common-law partner entitled to a pension, or of whoever entered into a civil union, each of the ascendants who were economically dependent on the deceased worker shall be pensioned with an amount equal to twenty percent of the pension that would have corresponded to the insured person in the case of total permanent disability.

In the case of the widow or widower, or the female or male common-law partner, or whoever entered into a civil union and survives, the pension shall be paid as long as they do not marry, enter into a civil union or live in a common-law relationship. Upon marrying or entering into a civil union, any of the aforementioned beneficiaries shall receive a lump sum equivalent to three annual payments of the pension granted. In this latter situation, the respective insurance company shall return to the Institute the reserve fund for the future obligations pending coverage, after deducting the lump sum granted.

When two or more partial disabilities are combined, the insured person or his or her beneficiaries shall not be entitled to receive a pension greater than the one that would have corresponded to total permanent disability.

The amount of permanent disability pensions shall be adjusted annually in the month of February, according to the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) corresponding to the preceding calendar year.

The widowhood, orphans' and ascendants' pensions of the insured man or woman for occupational risks shall be reviewed and increased in the corresponding proportion, under the provisions of the preceding article.

The benefits of the occupational risks insurance, including the constitutive capitals of the liquid annuities at year-end and the administrative expenses, shall be covered in full by the contributions made for this purpose by employers and other obligated parties.

The contributions that employers must pay for the occupational risks insurance shall be determined in relation to the amount of the contribution base wage and to the risks inherent in the activity of the business in question, under the terms established by the relevant regulations.

For the purposes of setting the premiums to be covered for the occupational risks insurance, companies shall calculate their premiums by multiplying the company's claims rate by a premium factor, and 0.005 shall be added to the product. The result shall be the premium to be applied to the contribution wages, according to the following formula:

Premium = [(S/365)+V * (I + D)] * (F/N) + M Where:

V = 28 years, which is the average duration of the active life of an individual who has not been the victim of a fatal accident or of total permanent disability.

F = 2.3, which is the premium factor.

N = Average number of workers exposed to the risk.

S = Total days subsidized due to temporary disability.

I = Sum of the percentages of the permanent, partial and total disabilities, divided by 100.

D = Number of deaths.

M = 0.005, which is the minimum risk premium.

Upon registering with the Institute for the first time or upon changing activity, companies shall cover the average premium in the class that corresponds to them according to the regulations. Once the company has been placed in the premium to be paid, subsequent increases or decreases thereof shall be made in accordance with the first paragraph of this article.

Accidents that occur to workers while traveling from their home to the workplace or vice versa shall not be taken into account for the companies' claims rate.

Employers whose workplaces have an occupational management and safety system accredited by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) shall apply an F of 2.2 as the premium factor.

Companies with fewer than 10 workers may choose to file the corresponding annual return or to cover the average premium that corresponds to them according to the regulations, in accordance with Article 73 of this Law.

Upon registering with the Institute for the first time or upon changing activity, companies shall cover the average premium of the class that corresponds to them according to the Regulations, in accordance with the following table:

Average premium In percentages Class I 0.54355 Class II 1.13065 Class III 2.59840 Class IV 4.65325 Class V 7.58875

The provisions of this article shall likewise apply when the change of activity of the company originates from a final judgment or from a provision of this Law or of a regulation.

Companies shall have the obligation to review their claims rate annually, according to the period and within the term indicated by the regulations, to determine whether they remain in the same premium or whether it decreases or increases.

The premium according to which companies are covering their contributions may be modified, increasing or decreasing it in a proportion not greater than one percent with respect to that of the immediately preceding year, taking into consideration the occupational risks concluded during the period set by the respective regulations, regardless of the date on which they occurred, and the documentary evidence of the establishment of programs or actions to prevent occupational accidents and illnesses. These modifications may not exceed the limits set for the minimum and maximum premium, which shall be zero point five percent and fifteen percent of the contribution base wages, respectively.

The claims rate shall be set in accordance with the regulations on the matter.

The determination of the classes shall include a list of the various types of activities and industrial branches, cataloging them according to the greater or lesser hazard to which the workers are exposed, and assigning a specific class to each of the groups making up said list. This situation shall only apply to companies that register with the Institute for the first time or change activity.

The Technical Council of the Institute shall promote before the competent bodies, and these before the Honorable Congress of the Union, every three years, the review of the formula for calculating the premium, to ensure that the financial balance of this insurance is maintained or, as the case may be, restored, taking into account all the companies in the country. For such purpose, the opinion held on the matter by the Advisory Committee of the Occupational Risks Insurance, which shall be composed on a tripartite basis, shall be considered.

If the General Assembly so authorizes, the Technical Council may promote the review referred to in this article at any time, taking into account the experience acquired.

The employer who, being obligated to insure its workers against occupational risks, fails to do so shall pay over to the Institute, in the event the loss occurs, the constitutive capitals of the cash and in-kind benefits, in accordance with the provisions of this Law, without prejudice to the Institute immediately granting the applicable benefits.

The same rule shall be observed when the employer insures its workers in such a way that the benefits to which the insured workers or their beneficiaries are entitled are reduced, the constitutive capitals being limited, in this case, to the sum necessary to complete the corresponding benefits indicated in the Law.

This rule shall apply in the case of relapses from occupational risks, with the same employer with which the risk occurred or with a different one.

Notices of hiring or registration of insured workers and notices of changes in their wages delivered to the Institute after the loss has occurred shall in no case release the employer from the obligation to pay the constitutive capitals, even if it has submitted them within the terms indicated by Articles 15, section I and 34, sections I through III of this legal instrument.

The Institute shall determine the amount of the constitutive capitals and shall enforce them in the form and terms provided for in this Law and its regulations.

Employers who cover the constitutive capitals determined by the Institute, in the cases provided for by the preceding article, shall be released, under this Law, from compliance with the obligations regarding liability for occupational risks established by the Federal Labor Law (LFT), as well as from the obligation to pay over the contributions prescribed by this Law for the period prior to the loss, with respect to the injured worker and to the occupational risks insurance; the liability and penalties that, where applicable, are set by the Law and its regulations shall remain for all legal purposes.

Constitutive capitals are made up of the amount of one or more of the following benefits:

I. Medical care;

II. Hospitalization;

III. Medicines and healing materials;

IV. Auxiliary diagnostic and treatment services;

V. Surgical procedures;

VI. Prosthetic and orthopedic devices;

VII. Transportation expenses of the injured worker and payment of travel expenses, as the case may be;

VIII. Subsidies;

IX. Where applicable, funeral expenses;

X. Lump-sum indemnities in substitution of the pension, under the last paragraph of section III of Article 58 of this Law;

XI. Present value of the pension, which is the amount calculated as of the date of the loss which, invested at an annual compound interest rate of five percent, is sufficient, the amount paid and its interest, for the beneficiary to enjoy the pension during the time to which he or she is entitled to it, in the applicable amount and conditions determined by this Law, taking into account the probabilities of reactivation, of death and of return to work, as well as the age and sex of the pensioner, and

XII. Five percent of the amount of the items comprising it, for administrative expenses.

For the assessment of constitutive capitals, the Institute, upon beginning the care of the insured person or, as the case may be, of the beneficiary, through its medical services, shall establish the diagnosis and the required treatment, specifying its duration, type and number of benefits in kind to be granted, as well as the organic or functional sequelae deriving from the loss, and shall proceed to determine the amount of said benefits based on the unit costs per level of care applicable to the charging of services to patients who are not beneficiaries (derechohabientes).

Likewise, through its economic benefits areas, it shall calculate the amount of the economic benefits to be granted, for subsidies, funeral expenses, lump-sum indemnity and the present value of the pension, as applicable.

In accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraphs, the Institute, upon beginning the care of the insured person or, as the case may be, of the beneficiary, shall assess and collect the constitutive capitals, regardless of the fact that, upon concluding the treatment of the insured person or the beneficiary, as the case may be, it may assess new constitutive capitals for the benefits granted that were not considered in the debts initially issued.

The provisions of this article shall apply to the constitutive capitals deriving from all the insurance of the mandatory regime.

The Institute is empowered to provide services of a preventive nature, individually or through procedures of general scope, for the purpose of preventing the occurrence of occupational risks among the insured population.

In particular, the Institute shall establish programs to promote and support the application of occupational risk prevention actions in companies with up to one hundred workers.

The Institute shall coordinate with the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) and with the agencies and entities of the Federal Public Administration and of the states (federal entities), and shall likewise reach agreements with the representatives of the organizations of the social and private sectors, for the purpose of carrying out programs for the prevention of occupational accidents and illnesses.

The Institute shall carry out the research it deems appropriate on occupational risks and shall suggest to employers the appropriate techniques and practices for the purpose of preventing the occurrence of said risks.

The Institute may verify the establishment of occupational risk prevention programs or actions in those companies that, due to their recorded claims rate, may reduce the amount of the premium of this insurance.

Employers must cooperate with the Institute in the prevention of occupational risks, under the following terms:

I. Facilitating its performance of studies and research;

II. Providing it with data and reports for the preparation of statistics on occupational risks, and

III. Collaborating, within the sphere of their companies, in the adoption and dissemination of the rules on the prevention of occupational risks.

The following are covered by this insurance:

I. The insured man or woman;

II. The male or female pensioner for:

a) Total or partial permanent disability;

b) Invalidity;

c) Unemployment at an advanced age and old age, and

d) Widowhood, orphanhood or ascendancy;

III. The spouse of the insured man or woman or, in the absence thereof, the female or male common-law partner with whom he or she has lived as a married couple during the five years prior to the illness, or with whom he or she has procreated or registered children, provided both remain free of marriage, civil union or common-law relationship, or the person who has entered into a civil union with the insured man or woman. If the insured person has several female or male common-law partners, none of them shall be entitled to the protection;

IV. The wife or husband of the male or female pensioner under subsections a), b) and c) of section II; in the absence of a wife or husband, the female or male common-law partner if they meet the requirements of section III, or whoever entered into a civil union with the insured man or woman;

V. The children under sixteen years of age of the insured person and of the pensioners.

Minors under sixteen years of age over whom the insured person or pensioner exercises parental authority or care and custody or guardianship, proven by a judicial resolution, shall enjoy the same right, under the terms set forth in the preceding sections;

VI. The children of the insured person when they cannot support themselves through their own work due to a chronic illness or a disability resulting from physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, until the incapacity they suffer disappears, or up to the age of twenty-five years when they are pursuing studies at schools of the national educational system;

Minors over whom the insured person or pensioner exercises parental authority or care and custody or guardianship, proven by a judicial resolution, and who meet, as the case may be, the requirements of the preceding paragraph, shall enjoy the same right;

VII. The children over sixteen years of age of pensioners for invalidity, unemployment at an advanced age and old age who are enjoying family allowances, as well as those of pensioners for permanent disability, in the same cases and conditions established in Article 136;

Persons over sixteen years of age over whom the pensioner for invalidity, unemployment at an advanced age and old age exercises parental authority or care and custody or guardianship, proven by a judicial resolution, and who meet, as the case may be, the requirements of the preceding paragraph, shall enjoy the same right;

VIII. The father and mother of the insured person who live in the insured person's household, and

IX. The father and mother of the pensioner under subsections a), b) and c) of section II, if they meet the cohabitation requirement indicated in section VIII.

The persons included in sections III through IX, inclusive, shall be entitled to the respective benefits if they also meet the following requirements:

a) That they are economically dependent on the insured person or pensioner, and

b) That the insured person is entitled to the benefits set forth in Article 91 of this Law.

For the purposes of this insurance, the date of onset of the illness shall be the date on which the Institute certifies the ailment.

The enjoyment of maternity benefits shall begin as of the day on which the Institute certifies the state of pregnancy. The certification shall indicate the probable date of delivery, which shall serve as the basis for computing the forty-two days prior thereto, for the purposes of the enjoyment of the subsidy which, where applicable, is granted under this Law.

In order to be entitled to the benefits set forth in this chapter, the insured person, the pensioner and the beneficiaries shall comply with the medical prescriptions and treatments indicated by the Institute.

The Institute may order the hospitalization of the insured person, the pensioner or the beneficiaries when the illness so requires, particularly in the case of contagious ailments.

Hospitalization requires the express consent of the patient, unless the nature of the illness makes that measure dispensable. The hospitalization of minors and other incapacitated persons requires the consent of those who exercise parental authority or guardianship, or of the public prosecutor's office or legally competent authority.

The employer is liable for the damages and lost profits caused to the insured person, to his or her family members who are beneficiaries (derechohabientes) or to the Institute when, due to failure to comply with the obligation to register the insured person or to report the actual wages or changes therein, the cash and in-kind benefits of the sickness and maternity insurance cannot be granted, or when the amount of the subsidy to which they are entitled is reduced.

The Institute shall be subrogated in the rights of the derechohabientes and shall grant the benefits mentioned in the preceding paragraph. In this case, the employer shall pay over to the Institute the amount of the constitutive capitals. Said amount shall be deductible from the amount of the employer-employee contributions omitted up to that date corresponding to the sickness and maternity insurance of the worker in question.

The determination of the constitutive capital shall not proceed when the Institute grants the derechohabientes the cash and in-kind benefits to which they are entitled, provided that the notices of hiring or registration of the insured workers and those of changes in their wages have been delivered to the Institute within the terms indicated by Articles 15, section I and 34 of this Law.

The Institute shall provide the services entrusted to it in any of the following ways:

I. Directly, through its own personnel and facilities;

II. Indirectly, by virtue of agreements with other public or private bodies, for them to be responsible for providing the services of the sickness and maternity branch and providing the benefits in kind and subsidies of the occupational risks branch, always under the supervision and responsibility of the Institute. The agreements shall set their term of validity, the scope of the subrogated service, the payments to be made, the manner of covering them and the causes and procedures for termination, as well as the other pertinent conditions;

III. Likewise, it may enter into agreements with those who have established medical and hospital services, and it may be agreed, in the case of employers obligated to insurance, to revert part of the employer and worker contribution in proportion to the nature and amount of the relevant services. Such agreements shall provide, where applicable, for the payment of subsidies through a reimbursement system. These agreements may not be entered into without the prior consent of the workers or their representative organization;

IV. Through cooperation and collaboration agreements with health institutions and bodies of the federal, state and municipal public sectors, on terms that allow the optimal use of the installed capacity of all the institutions and bodies. Likewise, the Institute may provide service in its facilities to the population served by said institutions and bodies, according to its availability and without prejudice to its financial capacity, and

V. For the Institute, the care of pregnant women presenting an obstetric emergency shall be mandatory, whether requested directly or through referral from another medical unit, under the provisions applicable for such purpose, in the units with capacity to attend obstetric emergencies, regardless of their entitlement status or enrollment in any insurance scheme.

In any case, the persons, companies or entities referred to in this article shall be obligated to provide the Institute with the medical or administrative reports and statistics it requires of them and to comply with the instructions, technical standards, inspections and supervision prescribed by the Institute itself, under the regulations issued with respect to medical services.

The Institute shall prepare the basic formularies of medicines it deems necessary, subject to permanent updating, so that the products included therein are those of greatest therapeutic efficacy.

In the event of a non-occupational illness, the Institute shall grant the insured person the necessary medical-surgical, pharmaceutical and hospital care, from the onset of the illness and for a term of fifty-two weeks for the same ailment.

The time during which the curative treatment lasts that allows the insured person to continue working and to continue covering the corresponding contributions shall not be counted in the aforementioned term.

If, at the end of the fifty-two-week period provided for in the preceding article, the insured person continues to be ill, the Institute shall extend his or her treatment for up to fifty-two more weeks, subject to a prior medical opinion.

The benefits in kind indicated in Article 91 of this Law shall also be granted to the other persons protected by this insurance mentioned in Article 84 of this legal instrument.

The parents of the deceased insured person or pensioner shall retain the right to the services indicated in Article 91 of the Law.

In the event of maternity, the Institute shall grant the insured woman, during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium, the following benefits:

I. Obstetric care;

II. In-kind assistance for six months for nursing, and training and promotion of maternal breastfeeding and nursing, encouraging breast milk to be the exclusive food for six months and a complementary food until well into the second year of life;

III. During the nursing period, they shall be entitled to choose between two extraordinary rest breaks per day of half an hour each, or one extraordinary rest break per day of one hour, to nurse their children or to manually express milk, in an adequate and hygienic place designated by the institution or agency, and

IV. A layette upon the birth of the child, the amount of which shall be indicated by the Technical Council.

The female beneficiaries indicated in sections III and IV of Article 84 of this Law shall be entitled to enjoy the benefits indicated in sections I and II of the preceding article.

In the event of a non-occupational illness, the insured person shall be entitled to a cash subsidy, which shall be granted when the illness disables him or her from working. The subsidy shall be paid as of the fourth day from the onset of the disability, for as long as it lasts and for up to a term of fifty-two weeks.

If, at the end of said period, the insured person continues to be disabled, subject to a prior opinion of the Institute, the payment of the subsidy may be extended for up to twenty-six more weeks.

The insured person shall only receive the subsidy established in the preceding article when he or she has covered at least four weekly contributions immediately prior to the illness.

Casual workers shall receive the subsidy when they have covered six weekly contributions in the last four months prior to the illness.

The cash subsidy granted to insured persons shall be equal to sixty percent of the last daily contribution wage. The subsidy shall be paid for periods in arrears not exceeding one week, directly to the insured person or to his or her duly accredited representative.

In the event that the patient fails to comply with the Institute's instruction to undergo hospitalization, or when he or she interrupts the treatment without due authorization, the payment of the subsidy shall be suspended.

When the Institute hospitalizes the insured person, the subsidy established in Article 98 of this Law shall be paid to him or her or to his or her family members who are beneficiaries (derechohabientes) indicated in Article 84 of this legal instrument.

During pregnancy and the puerperium, the insured woman shall be entitled to a cash subsidy equal to one hundred percent of the last daily contribution wage, which she shall receive during the forty-two days prior to childbirth and the forty-two days following it.

In cases where the date set by the Institute's physicians does not coincide exactly with that of childbirth, the insured woman shall be paid the corresponding subsidies for the forty-two days following childbirth, regardless of whether the period prior to childbirth has been exceeded. The days by which the period prior to childbirth has been prolonged shall be paid as a continuation of disabilities originating from illness. The subsidy shall be paid for periods in arrears not exceeding one week.

The cash subsidy referred to in this article, at the express request of the insured woman whose state of pregnancy has been certified by the Institute, with institutional or external medical care, shall be paid through the issuance of a single disability certificate for eighty-four days, which shall be delivered in a single issuance, from the beginning of the disability.

For the insured woman to be entitled to the subsidy indicated in the preceding article, it is required:

I. That she has covered at least thirty weekly contributions in the twelve-month period prior to the date on which payment of the subsidy should begin;

II. That the pregnancy and the probable date of delivery have been certified by the Institute, and

III. That she does not perform any work for remuneration during the periods before and after childbirth.

If the insured woman is receiving another subsidy, the one for the lesser amount shall be canceled.

At the express request of the insured woman, with the prior written authorization of the Institute's physician or, as the case may be, of the external physician who oversees prenatal monitoring and supervision, and taking into account the opinion of the employer and the nature of the work she performs, up to four of the six weeks of rest prior to childbirth may be transferred to after childbirth.

In the event that an authorization from private physicians is submitted, it shall contain the name and professional license number of the person issuing it, the date and the medical condition of the worker.

The regulatory provisions shall establish the procedure.

The insured woman's enjoyment of the subsidy established in Article 101 exempts the employer from the obligation to pay the full wage referred to in section V of Article 170 of the Federal Labor Law (LFT), up to the limits established by this Law.

When the insured woman does not comply with the provisions of section I of the preceding article, the payment of the full wage shall be the responsibility of the employer.

When a pensioner dies, or an insured person who has at least twelve weekly contributions recognized in the nine months prior to death, the Institute shall pay to the person, preferably a family member of the insured person or pensioner, who submits a copy of the death certificate and the original bill for the funeral expenses, an allowance for this item consisting of two months of the general minimum wage in force in the Federal District on the date of death.

The resources necessary to cover the cash benefits, the benefits in kind and the administrative expenses of the sickness and maternity insurance shall be obtained from the contributions that employers and workers or other persons are obligated to cover and from the contribution that corresponds to the State.

The benefits in kind of the sickness and maternity insurance shall be financed as follows:

I. For each insured person, a daily employer contribution equivalent to thirteen point nine percent of one general daily minimum wage for the Federal District shall be paid monthly;

II. For insured persons whose contribution base wage is greater than three times the general daily minimum wage for the Federal District, in addition to the contribution established in the preceding section, an additional employer contribution equivalent to six percent and an additional worker contribution of two percent shall be covered, of the amount resulting from the difference between the contribution base wage and three times the aforementioned minimum wage, and

III. The Federal Government shall cover monthly a daily contribution for each insured person, equivalent to thirteen point nine percent of one general minimum wage for the Federal District as of the date of entry into force of this Law; the resulting initial amount shall be adjusted quarterly according to the variation of the National Consumer Price Index (INPC).

The cash benefits of the sickness and maternity insurance shall be financed with a contribution of one percent of the contribution base wage, which shall be paid as follows:

I. Employers shall pay seventy percent of said contribution;

II. Workers shall pay twenty-five percent thereof, and

III. The Federal Government shall pay the remaining five percent.

The contributions of the Federal Government shall be covered in equal monthly payments, equivalent to one twelfth of the estimate that the Institute submits for the following year to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) in the month of July of each fiscal year. In the event that in a four-month period inflation is four percentage points higher or lower than that forecast in said calculations, the corresponding preliminary offsets shall be made before the end of the following two-month period, the final adjustments being made, based on actual annual inflation, during the month of January of the following year.

The insured person who is deprived of remunerated work, but who has covered immediately before such deprivation a minimum of eight uninterrupted weekly contributions, shall retain, during the eight weeks following unemployment, the right to receive exclusively the necessary medical and maternity, surgical, pharmaceutical and hospital care. His or her beneficiaries shall enjoy the same right.

The Federal Executive may request the Technical Council to extend the period of retention of rights referred to in the preceding paragraph when, in its judgment, the economic and labor conditions of the country so require, and shall determine the specific conditions under which the corresponding retention of rights shall operate, the requirements necessary to grant it and the validity determined in each case. In this situation, the Federal Government shall provide the Institute, in a timely and sufficient manner, with the resources necessary to finance the additional costs that said measure represents. The Institute shall for this purpose keep accounting records separate from its ordinary operation.

For such purposes, the resources allocated by the Federal Government shall be expressly considered in the corresponding Federal Expenditure Budget.

Workers who are on strike shall receive medical benefits for as long as the strike lasts.

When the worker has the status of a missing person and has a Special Declaration of Absence, under the special legislation on the matter, the beneficiaries shall retain the right to receive the necessary medical and maternity, surgical, pharmaceutical and hospital care.

For the purpose of protecting health and preventing illnesses and disability, the Institute's preventive medicine services shall carry out health outreach programs, disability prevention and rehabilitation, epidemiological studies, production of immunobiologicals, immunizations, health campaigns and other special programs focused on solving medical-social problems.

The Institute shall coordinate with the Ministry of Health and with other public agencies and bodies for the purpose of carrying out the campaigns and programs referred to in the preceding article.

In order to make the records, entries and certifications relating to the health care of the beneficiary (derechohabiente) population, the Institute may use written, electronic, magnetic, optical or magneto-optical means to compile a single electronic clinical record for each derechohabiente, in the medical units or in any other facility determined by the Institute.

The electronic clinical record shall include the history of care that the derechohabiente has received for the outpatient, emergency, hospitalization, and auxiliary diagnostic and treatment services provided.

The certification that the Institute issues under the applicable provisions, through the competent administrative unit, based on the information contained in the electronic record referred to in this article, shall have full legal effect for civil, administrative and judicial purposes.

The personnel authorized to handle the information contained in the electronic clinical record shall be assigned a personal identification code of a confidential and non-transferable nature which, combined with the worker's registration number, shall be recognized as the electronic signature of the entries made in the clinical record and, for legal purposes, shall have the same validity as a handwritten signature.

The data and records contained in the electronic clinical record referred to in this article shall be confidential, and their disclosure to third parties outside the Institute without the express authorization of the authorities of the Institute and of the derechohabiente or of whoever has legal power to decide on his or her behalf, or without legal cause justifying it, shall be punished under federal criminal legislation as disclosure of secrets, regardless of the payment of the indemnity that may correspond.

A record shall be left in the record itself of each consultation made of said records, indicating the person who consults it, the date of the consultation and the justification therefor.

Data entry shall be carried out in such a way that it can be disaggregated at least by sex, gender, age, ethnic or Afro-descendant identity, disability or any category necessary to generate statistics allowing the evaluation of the differentiated impact on women and men of the services provided by the Institute and the making of the necessary improvements. All of this taking into account the applicable laws on the protection of personal data held by obligated subjects.

The risks protected in this chapter are the invalidity and death of the insured person or of the pensioner for invalidity, under the terms and with the modalities provided for in this Law.

The granting of the benefits established in this chapter requires the completion of waiting periods, measured in weeks of contributions recognized by the Institute, as indicated in the provisions relating to each of the risks covered.

For the purposes of this article, the weeks covered by a medical certificate of disability for work shall be considered weeks of contributions with respect to the insurance contained in this chapter.

The payment of the invalidity pension, where applicable, shall be suspended during the time in which the pensioner performs work in a position equal to the one he or she held when the invalidity was declared.

When a person is entitled to two or more of the pensions established in this Law, by being simultaneously a pensioner, an insured person and a beneficiary of one or more other insured persons, he or she shall receive, as the case may be, the pension according to the resources accumulated in the corresponding individual account.

If a person is entitled to any of the pensions of this chapter and also to a pension deriving from the occupational risks insurance, he or she shall receive both, provided the sum of their amounts does not exceed one hundred percent of the higher of the wages that served as the basis for determining the amount of the pensions granted. The adjustments made so as not to exceed the indicated limit shall not affect the pension deriving from occupational risks.

When any pensioner moves his or her domicile abroad, he or she may continue to receive his or her pension for as long as his or her absence lasts, in accordance with the provisions of an international agreement, or provided that the administrative expenses of transferring the funds are borne by the pensioner.

This provision shall apply to the occupational risks, invalidity and life, and retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance.

Insured persons who obtain a definitive pension for invalidity and life or for occupational risks, as well as those who enjoy a pension for retirement, unemployment at an advanced age or old age, may choose to have the loans granted to them by the Financial Entities referred to in the Law for the Transparency and Regulation of Financial Services covered with a charge to their pension.

The National Retirement Savings Systems Commission and the National Insurance and Surety Commission (CNSF), within the scope of their respective competences, may issue the general rules required for the application of the provisions of this article. Said rules shall provide for the form and terms in which the Financial Entities indicated in the first paragraph of this article shall communicate to the Technical Council of the Institute and to the insurance companies and Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs) with which they enter into the agreements referred to in this provision, the general conditions of the loan, including the Total Annual Cost (CAT) applicable to the aforementioned loans, so that they may make them known to the pensioners in a clear, precise and transparent manner, for purposes of comparison in choosing the Financial Entity from which they will request the loan.

For the purposes of this Law, invalidity exists when the insured person is unable to obtain, through equal work, a remuneration greater than fifty percent of his or her usual remuneration received during the last year of work, and such inability derives from a non-occupational illness or accident.

The declaration of invalidity shall be made by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).

The state of invalidity entitles the insured person, under this Law and its regulations, to the granting of the following benefits:

I. Temporary pension;

II. Definitive pension.

The pension and the survivors' insurance referred to in this section shall be contracted by the insured person with the insurance institution of his or her choice. For the contracting of the life annuity and survivors' insurance, the Institute shall calculate the constitutive amount necessary for their contracting. The balance accumulated in the insured person's individual account shall be subtracted from the constitutive amount, and the positive difference shall be the sum insured that the Institute shall deliver to the insurance institution for the contracting of the insurance referred to in this section.

When the worker has a balance accumulated in his or her individual account that is greater than that necessary to make up the constitutive amount to contract the life annuity and survivors' insurance, the insured person may choose to:

a) Withdraw the excess sum from his or her individual account in a single payment;

b) Contract a life annuity for a greater amount, or

c) Apply the excess to the payment of an additional premium to increase the benefits of the survivors' insurance.

The life annuity and the survivors' insurance shall be subject to the provisions of Article 159, sections IV and VI of this Law;

III. Medical care, under Chapter IV of this title.

IV. Family allowances, in accordance with the provisions of Division IV of this chapter, and

V. Welfare assistance, under Division IV of this chapter.

A temporary pension is one granted by the Institute, charged to this insurance, for renewable periods to the insured person in cases where there is a possibility of recovery for work, or when, due to the continuation of a non-occupational illness, the enjoyment of the subsidy ends and the illness persists. A definitive pension is one that corresponds to the state of invalidity that is deemed to be of a permanent nature.

To enjoy the benefits of the invalidity branch, it is required that, when invalidity is declared, the insured person has proven the payment of two hundred fifty weeks of contributions. In the event that the respective opinion determines invalidity of seventy-five percent or more, it shall only be required that he or she has proven one hundred fifty weeks of contributions.

A person declared to be in a state of invalidity of a permanent nature who does not have the weeks of contributions indicated in the preceding paragraph may withdraw, at any time he or she wishes, the balance of his or her individual account of the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance in a single payment.

There is no right to enjoy an invalidity pension when the insured person:

I. Has intentionally caused the invalidity, alone or in agreement with another person;

II. Is responsible for the intentional crime that gave rise to the invalidity, and

III. Suffers from a state of invalidity prior to his or her enrollment in the mandatory regime.

In the cases of sections I and II, the Institute may grant all or part of the pension to the family members who would be entitled to the benefits granted in the event of death, and the pension shall be paid for as long as the insured person's invalidity lasts.

Insured persons who request the granting of an invalidity pension and invalid persons who are enjoying it shall submit to the medical, social and economic investigations that the Institute deems necessary to verify whether the state of invalidity exists or continues.

In order to prevent simulations in the granting of the pension referred to in the preceding paragraph, any irregularity in this regard detected by the Institute shall be punished by the corresponding authority in accordance with the criminal provisions that may be applicable.

The right to the invalidity pension shall begin from the day on which the loss occurs and, if the day cannot be determined, from the date of filing of the application to obtain it.

When a pensioner for invalidity refuses to undergo the prior or subsequent examinations and the prescribed medical treatments, or abandons them, the Institute shall order the suspension of the payment of the pension. Said suspension shall continue for as long as the pensioner does not comply with the provisions of this article.

When the insured person who has been determined to have an invalidity entitling him or her to contract a life annuity or programmed withdrawal under Article 159, sections IV and V of this Law is rehabilitated, the payment of the pension by the insurance company chosen by the worker shall be suspended. In this case, the insurance company shall return to the Institute the part of the reserve corresponding to the insurance or programmed withdrawal contracted, deducting the pensions paid and the administrative expenses it has incurred. Likewise, the insurance company shall return to the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) that operated the worker's individual account the unused resources of the worker's individual account, so that it may reopen the corresponding account.

When the death of the insured person or of the pensioner for invalidity occurs, the Institute shall grant his or her beneficiaries, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the following benefits:

I. Widowhood pension;

II. Orphan's pension;

III. Ascendants' pension;

IV. Welfare assistance to the male or female widowhood pensioner, in cases where it is required, according to the medical opinion issued for such purpose, and

V. Medical care, under Chapter IV of this Title.

In the event of the death of an insured man or woman, the pensions referred to in sections I, II and III of this article shall be granted by the insurance institution chosen by the beneficiaries for the contracting of their life annuity. For such purpose, a constitutive amount shall be made up at the chosen insurance company, which shall be sufficient to cover the pension, the welfare assistance and the other economic benefits provided for in this chapter. To that end, the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) shall grant a sum insured which, added to the resources accumulated in the deceased worker's individual account, shall be sufficient to make up the constitutive amount with a charge to which the pension, the welfare assistance and the other economic benefits provided for in this chapter shall be paid by the insurance institution.

When the deceased male or female worker has had a balance accumulated in his or her individual account that is greater than that necessary to make up the constitutive amount to contract an annuity higher than the pension to which his or her beneficiaries are entitled under this chapter, they may withdraw the excess sum from the deceased worker's individual account in a single payment, or contract an annuity for a greater sum.

The life annuity shall be subject to the provisions of Article 159, section IV of this Law.

In the event of the death of a pensioner for occupational risks, invalidity, retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age, the pensions referred to in sections I, II and III of this article shall be granted with a charge to the survivors' insurance contracted by the deceased pensioner.

The following are requirements for the benefits contained in the preceding article to be granted to the beneficiaries:

I. That the insured person, at the time of death, had recognized payment to the Institute of a minimum of one hundred fifty weekly contributions, or was enjoying an invalidity pension, and

II. That the death of the insured person or pensioner for invalidity is not due to an occupational risk.

The beneficiaries of an insured person who died from a cause other than an occupational risk and who was enjoying a pension for permanent disability deriving from such a risk shall also be entitled to a pension, if the insured person had proven payment to the Institute of a minimum of one hundred fifty weekly contributions and had been deregistered from the mandatory regime, whatever the time elapsed since the date of deregistration.

If the insured person was enjoying a total permanent disability pension and dies from a cause other than an occupational risk, without meeting the requirement of the preceding paragraph, his or her beneficiaries shall be entitled to a pension if the pension enjoyed by the deceased did not last more than five years.

The person who was the spouse of the insured person or of the pensioner for invalidity shall be entitled to the widowhood pension. In the absence of a spouse, the female or male common-law partner of the insured person or pensioner for invalidity who lived with him or her during at least the five years immediately preceding his or her death, or the person with whom he or she had children, provided both remained free of marriage during the common-law relationship, or the person who entered into a civil union with the insured person or the pensioner, shall be entitled to receive the pension. If, upon death, the insured person or pensioner for invalidity had several female or male common-law partners, none of them shall be entitled to receive the pension.

The widowhood pension shall be equal to ninety percent of the pension that would have corresponded to the insured person in the case of invalidity or of the pension the pensioner was enjoying for this reason.

There shall be no right to the widowhood pension established in the preceding article in the following cases:

I. When the death of the insured person occurs before six months of marriage have elapsed;

II. (Repealed.)

III. (Repealed.)

The limitations established by this Article shall not apply when, upon the death of the insured person or pensioner, the widow proves that she had children with him.

The right to enjoy the widowhood pension shall begin on the day of the death of the insured person or pensioner for invalidity and shall cease upon the death of the beneficiary, or when the widow, widower, or female or male common-law partner marries or enters into a common-law relationship. The enjoyment of this pension shall not be suspended because they perform remunerated work.

The widow, widower, or female or male common-law partner pensioners who marry shall receive a lump sum equivalent to three annual payments of the amount of the pension they were enjoying.

Each of the children under sixteen years of age shall be entitled to receive an orphan's pension when the father or mother dies and either of them had the status of an insured person and they prove that he or she had a minimum of one hundred fifty weekly contributions with the Institute or had the status of a pensioner for invalidity.

The Institute shall extend the orphan's pension after the orphan reaches the age of sixteen, and up to the age of twenty-five, if he or she is studying at schools of the national educational system, taking into consideration the economic, family and personal conditions of the beneficiary, provided he or she is not subject to the mandatory regime.

An orphan over sixteen years of age who performs remunerated work is not entitled to receive this pension, unless he or she cannot support himself or herself through his or her own work due to a chronic illness or a physical or mental defect, until the incapacity he or she suffers disappears.

The pension of an orphan who has lost his or her father or mother shall be equal to twenty percent of the invalidity pension that the insured person was enjoying at the time of death or of the pension that would have corresponded to him or her assuming the state of invalidity had occurred. If the orphan has lost both father and mother, he or she shall be granted, under the same conditions, a pension equal to thirty percent of the same base.

If, when the orphan's pension begins, the orphan has lost his or her father or mother and the other parent subsequently dies, the orphan's pension shall be increased from twenty to thirty percent, as of the date of death of the ascendant.

The right to enjoy the orphan's pension shall begin on the day of the death of the insured person or pensioner for invalidity and shall cease upon the death of the beneficiary, or when he or she has reached sixteen years of age, or a higher age, in accordance with the provisions of the two preceding articles.

With the last monthly payment, the orphan shall be granted a final settlement payment equivalent to three monthly payments of his or her pension.

If there is no widow, widower, orphans, nor female or male common-law partner entitled to a pension, nor a surviving person who entered into a civil union, the pension shall be granted to each of the ascendants who were economically dependent on the deceased insured person or pensioner for invalidity, in an amount equal to twenty percent of the pension that the insured man or woman was enjoying at the time of death, or of the pension that would have corresponded to him or her assuming the state of invalidity had occurred.

If a pensioner disappears from his or her domicile for more than one month without news of his or her whereabouts, his or her beneficiaries entitled to the pension shall enjoy it under the terms of the division on the life branch of the invalidity and life insurance on a provisional basis, upon the respective application, it being sufficient for such purpose to prove the kinship and the disappearance of the pensioner by exhibiting the complaint filed with the corresponding public prosecutor's office. If the pensioner subsequently appears, at any time, he or she shall be entitled to enjoy his or her pension personally and to receive the differences between the original amount thereof and the amount that had been delivered to his or her beneficiaries, without this in any case being understood as an obligation of the Institute with respect to the amounts that had been paid to the beneficiaries. When the death of the pensioner is proven, the transfer shall be definitive.

Family allowances consist of assistance for family responsibilities and shall be granted to the beneficiaries of the male or female pensioner for invalidity, according to the following rules:

I. For the spouse, or for whoever maintained a common-law relationship, or for whoever entered into a civil union, fifteen percent of the amount of the pension;

II. For each of the pensioner's children under sixteen years of age, ten percent of the amount of the pension;

III. If the male or female pensioner has no spouse, does not maintain a common-law relationship, has not entered into a civil union and has no children under sixteen years of age, an allowance of ten percent shall be granted for each of the pensioner's parents if they are economically dependent on him or her;

IV. If the male or female pensioner is not married under civil law, does not maintain a common-law relationship, has not entered into a civil union, and has no children or ascendants economically dependent on him or her, he or she shall be granted welfare assistance equivalent to fifteen percent of the amount of the pension corresponding to him or her, and

V. If the pensioner has only one ascendant entitled to enjoy a family allowance, he or she shall be granted welfare assistance equivalent to ten percent of the amount of the pension he or she is to enjoy.

These family allowances shall preferably be delivered to the pensioner himself or herself, but the one corresponding to the children may be delivered to the person or institution that has them under its direct care, if they do not live with the pensioner.

Family allowances shall cease upon the death of the family member who gave rise to them and, in the case of the children, shall end upon their death or when they turn sixteen, or twenty-five, applying as appropriate the provisions of Article 134 of this Law.

Family allowances granted for the pensioner's children because they cannot support themselves, due to incapacity for work from a chronic, physical or mental illness, may continue to be paid until the incapacity disappears.

The Institute shall grant, under the terms of this article, family allowances to the pensioner's children over sixteen years of age if they meet the aforementioned conditions.

The family allowances and welfare assistance granted shall not be taken into account to calculate the annual year-end bonus (aguinaldo) or the widowhood, orphans' or ascendants' pensions.

Pensioners for retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age shall receive, included in the pension they acquire, the family allowances and welfare assistance established in this division, which shall be financed with the social quota (cuota social) that, where applicable, the State contributes under section IV of Article 168 of this Law and with the employer contributions to the Retirement, Unemployment at an Advanced Age and Old Age Subaccount.

The Institute shall grant welfare assistance to the pensioner for invalidity, except in the cases included in sections IV and V of Article 138, as well as to pensioned widowers or widows, when their physical condition unavoidably requires that another person assist them on a permanent or continuous basis. Based on the medical opinion issued for such purpose, the welfare assistance shall consist of an increase of up to twenty percent of the invalidity or widowhood pension the pensioner is enjoying.

Those who entered into a civil union and survive the deceased shall have the same right as pensioned widows or widowers.

In the case of insured working mothers or fathers whose children up to sixteen years of age have been diagnosed by the Institute with cancer of any type, they may enjoy a leave for the medical care of their children in order to be absent from work in the event that the diagnosed child or adolescent requires medical rest during the critical periods of treatment or hospitalization during medical treatment, according to the prescription of the treating physician, including, as the case may be, treatment aimed at pain relief and palliative care for advanced cancer.

The Institute may issue to one of the insured working parents who is in the situation provided for in the preceding paragraph a certificate proving the oncological condition and the duration of the respective treatment, so that his or her employer or employers have knowledge of such leave.

The leave issued by the Institute to the insured working father or mother shall be valid for one and up to twenty-eight days. As many leaves as necessary may be issued during a maximum period of three years, without exceeding three hundred sixty-four days of leave, which need not necessarily be continuous.

Insured working fathers or mothers in the situation established in the preceding paragraphs who have covered at least thirty weekly contributions in the twelve-month period prior to the date of diagnosis by the institutional medical services, and, if they do not meet this period, who have at least fifty-two weeks of contributions registered immediately prior to the beginning of the leave, shall enjoy a subsidy equivalent to sixty percent of the last daily contribution wage registered by the employer.

The leave referred to in this article may only be granted at the request of a party, either to the father or to the mother who is in charge of exercising parental authority or the care and custody of the minor. In no case may said leave be granted to both working parents of the diagnosed minor.

The leaves granted to working fathers or mothers provided for in this article shall cease:

I. When the minor does not require hospitalization or medical rest during the critical periods of treatment;

II. Upon the death of the minor;

III. When the minor turns sixteen;

IV. When the parent enjoying the leave is hired by a new employer.

The amount of the invalidity pension shall be equal to a basic amount of thirty-five percent of the average of the wages corresponding to the last five hundred weeks of contributions prior to its granting, or those the insured person has provided they are sufficient to exercise the right under Article 122 of this Law, adjusted according to the National Consumer Price Index (INPC), plus the family allowances and welfare assistance.

In the event that the amount of the pension is lower than the average of the guaranteed pensions corresponding to one minimum wage and sixty years of age, according to the table established in Article 170 of this Law, the State shall contribute the difference so that the worker may acquire a life pension.

In no case may the invalidity pension, including the family allowances and welfare assistance, be lower than the average of the guaranteed pensions corresponding to one minimum wage and sixty years of age, according to the table established in Article 170 of this Law.

The amount determined in accordance with the preceding article shall serve as the basis for calculating the pensions deriving from the death of both the pensioner and the insured person, as well as for setting the amount of the annual year-end bonus (aguinaldo).

In any case, the amount of the year-end bonus referred to in the preceding paragraph shall not be less than thirty days.

The pension granted for invalidity, including the amount of the family allowances and welfare assistance granted, shall not exceed one hundred percent of the average wage that served as the basis for setting the amount of the pension.

The total of the pensions attributed to the widow, or to the female common-law partner and to the orphans of a deceased insured person shall not exceed the amount of the invalidity pension the insured person was enjoying or of the pension that would have corresponded to him or her in the case of invalidity. If that total is exceeded, each of the pensions shall be reduced proportionally.

When the right of any of the pensioners terminates, a new distribution of the pensions that remain in force shall be made among the remaining pensioners, without exceeding the partial amounts or the total amount of said pensions.

The invalidity and life pensions granted shall be increased annually in the month of February according to the National Consumer Price Index (INPC).

The resources necessary to finance the benefits and administrative expenses of the invalidity and life insurance, as well as the constitution of the technical reserves, shall be obtained from the contributions that employers, workers and other obligated parties are obligated to cover, as well as from the contribution that corresponds to the State.

For the invalidity and life insurance, employers and workers shall cover one point seventy-five percent and zero point six hundred twenty-five percent of the contribution base wage, respectively.

In all cases in which the amount of the State's contribution to the invalidity and life insurance is not expressly provided for by the Law or by agreement, it shall be equal to seven point one hundred forty-three percent of the total employer contributions, and the State shall cover it under Article 108 of this Law.

The employer is liable for the damages and lost profits caused to the worker or to his or her family members who are beneficiaries (derechohabientes) when, due to failure to comply with the obligation to register the worker or to report his or her actual wage or the changes therein, the benefits set forth in this chapter cannot be granted or the amount of said benefits is reduced.

The Institute shall be subrogated in their rights and shall grant them the benefits that correspond to them. In this case, the employer is obligated to pay over to the Institute the respective constitutive capitals.

The provisions of Article 79 of this Law and other relevant provisions for the composition, determination and collection of constitutive capitals apply to the invalidity and life insurance.

Insured persons who cease to belong to the mandatory regime shall retain the rights they had acquired to pensions in the invalidity and life insurance for a period equal to one quarter of the time covered by their weekly contributions, counted from the date of their deregistration.

This period of retention of rights shall not be less than twelve months.

The insured person who has ceased to be subject to the mandatory regime and re-enters it shall be credited with the time covered by his or her previous contributions, as follows:

I. If the interruption in the payment of contributions did not exceed three years, all of his or her contributions shall be recognized at the time of re-registration;

II. If the interruption exceeded three years, but not six, all previous contributions shall be recognized when, as of his or her re-entry, he or she has covered a minimum of twenty-six weeks of new contributions;

III. If the re-entry occurs after six years of interruption, the previously covered contributions shall be credited when he or she completes fifty-two recognized weeks in his or her new insurance, and

IV. In the cases of pensioners for invalidity who re-enter the mandatory regime, they shall contribute to all insurance except invalidity and life insurance.

In the cases of sections II and III, if the insured person's re-entry occurs before the expiration of the period of retention of rights established in the preceding article, all of his or her previous contributions shall be recognized immediately.

The risks protected by this chapter are the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age of the insured person, as well as the death of the pensioners under this insurance, under the terms and with the modalities provided for in this Law.

The granting of the benefits contained in this chapter requires the completion of waiting periods measured in weeks of contributions recognized by the Institute, as indicated in the provisions relating to each of the insurance branches covered.

The weeks of contributions covered by medical certificates of disability for work, issued or recognized by the Institute, shall be considered only for the granting of the guaranteed pension that may correspond.

For the purposes of this Law, unemployment at an advanced age exists when the insured person is deprived of remunerated work from the age of sixty.

To enjoy the benefits of this branch, the insured person is required to have a minimum of one thousand weekly contributions recognized by the Institute.

The unemployed worker who is sixty years of age or older and does not have the weeks of contributions indicated in the preceding paragraph may withdraw the balance of his or her individual account in a single payment or continue contributing until covering the weeks necessary for his or her pension to operate.

In this case, if the insured person has contributed a minimum of seven hundred fifty weeks, he or she shall be entitled to the benefits in kind of the sickness and maternity insurance, under Chapter IV of this Title.

The contingency consisting of unemployment at an advanced age obligates the Institute to grant the following benefits:

I. Pension;

II. Medical care, under Chapter IV of this Title;

III. Family allowances, and

IV. Welfare assistance.

The right to enjoy the pension for unemployment at an advanced age shall begin on the day on which the insured person meets the requirements indicated in Article 154 of this Law, provided he or she requests the granting of said pension and proves that he or she has been deprived of work, if the notice of separation was not received by the Institute.

Insured persons who meet the requirements established in this division may dispose of their individual account for the purpose of enjoying a pension for unemployment at an advanced age. For such purpose, they may choose either or both of the following options:

I. Contract a life annuity with the insurance institution of their choice, which shall be adjusted annually in the month of February according to the National Consumer Price Index (INPC), and

II. Keep the balance of their individual account in a Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) and make programmed withdrawals with a charge to it.

The aforementioned situations shall be subject to the provisions of this Law and to the general rules issued by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR).

The insured person who chooses the option provided for in section II, or both, may at any time contract a life annuity in accordance with the provisions of section I, except when the monthly life annuity to be agreed upon is lower than the average of the guaranteed pensions corresponding to one minimum wage and sixty years of age, according to the table established in Article 170 of this Law.

The insured person may retire on a pension before reaching the established ages, provided that the pension calculated for him or her under the life annuity system is more than thirty percent higher than the guaranteed pension that corresponds to him or her according to the weeks of contributions, the contribution base wage and the age of sixty years, from the table established in Article 170 of this Law, once the premium of the survivors' insurance for his or her beneficiaries has been covered.

The pensioner shall be entitled to receive the excess of the resources accumulated in his or her individual account in one or several payments only if the pension granted to him or her is more than thirty percent higher than the guaranteed pension that corresponds to him or her according to the weeks of contributions, the contribution base wage and the age of sixty years, from the table established in Article 170 of this Law, once the premium of the survivors' insurance for his or her beneficiaries has been covered. The disposal of the account, as well as of its returns, shall be exempt from the payment of contributions.

The provisions of this article apply to the old age branch.

For the purposes of this Law, the following definitions apply:

I. Individual account: the account that shall be opened for each insured person at the Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs), so that the employer-employee contributions and, where applicable, the State contribution for the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance, as well as the returns, may be deposited therein. The individual account shall be made up of the following subaccounts: retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age; housing; and voluntary contributions.

With respect to the housing subaccount, the Retirement Fund Administrators shall deliver the resources to the National Workers' Housing Fund Institute (INFONAVIT) under its own Law.

II. Individualize: the process by which the part of the payments made by the employer and the State that is credited to the subaccounts corresponding to each worker, as well as the financial returns generated, is identified.

III. Pension: the life annuity or the programmed withdrawal.

IV. Life annuity: the contract by which the insurance company, in exchange for receiving all or part of the resources accumulated in the individual account, undertakes to periodically pay a pension during the life of the pensioner.

V. Programmed withdrawals: the modality of obtaining a pension by dividing the total amount or part of the resources of the individual account, for which the life expectancy of the pensioners, as well as the foreseeable returns on the balances, shall be taken into account.

VI. Survivors' insurance: the insurance contracted by pensioners for occupational risks, for invalidity, for unemployment at an advanced age or for old age, with a charge to the resources of the sum insured, added to the resources of the individual account, in favor of their beneficiaries, to grant them the pension, welfare assistance and other cash benefits provided for in the respective insurance, through the annuity that shall be assigned to them after the death of the pensioner, until the legal termination of the pensions.

VII. Constitutive amount: the amount of money required to contract the life annuity and survivors' insurance with an insurance institution.

VIII. Sum insured: the amount resulting from subtracting the balance of the worker's individual account from the constitutive amount.

With respect to the life annuity and the survivors' insurance that they grant in accordance with the provisions of the occupational risks, invalidity and life, and retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance, insurance institutions shall be subject to the general rules issued by the National Insurance and Surety Commission (CNSF), after first hearing the opinion of the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR).

The life annuity shall be subject to the contracting modalities chosen by the insured person from among the options registered with the National Insurance and Surety Commission, subject to the prior agreement of the Committee referred to in Article 81 of the Retirement Savings Systems Law.

The pensioner who is enjoying a pension for unemployment at an advanced age shall not be entitled to a subsequent old age or invalidity pension.

The old age branch entitles the insured person to the granting of the following benefits:

I. Pension;

II. Medical care, under Chapter IV of this Title;

III. Family allowances, and

IV. Welfare assistance.

To be entitled to enjoy the benefits of the old age insurance, the insured person is required to have reached sixty-five years of age and to have a minimum of one thousand weekly contributions recognized by the Institute.

In the event that the insured person is sixty-five years of age or older and does not have the weeks of contributions indicated in the preceding paragraph, he or she may withdraw the balance of his or her individual account in a single payment or continue contributing until covering the weeks necessary for his or her pension to operate. If the insured person has contributed a minimum of seven hundred fifty weeks, he or she shall be entitled to the benefits in kind of the sickness and maternity insurance, under Chapter IV of this Title.

The granting of the old age pension may only be made upon the request of the insured person, and it shall be paid as of the date on which he or she stopped working, provided he or she meets the requirements indicated in Article 162 of this Law.

Insured persons who meet the requirements established in this division may dispose of their individual account for the purpose of enjoying an old age pension. For such purpose, they may choose either or both of the following options:

I. Contract a life annuity with a public, social or private insurance company of their choice, which shall be adjusted annually in the month of February according to the National Consumer Price Index (INPC), and

II. Keep the balance of their individual account in a Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) and make programmed withdrawals with a charge to it.

The aforementioned situations shall be subject to the provisions of this Law and in accordance with the general rules issued by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR).

The insured person who chooses the option provided for in section II, or both, may at any time contract a life annuity in accordance with the provisions of section I, except when the monthly life annuity to be agreed upon is lower than the guaranteed pension that corresponds to him or her according to the weeks of contributions, the contribution base wage and the age of sixty-five years, from the table established in Article 170 of this Law.

The insured person has the right to withdraw, as an allowance for marriage or civil union expenses, and from the social quota (cuota social) contributed by the federal government to his or her individual account, an amount equivalent to thirty days of the general minimum wage, in accordance with the following requirements:

I. That he or she has proven a minimum of one hundred fifty weeks of contributions to the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance on the date the marriage is entered into;

II.- That he or she proves with reliable documents the death of the person he or she registered as spouse with the Institute, or that, as the case may be, he or she exhibits the divorce certificate, and

III.- That neither of the spouses has previously been registered with the Institute in that capacity.

This right shall be exercised only once, and the insured man or woman shall not be entitled to it for subsequent marriages or civil unions.

The insured man or woman who ceases to belong to the mandatory regime shall retain his or her rights to the allowance for marriage or civil union expenses if he or she signs for them within ninety business days counted from the date of his or her deregistration.

The insured person who supplies false data regarding his or her marital status loses all right to the allowance for marriage expenses.

Employers and the Federal Government, in the part that corresponds to them, are obligated to pay over to the Institute the amount of the employer-employee contributions and the State contribution of the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance. Said contributions shall be received and deposited in the respective subaccounts of each worker's individual account, under the terms provided for in the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems.

The contributions referred to in the preceding article shall be:

I. In the retirement branch, employers shall cover the amount equivalent to two percent of the worker's contribution base wage.

II. In the unemployment at an advanced age and old age branches:

a) Employers shall cover the corresponding contribution on the contribution base wage, calculated according to the following table:

Worker's contribution base wage Employer Contribution 1.00 SM* 3.150% 1.01 SM to 1.50 UMA** 4.202% 1.51 to 2.00 UMA 6.552% 2.01 to 2.50 UMA 7.962% 2.51 to 3.00 UMA 8.902% 3.01 to 3.50 UMA 9.573% 3.51 to 4.00 UMA 10.077% 4.01 UMA and above 11.875% *Minimum Wage ** Unit of Measurement and Update

b) Workers shall cover a contribution of one point one hundred twenty-five percent of the contribution base wage.

III. (Repealed.)

IV. The Federal Government, for each day of wages on which contributions are made, shall contribute monthly an amount as a social quota (cuota social), for workers who earn up to four times the unit of measurement and update, which shall be deposited in the individual account of each insured worker according to the following table:

The aforementioned values of the amount of the social quota shall be adjusted quarterly in accordance with the National Consumer Price Index (INPC), in the months of March, June, September and December of each year.

These contributions, as they are allocated to the granting of pensions and other benefits established in this Law, shall be understood to be allocated to public expenditure on social security.

The resources deposited in each worker's individual account are the property of the worker, with the modalities established in this Law and other applicable provisions.

These resources are not subject to attachment and may not be given as a guarantee. The foregoing shall not apply to the resources deposited in the voluntary contributions subaccount.

The guaranteed pension is the one that the State ensures to those who are sixty years of age or older and have contributed one thousand or more weeks, and which shall be calculated according to the table provided for in this article, considering the average of their contribution base wage during their enrollment with the Institute. For these purposes, the indicated wage shall be adjusted according to the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) as of the date on which the worker retires on a pension.

The amount of the pension shall be adjusted annually in the month of February, according to the National Consumer Price Index, to guarantee its purchasing power.

In computing the weeks of contributions and the average contribution base wage, those that the workers have registered with the Institute of Social Security and Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) shall be considered, under the portability agreement that it has entered into with the Institute.

The insured person whose resources accumulated in his or her individual account are insufficient to contract a life annuity or a programmed withdrawal ensuring him or her the enjoyment of a guaranteed pension and the acquisition of survivors' insurance for his or her beneficiaries, in the percentages of Chapter V of this Title, shall receive from the Federal Government a supplementary contribution sufficient for the payment of the corresponding pensions, which shall be granted under the following terms:

I. The widowhood pension shall be equal to ninety percent of the pension the pensioner was enjoying at the time of death;

II. The pension of an orphan who has lost his or her father or mother shall be equal to twenty percent of the pension the insured person was enjoying at the time of death. If the orphan has lost both father and mother, he or she shall be granted, under the same conditions, a pension equal to thirty percent of the same base.

If, when the orphan's pension begins, the orphan has lost his or her father or mother and the other parent subsequently dies, the orphan's pension shall be increased from twenty to thirty percent of the indicated base, as of the date of death of the ascendant, and

III. If there are no beneficiaries entitled to a pension under sections I and II above, it shall be granted to each of the ascendants who were economically dependent on the deceased pensioner, in an amount equal to twenty percent of the pension the insured person was enjoying at the time of death.

In these cases, the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) shall continue administering the pensioner's individual account and shall make withdrawals with a charge to the accumulated balance for the payment of the guaranteed pension, under the terms determined by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR).

The Federal Government, with its own resources supplementary to those of the corresponding individual account, shall cover the guaranteed pension through the Institute.

The insured worker shall request it from the Institute and prove that he or she is entitled to it. For its part, the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) is obligated to provide the information that the Institute requires of it for this purpose.

Once the resources of the individual account have been exhausted, the Retirement Fund Administrator shall notify the Institute of this fact so that the Institute may continue granting the guaranteed pension.

Once the resources have been exhausted, the pension shall be covered with a charge to the Federal Government through the Federal Treasury (TESOFE), based on the information provided to it for such purpose by the Institute.

The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) may verify the information provided by the Institute for the purposes indicated above, with its own data or data from third parties, and report the results of the verification to the Institute and, as the case may be, request it to modify the procedures necessary for their reconciliation.

Upon the death of a pensioner for unemployment at an advanced age or old age who was enjoying a guaranteed pension, the Institute shall contract a life annuity covering the corresponding pension under sections I through III of Article 171 of this Law, in favor of the beneficiaries, with the insurance company they choose.

For the purposes of the foregoing, the Institute shall report the death to the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) which, as the case may be, was paying the pension, and the following shall be observed:

I. The Retirement Fund Administrator shall deliver to the Institute the resources in the individual account of the deceased pensioner, which shall be allocated to the payment of the constitutive amount of the beneficiaries' life annuity, and

II. The Federal Government, through the Federal Treasury (TESOFE), shall contribute the missing resources for the payment of the constitutive amount of the aforementioned life annuity, based on the information provided to it for such purpose by the Institute.

The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) may verify the information provided by the Institute for the purposes of the preceding paragraph, with its own data or data from third parties, and report the results of the verification to the Institute and, as the case may be, request it to modify the procedures necessary for their reconciliation.

The Institute shall suspend the payment of the guaranteed pension when the pensioner returns to work subject to the mandatory regime.

The pensioner for unemployment at an advanced age or old age who enjoys a guaranteed pension may not receive another of the same nature.

The pension that corresponds to the beneficiaries of the deceased pensioner shall be delivered to them even if they are enjoying another pension of any nature.

For the purposes of this insurance, every insured worker has the right to have an individual account, which shall be made up under the terms indicated in Article 159, section I of this Law.

The individualization and administration of the resources of the individual retirement accounts shall be the responsibility of the Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs).

For their incorporation and operation, the Retirement Fund Administrators shall have authorization from the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR), being subject, as regards their accounting records, information, marketing systems and advertising, to the terms of the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems.

In any case, said Law shall provide for the incorporation requirements, among which shall be included the provisions aimed at preventing conflicts of interest in the management of the funds with respect to the participation of trade associations of the productive sector and of financial entities.

The insured worker shall have, under the respective laws, the right to choose the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) that will operate his or her individual account.

The Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems shall determine the mechanisms, procedures and terms applicable to the resources of the individual accounts of those workers who do not choose the Retirement Fund Administrator that is to operate their respective accounts.

Whenever they hire a new worker, employers shall be obligated to request his or her social security number and the name of the Administrator that operates his or her individual account.

Workers subject to the regime provided for in this Law shall not have more than one individual account; if they have several, they shall be obligated to initiate the corresponding unification or transfer procedures established by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR).

Workers who are subject to the regime provided for in this Law and simultaneously to that provided for in other laws, or who have previously been subject to the regime provided for in this Law, shall not have more than one individual account for each regime, and their unification or transfer shall be governed by the provisions of the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems.

The worker may, once in a calendar year counted from the last time this right was exercised, request directly from the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) the transfer of the resources of his or her individual account to another Administrator.

When the employer-employee contributions are paid over, the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) shall identify the part corresponding to each worker so that, with said information, under the terms established by the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems, the specific applications to each subaccount of the individual account may be made.

The employer shall inform the workers every two months of the contributions made in their favor, without prejudice to said information being delivered to the unions or, as the case may be, to any other representative organization of the insured workers.

The Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) shall inform each worker who holds an individual account of the status thereof, under the terms, frequency and form established for such purpose by the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems, without prejudice to the insured person's right at all times to request from the administrator any type of information related to his or her individual account.

The documentation and other characteristics of these accounts not provided for in this Law and in the Law of the National Workers' Housing Fund Institute (INFONAVIT) shall be subject to the provisions of the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems.

The expenses generated by the system for the issuance, collection and control of contributions to the workers' individual accounts shall be covered to the Institute by the Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs), for each disbursement of resources, under the provisions of the administrative provisions deriving from the Retirement Savings Systems Law.

In the event of termination of the employment relationship, the employer shall pay over to the Institute the contribution corresponding to the two-month period in question or, as the case may be, the proportional part of said contribution on the date on which it must make payment of those corresponding to that period.

The worker may report the failure to comply with the obligations of employers established in this chapter to the Institute, directly to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), or through the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR).

The Institute or the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit shall have, indistinctly, the power to carry out on-site inspections and, as the case may be, determine debts and the bases for their settlement, as well as the inflation adjustment and surcharges generated under Articles 15, section V, 251, sections XIV and XVIII, and other relevant articles of this Law.

The employer is liable for the damages and lost profits caused to the worker or his or her beneficiaries when, due to failure to comply with the obligation to register the worker or to report his or her actual wage or the changes therein, the benefits set forth in this chapter cannot be granted, or the amount of said benefits is reduced. In this case the Institute shall assess the respective constitutive capitals under Article 79 of this Law.

Workers who hold individual accounts and, as the case may be, their beneficiaries shall file, directly or through their unions or any other representative organization, their claims against the Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs) or financial entities authorized by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR) before that same Commission. The corresponding procedure before the Commission shall be subject to the provisions of the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems.

The Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs) shall operate the Specialized Retirement Fund Investment Companies (SIEFOREs), which shall be responsible for the investment of the resources of the workers' individual accounts.

The Specialized Retirement Fund Investment Companies shall be subject, for their incorporation, organization, operation, investment regime, types of securities, advertising, marketing systems and accounting records, to the provisions of the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems.

The inspection and supervision of the Retirement Fund Administrators and of the Specialized Retirement Fund Investment Companies shall be carried out by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR).

With a charge to the resources accumulated in the worker's individual account, the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) shall acquire in the worker's name and in favor of his or her legal beneficiaries, at the time the pension is granted, survivors' insurance, under the terms determined for such purpose by the National Insurance and Surety Commission (CNSF), after hearing the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR), in the same percentages and conditions established for such purpose by Chapter V, Division Five of this Title.

The worker or his or her beneficiaries who acquire the right to enjoy a pension from a plan established by the employer or deriving from collective bargaining that has been authorized and registered by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR), and which must meet the requirements established by it, shall be entitled to have the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) that operates his or her individual account deliver the resources comprising it, placing them in the financial entity designated by the worker, in order to acquire a pension under Article 157, or delivering them to him or her in a single payment, when the pension he or she enjoys is thirty percent higher than the guaranteed pension that corresponds according to the weeks of contributions, the contribution base wage and the age of sixty years, from the table established in Article 170 of this Law.

During the time in which the worker ceases to be subject to an employment relationship, he or she shall be entitled to:

I. Make contributions to his or her individual account, and

II. Partially withdraw, due to unemployment, the resources of the Retirement, Unemployment at an Advanced Age and Old Age Subaccount, as of the forty-sixth calendar day counted from the day on which he or she became unemployed, under the following terms:

a) If his or her individual account has been open for at least three years and has a minimum of twelve two-month periods of contributions to the Institute credited to said account, he or she may withdraw in a single payment the amount equivalent to thirty days of his or her last contribution base wage, with a limit of ten times the general monthly minimum wage in force in the Federal District, or

b) If his or her individual account has been open for five years or more, he or she may withdraw the lesser of ninety days of his or her own contribution base wage for the last two hundred fifty weeks, or those he or she has, or eleven point five percent of the balance of the Retirement, Unemployment at an Advanced Age and Old Age Subaccount.

The amounts referred to in this subsection shall be delivered in a maximum of six monthly payments, the first of which may be for an amount of thirty days of his or her last contribution base wage at the request of the worker, in accordance with the general rules issued for such purpose by the National Retirement Savings System Commission. In the event that the worker returns to work during the period of delivery of the resources, the monthly payments subsequent to his or her return shall be suspended.

The worker who meets the account seniority requirements referred to in the first paragraph of this subsection may in any case choose the benefit indicated in subsection a).

The right set forth in this section may only be exercised by workers who prove, with the corresponding account statements, that they have not made withdrawals during the five years immediately preceding the date of the request for withdrawal of resources.

Workers shall have at all times the right to make voluntary contributions to their individual account, either through their employer when the contributions are paid over or by themselves. In these cases, the contributions shall be deposited in the voluntary contributions subaccount.

Likewise, employers may make additional contributions to the voluntary contributions subaccount, which shall be understood to be in addition to the benefits established in the collective bargaining agreements.

The worker may make withdrawals from the voluntary contributions subaccount at any time, in accordance with the procedure established by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR).

The beneficiaries of the worker who holds an individual account of the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance shall be those established in sections III to IX of Article 84, in relation to Articles 129 to 137 of this Law.

In the event of the death of the worker or pensioner, the beneficiaries expressly designated in the retirement fund administration contracts that the Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs) enter into with the workers shall be entitled to receive, in the proportion stipulated for each of them, the resources of the individual account that, under the legal provisions, may be delivered in a single payment because they have no other specific purpose.

For such purposes, the worker may at any time replace the beneficiaries he or she has designated, as well as modify, as the case may be, the proportion corresponding to each of them.

The Retirement Fund Administrator with which the deceased worker or pensioner was registered shall deliver the amount of the subaccounts, including the Housing subaccounts, that under the applicable legal provisions may be delivered in a single payment.

In the absence of designated beneficiaries, said delivery shall be made in the order of priority provided for in Article 501 of the Federal Labor Law (LFT). Any dispute shall be resolved before the competent courts in accordance with the provisions of the Organic Law of the Federal Judiciary.

When the worker has the status of a missing person and has a Special Declaration of Absence, under the special legislation on the matter, the resources of his or her individual account shall be made available to his or her beneficiaries under the terms established in the resolution issued for that purpose.

For purposes of the programmed withdrawal, an annuity shall be calculated each year that shall be equal to the result of dividing the balance of the insured person's individual account by the capital necessary to finance one unit of life annuity for the insured person and his or her beneficiaries, and at least equal to the value corresponding to the guaranteed pension that corresponds to him or her according to the table established in Article 170 of this Law. The monthly pension shall correspond to one twelfth of said annuity.

The tables used to calculate the unit of life annuity referred to in this article shall be prepared annually by the National Insurance and Surety Commission (CNSF).

The National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR), attending to technical considerations and safeguarding the interests of the workers, may, through the issuance of administrative provisions, authorize mechanisms, procedures, forms and terms related to the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems.

The insured person who enjoys a pension for unemployment at an advanced age or old age, when he or she re-enters the mandatory regime, shall not make the contributions referred to in the second paragraph of Article 25 of this Law, nor those of the invalidity and life insurance.

The insured person shall open a new individual account at the Retirement Fund Administrator (AFORE) of his or her choice in accordance with the general rules established in this Law. Once a year, in the same calendar month in which he or she acquired the right to the pension, the insured person may transfer the accumulated balance of his or her individual account to the Insurance Company that is paying him or her the life annuity, agreeing on the increase in the life annuity or programmed withdrawals that the latter is paying him or her.

Insurance Companies and Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs) may not withhold, under any circumstances, the payment of annuities due or of programmed withdrawals not collected by the pensioner, the amounts of which shall at all times be at the pensioner's disposal.

The worker's disposal of the resources of his or her individual account by way of the withdrawal due to unemployment provided for in Article 191, section II of this Law shall reduce the weeks of contributions made in equal proportion.

The aforementioned reduction shall be calculated by dividing the accumulated amount of the resources of the individual account by the number of weeks contributed up to the time the disposal of said resources is made. The amount withdrawn shall be divided by the quotient resulting from the preceding operation. The result shall be subtracted from the weeks contributed.

Workers who withdraw resources from the Retirement, Unemployment at an Advanced Age and Old Age Subaccount under the provisions of the aforementioned Article 191, section II of this Law may repay, in whole or in part, the resources they have received, in accordance with the general provisions issued for such purpose by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR), with the favorable vote of the Advisory and Oversight Committee. In this case, the weeks of contributions that have been reduced under the provisions of this article shall be reinstated to them in proportion to the resources they repay.

The dissolution and liquidation of the Retirement Fund Administrators (AFOREs) and specialized retirement fund investment companies (SIEFOREs) shall be subject to the applicable legislation, as well as to the administrative provisions issued by the National Retirement Savings System Commission (CONSAR) to safeguard the rights of insured persons under this Law.

For the purposes of this division, the Law for the Coordination of Retirement Savings Systems shall provide for the administrative provisions necessary to achieve effective compliance with the provisions contained in this Law.

The daycare branch covers the care, during working hours, of the daughters and sons in early childhood of workers, through the granting of the benefits established in this chapter.

This benefit may be extended to insured persons who, by judicial resolution, exercise parental authority and custody of a minor, provided their rights before the Institute are current and they cannot provide attention and care to the minor.

The daycare service shall be provided in the morning and afternoon shifts, and the child of a worker whose working hours are at night may have access to either of these shifts.

These benefits must be provided with a view to caring for and strengthening the health of girls and boys and their good future development, as well as to the formation of feelings of family and social cohesion, to the acquisition of knowledge that promotes understanding and the use of reason and imagination, and to the development of hygienic habits and of healthy coexistence and cooperation in the common effort with common purposes and goals, all of this in a simple manner in keeping with their age and with social reality, and with absolute respect for the formative elements that are strictly the concern of the family.

Child daycare services shall include the cleanliness, feeding, health care, education and recreation of the minors referred to in Article 201. They shall be provided by the Institute under the provisions issued for such purpose by the Technical Council.

To provide daycare services, the Institute shall establish special facilities, by zones conveniently located in relation to workplaces and residential areas, and in the localities where the mandatory regime operates.

Insured workers shall be entitled to daycare services for their daughters and sons during the hours of their working day, in the form and terms established in this Law and in the relevant regulations.

The daycare service shall be provided in the morning and afternoon shifts, and the child of a worker whose working hours are at night may have access to either of these shifts.

Daycare services shall be provided to the minors referred to in Article 201 from the age of forty-three days until they turn four years of age.

The insured persons referred to in this Division shall be entitled to the service as of the time the worker is registered with the Institute and, when they are deregistered from the mandatory regime, they shall retain the right to the benefits of this insurance during the four weeks following said deregistration.

Social benefits comprise:

I. Institutional social benefits, and

II. Social solidarity benefits.

The purpose of institutional social benefits is to promote health, prevent illnesses and accidents and contribute to the general raising of the living standards of the population.

The Institute shall provide care to its beneficiaries (derechohabientes) through social benefits services and programs that strengthen preventive medicine and health self-care and improve their economy and family integrity. To this end, it shall strengthen coordination and agreement with institutions of the Federal, State and Municipal Public Administration or with private and social entities, making possible their access to preferences, prerogatives and services that contribute to their well-being.

Likewise, the Institute shall establish and develop the programs and services for the derechohabientes, according to the financial availability of the resources allocated to the social benefits of this insurance.

Institutional social benefits shall be provided through programs of:

I. Health promotion, disseminating the necessary knowledge through direct courses, lectures and well-being, culture and sports campaigns, and through the use of mass media;

II. Hygiene, maternal and child, health and first aid education; nutritional support for pregnant female workers who are beneficiaries (derechohabientes) during gestation and for their daughters and sons in the neonatal period, through the corresponding nutritional reinforcement and follow-up; prevention of illnesses and accidents;

III. Improvement of the quality of life through strategies that ensure healthy habits and lifestyles, foster gender equity, develop creativity and individual potential, and strengthen family and social cohesion;

IV. Promotion and development of cultural, sports, recreational and physical culture activities and, in general, of all those aimed at achieving a better use of free time;

V. Promotion of the regularization of marital status;

VI. Technical training and job training courses, in order to foster the participation of the population in the labor market, to raise the income level of those trained and to contribute to meeting the needs of the productive sector. Said courses may be eligible for official validation;

VII. Vacation centers;

VIII. Improvement of home life, through an adequate use of economic resources and better practices of coexistence and,

IX. Establishment and administration of funeral homes, as well as other similar services.

The Institute may offer its sports, social, cultural, recreational and vacation facilities to the general population, either by itself or in cooperation with institutions of the public or social sectors, establishing in all cases the corresponding cost recovery fees, in order to generate resources to support the financing of their operation and maintenance and to collaborate with society in general in the promotion of such activities. The amount and use of the resources obtained under the provisions of this paragraph shall be reported to the Congress of the Union and to the Federal Executive through the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP).

Beneficiaries (derechohabientes) shall have preferential conditions in the payment of the aforementioned cost recovery fees, under the terms established by the Institute.

The amount of the premium for this insurance shall be one percent of the contribution base wage. Only up to twenty percent of said amount may be allocated to social benefits.

Employers shall cover in full the premium for the financing of the benefits of this chapter, regardless of whether or not they have workers of those indicated in Article 201 in their service.

The Institute may enter into contribution reversion or service subrogation agreements with employers that have daycare centers installed in their companies or establishments, when they meet the requirements indicated in the relevant provisions.

Social solidarity benefits or services comprise community health, medical, pharmaceutical and even hospital care actions, in the form and terms established in Articles 215 to 217 of this Law.

The Institute shall organize, establish and operate medical units intended for social solidarity services, which shall be provided exclusively in favor of the population groups that, due to the very stage of development of the country, constitute pockets of deep rural, suburban and urban marginalization, and that the Federal Executive Branch determines to be subjects of social solidarity.

The Institute is empowered to issue the bases and instructions to which these services shall be subject, but, in any case, it shall coordinate with the Ministry of Health and other health and social security institutions.

The Institute shall provide the necessary support to the social solidarity services that this Law attributes to it, without prejudice to the effective granting of the benefits to which workers and other beneficiaries of the mandatory regime are entitled.

The Institute shall attend to the population that is not a beneficiary (derechohabiente) in the following cases:

I. In situations of national, regional or local emergency or in the event of catastrophes or natural disasters;

II. In the case of vaccination, health care or health promotion campaigns, and

III. In support of programs to combat marginalization and poverty, when the Federal Executive so requires.

For the purposes of section I, the Federal Executive, through the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), shall provide the corresponding financial resources to the Institute in accordance with the applicable provisions.

With respect to the situations contemplated in section II, in accordance with the budgetary provisions and under the provisions issued for such purpose by the Federal Executive, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit shall provide the financial resources necessary to reimburse the Institute for the expenses it incurs.

In the case of the programs referred to in section III, the rules applicable to federal subsidies shall apply.

In all cases the Institute shall carry out specific accounting, separate from the general accounting.

Social solidarity benefits shall be financed by the Federation and by the beneficiaries themselves.

Those who benefit from these services shall contribute with cash contributions or by performing personal work for the benefit of the communities in which they live and which fosters their attainment of the level of economic development necessary to become persons subject to insurance under this Law.

The insured person with a minimum of fifty-two weekly contributions credited in the mandatory regime in the last five years, upon being deregistered, has the right to continue voluntarily in that regime, and may continue in the joint insurance of invalidity and life as well as retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age, and shall be registered with the last wage or a wage higher than the one he or she had at the time of deregistration. The insured person shall cover the contributions corresponding to him or her monthly in advance and shall contribute as follows:

a) With respect to the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance, the insured person shall cover, as regards the first branch, the full contribution, and for the other two branches shall cover the amount of the employer-employee contributions, the State having to contribute the part of the social quota (cuota social) that corresponds to it under this Law, and

b) In the invalidity and life insurance, the insured person shall cover the employer-employee contributions and the State the part that corresponds to it according to the percentages indicated in this Law.

Additionally, the insured person shall cover the contributions that would correspond to the employer and to the worker, indicated in the second paragraph of Article 25 of this Law.

The right established in the preceding article is lost if it is not exercised by written application within a term of five years as of the date of deregistration.

Voluntary continuation in the mandatory regime terminates upon:

I. An express declaration signed by the insured person;

II. Failure to pay the contributions for two months, and

III. Being registered again in the mandatory regime, under Article 12 of this Law.

The insured person may request in writing his or her re-entry into the mandatory regime of social security through voluntary continuation when he or she has been deregistered due to failure to pay the contributions for two consecutive months. The request shall be made within the twelve months following the date of his or her deregistration from voluntary continuation.

The retention of rights is governed by the provisions of the relevant chapters of the mandatory regime.

The voluntary incorporation of the persons referred to in this chapter shall be carried out by agreement and shall be subject to the following modalities:

I. It may be carried out individually or as a group at the written request of the interested person or persons. In the case of collective incorporation, each of the insured persons shall be responsible for his or her obligations to the Institute;

II. The insurance scheme for the persons indicated in this chapter comprises:

a) For the persons referred to in section I of Article 13 of this Law, the benefits of the sickness and maternity insurance, which, as regards benefits in kind, shall be subject to the waiting periods determined in the regulations of the law on the matter; those of the occupational risks insurance; the corresponding ones of the invalidity and life, retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance; as well as those of the daycare and social benefits insurance, under the respective chapters;

b) (Repealed.)

c) (Repealed.)

d) For the persons referred to in section V of Article 13 of this Law, the benefits of the occupational risks insurance, the benefits in kind of the sickness and maternity insurance and the corresponding ones of the invalidity and life, as well as retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance, under the respective chapters, and

At the request of the public entities, the insurance scheme may comprise only the benefits in kind of the joint occupational risks and sickness and maternity insurance, provided said entities have established a pension system for their workers, and

e) In the event of the death of the insured person, the provisions of Article 104 of this Law shall apply.

Once the incorporation is accepted, the provisions of the mandatory regime shall apply, with the exceptions and modalities established by this Law.

The status of insured person shall only be lost if the characteristics that gave rise to the insurance cease to exist.

The persons subject to insurance included in this chapter shall contribute monthly, every two months, every six months or annually in advance, at the choice of the insured person. In the case of payment in installments, no inflation adjustments or surcharges shall be applied to the amount to be paid.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply regardless of the fact that a person may contribute simultaneously as an Independent or self-employed Worker and as a worker subject to a personal subordinated relationship regulated by the Federal Labor Law (LFT).

In that case, the person who falls under both situations may choose to enroll voluntarily as an Independent or self-employed Worker, in which case he or she shall make the payments of the corresponding employer-employee contributions, regardless of the payment obligations deriving from the personal subordinated employment relationship regulated by the Federal Labor Law.

When the acts determining the incorporation of the persons subject to insurance under this chapter are carried out and the relevant registration periods are opened, the Institute may establish waiting periods for the enjoyment of the benefits in kind of the sickness and maternity insurance.

The Technical Council may issue the general rules that may be applicable for the insurance of the persons referred to in section I of Article 13 of this Law.

Voluntary insurance shall not proceed when it may foreseeably compromise the financial balance of the Institute or the effectiveness of the services it provides to the insured persons in the mandatory regime.

The employer-employee contributions corresponding to the persons under this chapter shall be covered based on:

I. The reported income from the activity that gave rise to the insurance, for the persons referred to in section I of Article 13 of this Law.

For the purposes of calculating the employer-employee contributions, the limits established in Article 28 of this Law shall be considered, and

II. The actual wage, made up in accordance with Article 27 of this legal instrument, for the persons referred to in section V of Article 13 of this Law.

The bases of the preceding sections shall apply to all the insurance included in the coverage in each case, with the exception of the sickness and maternity insurance, with respect to which the provisions of Article 106 of this Law shall apply.

The Technical Council of the Institute shall take the necessary steps before the competent bodies so that they promote before the Congress of the Union the review of these contribution bases, in order to foster the maintenance or, as the case may be, restoration of the financial balance of this insurance.

The financing premiums established by this Law that correspond to the insurance included, in each case, in the protection scheme shall be applied to the contribution bases indicated in the preceding article, reducing the proportional part relating to the benefits that are excluded.

The contribution so determined shall be covered as follows:

I. For the persons referred to in section V of Article 13, in accordance with the provisions established for the persons of Article 12 of this Law, and

II. The persons referred to in section I of Article 13 of this Law shall cover the employer-employee contribution in full, the State contributing as corresponds to each insurance branch, in accordance with the provisions of this Law, including the social quota (cuota social).

In the case of the persons referred to in section I of Article 13 of this Law, the Institute may agree, with the prior consent of the persons subject to insurance, with companies, credit institutions or public or private entities with which they have commercial or legal relations deriving from their activity, that said entities be the ones that withhold and pay over the corresponding contributions and, if applicable, their legal ancillary charges, in which cases these entities shall be jointly and severally liable.

The persons referred to in Article 13 of this Law may arrange and obtain that a third party, whether an individual or a legal entity, undertakes before the Institute to contribute all or part of the contributions payable by them.

Voluntary incorporation into the mandatory regime established in Article 13, sections I and V, terminates upon an express declaration signed by the person or group of insured persons, or upon failure to pay the corresponding contributions.

I. (Repealed.)

II. (Repealed.)

For the incorporation of persons who provide services to agencies or entities of the Federal Public Administration, the prior consent of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) shall be obtained.

In the case of agencies or entities of the state or municipal public administrations, the authorization of the corresponding local congress or town council shall be obtained when, for the fulfillment of their obligations to the Institute, their shares in federal revenue corresponding to the state or municipality in question are given as a guarantee.

The employer-employee contributions generated as a result of the incorporation of the workers of the agencies and entities in the service of the state or municipal public administrations may be paid with a charge to the subsidies, transfers or shares in federal revenue that correspond to the states and municipalities, under the applicable provisions.

Social security extends to the Mexican countryside, under the terms and forms established in this Law and the respective regulations.

Rural women and men who have the status of independent workers, with respect to whom there is no relationship of labor subordination, ejidatarios, comuneros, settlers and small landowners, as well as ejidos and other higher forms of organization, may access social security in the form and terms indicated in Article 13, through an agreement for voluntary incorporation into the mandatory regime, or through the family health insurance established in Article 240 of this Law.

Those agricultural producers who were incorporated into social security by way of Presidential Decree may enroll in the social security Regime, among those provided for in this Law, that is most suitable to their production and income conditions. In the case of sugarcane growers, tobacco growers and other specialized production branches, they shall be incorporated with the corresponding modalities, in accordance with the provisions of section III of Article 12 of this Law.

Permanent and temporary wage-earning workers in agricultural activities are included in Article 12, section I, of this Law and shall access social security under the terms and forms established therein, in accordance with the modalities established for such purpose by the corresponding regulations.

In those places where the Institute does not have facilities, in the judgment of the Institute itself, to provide the health services entrusted to it, it may enter into agreements with agricultural employers so that they grant agricultural workers the benefits in kind corresponding to the Sickness and Maternity Insurance referred to in Division Two, Chapter IV, of Title Two of this Law, relating to medical and hospital services, and the reversion of part of the employer-employee contribution may be agreed upon in proportion to the nature and amount of the services granted, through a programmed reimbursement scheme, under the terms established by the general rules issued for such purpose by the Technical Council.

Likewise, in those places where the Institute does not have facilities, in the judgment of the Institute itself, to provide the daycare services entrusted to it, it may enter into agreements with agricultural employers and organizations of temporary agricultural workers for the subrogation of the services contemplated by the Daycare Branch referred to in Division One, Chapter VII, of Title Two of this Law, under the terms established by the general rules issued for such purpose by the Technical Council.

In any case, agricultural employers and the organizations referred to in this article shall be obligated to provide the Institute with the reports and statistics it requires of them and to comply with the instructions, technical standards, inspections and supervision prescribed by the Institute itself, under the general rules issued by the Technical Council with respect to medical and daycare services.

Agricultural employers shall have the inherent obligations established by this Law and its regulations; in addition, they shall comply with the following:

I. When registering with the Institute, they shall provide the period and type of crop, area or production unit, estimate of the workdays to be used in each period and the other data required of them by the Institute. In the case of employers with livestock activities, they shall provide the information on the type of livestock and the number of head they own. The modification of any of the data provided shall be reported to the Institute within a term not exceeding thirty calendar days counted from the date on which they occur;

II. They shall report hirings, separations and re-hirings of their workers, as well as the changes in their wages and the other data, under the corresponding regulations, within terms not exceeding seven business days, and

III. They shall issue and deliver a record of the days worked and of the total wages earned, in accordance with the provisions of the respective regulations.

Agricultural employers may exclude, regardless of the provisions of Article 27 of this Law, as a component of the contribution base wage, given their nature, the additional payments they make for productivity, up to twenty percent of the contribution base wage, observing the provisions of Article 29, section III of this Law. For the productivity item mentioned in this article to be excluded as a component of the contribution base wage, it shall be duly recorded in the employer's accounting records.

As the case may be, they shall cover the part of the employer-employee contribution that corresponds to them together with the respective inflation adjustment, on a deferred basis or in installments, without generating surcharges, in accordance with the general rules issued by the Technical Council, taking into account the existence of seasonal cycles in the flow of resources in certain branches of agricultural production.

The Institute may verify that agricultural employers are up to date in complying with the obligations payable by them deriving from this Law, prior to the granting of the subsidies, support or benefits deriving from the Federal Expenditure Budget that said agricultural employers request from the Federal Government through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.

For such purposes, without prejudice to the exercise of the audit powers that correspond to the Institute in its capacity as an autonomous fiscal body, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall provide the Institute every six months with the register of agricultural employers that are subject to the provisions contained in this Chapter, corresponding to the agricultural, horticultural, livestock, forestry, aquaculture, beekeeping or other similar sectors, identifying those eligible to receive subsidies, support or benefits deriving from the Federal Expenditure Budget.

At the request of the Institute, and in accordance with the agreement it signs with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for this purpose, the latter shall suspend the delivery of subsidies, support or benefits that, with a charge to its budget, come from the Federal Expenditure Budget, to agricultural employers that do not comply with the social security provisions established in this Law.

Temporary female agricultural workers who are pregnant during the time of actual provision of services are entitled to the benefits corresponding to the Sickness and Maternity Insurance referred to in Divisions Two and Three of Chapter IV of Title Two of this Law, relating to medical and hospital services.

Indigenous persons, seasonal farmworkers from highly marginalized areas and all those peasant families whose economic condition is one of extreme poverty shall have access to social solidarity benefits, in the form and terms established by Articles 214 to 217 of this Law.

The access to social security of the persons referred to in this chapter may be supported by the third-party contributor established in Article 230 of this Law. In any case, they may access the family health insurance regulated by this legal instrument.

A domestic worker is a person who, for remuneration, performs care, cleaning, assistance or any other activity inherent to the household within the framework of an employment relationship that does not provide the employer with a direct economic benefit, in any of the following modalities:

I. A person who works for one employer and resides at the home where he or she performs his or her activities;

II. A person who works for a single employer and does not reside at the home where he or she performs his or her activities, and

III. A person who works for different employers and does not reside at the home of any of them.

The following are not considered domestic workers:

I. A person who performs domestic work only occasionally or sporadically, and

II. A person who provides cleaning, assistance, customer service and other similar services in hotels, boarding houses, restaurants, eateries, bars, hospitals, sanatoriums, schools, boarding schools and other similar establishments.

The employer of the domestic worker shall have the inherent obligations established by this Law and its regulations; in addition, it shall comply with the following:

I. It shall register and enroll the domestic worker as of the start date of the employment relationship, to safeguard his or her rights, for the days he or she works during the calendar month, and submit the documents and data requested by the Institute for such purpose;

II. Based on the information provided by the employer of the domestic worker, the Institute shall calculate the proposed assessment statement of the corresponding employer-employee contributions, distinguishing the worker's contribution from the employer's contribution. The employer shall not determine the employer-employee contributions. The employer shall withhold the worker's contribution corresponding to the domestic worker for his or her insurance and pay it over together with the employer contribution payable by it;

III. The employer of the domestic worker is obligated to pay the determined amounts of the employer-employee contributions on the printed forms or using the computer program authorized by the Institute;

IV. The payment of the employer-employee contributions corresponding to the month in which the employment relationship begins shall be made under the frequency established in Article 39 of this Law;

V. The insurance and the payment of the employer-employee contributions corresponding to the months following the month in which the employment relationship begins shall be made in advance, with the frequency chosen by the employer, whether a monthly, two-month, six-month or annual period;

VI. In the case of payment in advance, the insurance shall begin in the month immediately following that of the payment;

VII. In the case of the month in which the employment relationship begins, coverage shall be granted from the first day of insurance until the last day of the corresponding calendar month, provided that at least the amount of the employer-employee contributions equivalent to the value of the minimum integrated contribution base wage of Mexico City for the days included in the coverage is paid over. Otherwise, the domestic worker shall be covered for the days reported by the employer or employers, and

VIII. In the case of payment in advance, the insurance shall be for the full month, provided that at least the amount of the employer-employee contributions equivalent to the value of the monthly minimum integrated contribution base wage of Mexico City is paid over. Otherwise, the domestic worker shall be covered for the days reported by the employer or employers.

For two-month, six-month and annual frequencies, the employer shall cover at least the amount of the employer-employee contributions equivalent to the value of the monthly minimum integrated contribution base wage of Mexico City, for each of the months covered by the chosen payment period.

The insurance of domestic workers ends upon the conclusion of the employment relationship that gave rise to it, upon failure to pay over the employer-employee contributions, at the end of the periods covered in advance, or upon simulation of the employment relationship, the latter regardless of the corresponding penalties. The employer of domestic workers shall submit the notice of separation through the means the Institute provides for such purpose.

In the case of medical disability certificates issued by the Institute, the employer shall continue to pay over the employer-employee contributions, as established in section IV of Article 31 of this Law, for the period of disability established by the Institute.

Persons who perform care, cleaning, assistance or any other activity inherent to the household occasionally or sporadically may choose to be insured as independent workers, under section I of Article 13 of this Law.

The integration factor of the contribution base wage shall take into account the rest days and vacation to which domestic workers are entitled, under the provisions established in the Federal Labor Law (LFT). For these purposes, the Technical Council, based on said benefits, as well as on the provisions of Article 28 of this Law, shall define the integration factor through general rules, with the objective of monitoring and promoting the financial balance of all the insurance branches included in this Law.

The Technical Council may authorize a different frequency for the insurance and payment of contributions, as well as issue the general rules that may be applicable for the insurance of the persons referred to in this Chapter of this Law.

All families in Mexico are entitled to health insurance for their members and, for that purpose, may enter into an agreement with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) for the granting of the benefits in kind of the sickness and maternity insurance, under the respective regulations.

The persons covered by the family health insurance are those indicated in Article 84 of this Law, and they shall be subject to the requirements indicated therein.

All persons who voluntarily join the family health insurance, including the family members referred to in the preceding article and any additional family member, shall pay annually the corresponding established contribution, classified by the age group to which they belong.

The Technical Council may determine annually the amount of the contributions to be applied, after carrying out the pertinent actuarial analyses and studies, without detriment to the principle of social solidarity.

The State shall contribute in accordance with the provisions of section III of Article 106 of this Law per family, regardless of the size of the family.

The Institute may also enter into this type of agreement, individually or collectively, with Mexican workers who are working abroad, in order to protect their family members residing in the national territory and themselves when they are located therein. These insured persons shall cover in full the premium established in the preceding article.

Family health insurance shall be organized in a special division, with accounting records and fund administration separate from those corresponding to the mandatory insurance, in the consolidated figures.

The Institute shall prepare a financial and actuarial report on the family health insurance, under the terms and within the time limits set for the preparation of the report corresponding to the mandatory insurance.

The Institute may contract additional insurance to satisfy the economic benefits agreed upon in industry-wide contracts (contratos Ley) or in collective bargaining agreements that are greater than those of the same nature established by the mandatory regime of Social Security.

The superior conditions of the agreed benefits that the agreements may address are: increases in amounts; reduction of the minimum age for their enjoyment; modification of the average wage on which the calculation is based and, in general, all those that translate into coverage and benefits greater than the legal ones or into better conditions for their enjoyment.

The economic benefits referred to in this article shall correspond to the branches of the occupational risks and invalidity and life, as well as retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance.

The premium, contribution, payment periods and other modalities in the contracting of additional insurance shall be agreed upon by the Institute based on the characteristics of the risks and of the protected benefits, as well as on the actuarial valuations of the corresponding contracts.

The bases for contracting the additional insurance shall be reviewed each time the benefits are modified by the employment contracts, if they may affect said bases, so that the Institute, supported by the actuarial valuation of the modifications, may set the amount of the new premiums and other pertinent modalities.

Additional insurance shall be organized in a special division, with accounting records and fund administration separate from those corresponding to the mandatory insurance.

The Institute, with the prior agreement of its Technical Council, may grant life insurance coverage and other coverage exclusively in favor of the lower-income persons, groups or population groups determined by the Federal Government as subjects of social solidarity, with the sums insured and conditions established by the latter.

Likewise, the Institute, with the prior agreement of its Technical Council, may use its infrastructure and services, at the request of the Federal Government, in support of programs to combat marginalization and poverty considered in the Federal Expenditure Budget. For the purposes of this article, the Federal Government shall timely provide the Institute with the necessary financial resources, with a charge to the corresponding program and budget item, to pay for the services it entrusts to it.

For the purposes of the preceding article, the Federal Government shall grant the Institute the subsidies and transfers corresponding to the amount of the premiums relating to such insurance and other coverage.

The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) has the following powers and attributions:

I. To administer the occupational risks, sickness and maternity, invalidity and life, daycare and social benefits, family health, additional and other insurance, as well as to provide the collective benefit services indicated by this Law;

II. To satisfy the benefits established in this Law;

III. To invest its funds in accordance with the provisions of this Law;

IV. In general, to perform all kinds of legal acts necessary to fulfill its purposes, as well as those that are necessary for the administration of the institutional finances;

V. To acquire movable and immovable property for its own purposes;

VI. To establish medical units, child daycare centers, pharmacies, funeral homes, as well as training, sports, cultural, vacation and social security centers for family well-being and other establishments for the fulfillment of its own purposes, without being subject to the conditions, except sanitary ones, that the respective laws and regulations set for private companies with similar activities;

VII. To organize its administrative units in accordance with the authorized organizational structure;

VIII. To issue guidelines of general observance for the application of this Law for administrative purposes;

IX. To disseminate knowledge and practices of social welfare and social security;

X. To register employers and other obligated parties, enroll wage-earning workers and determine their contribution base even without prior action by the interested parties, and to enroll independent workers at their request, without this releasing the obligated parties from the liabilities and penalties for infractions they may have incurred;

XI. To deregister employers, obligated parties and insured persons from the mandatory regime once the Institute has verified the disappearance or non-existence of the factual situation that gave rise to their insurance, even if the employer or obligated parties have failed to submit the respective notice of deregistration, without prejudice to the penalties provided for in this Law;

XII. To collect the contributions of the occupational risks, sickness and maternity, invalidity and life, daycare and social benefits, family health and additional insurance, the constitutive capitals, as well as their legal ancillary charges, to receive the other resources of the Institute, and to carry out programs for the regularization of contribution payments. Likewise, to collect the contributions and their legal ancillary charges of the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance;

XIII. To establish the procedures for registration, collection of contributions and granting of benefits;

XIV. To determine the debts in favor of the Institute and the bases for the settlement of contributions and surcharges, as well as their ancillary charges, and to set them in a liquid amount, collect them and receive them, in accordance with this Law and other applicable provisions.

The settlements of the contributions of the retirement, unemployment at an advanced age and old age insurance may be issued and served jointly with the settlements of the contributions and deductions corresponding to the National Housing Fund by the personnel of the National Workers' Housing Fund Institute (INFONAVIT), subject to a prior coordination agreement with said Institute;

In the case of persons who have voluntarily enrolled in the mandatory regime of this Law, the calculation corresponding to the housing contributions on the reported income shall be made within the calculation of the employer-employee contributions;

XV. To determine the existence, content and scope of the obligations not fulfilled by employers and other obligated parties under this Law, applying, as the case may be, the data it has or relying on the facts it becomes aware of in the exercise of the audit powers it enjoys as a tax authority, or through the files or documents provided by other tax authorities;

XVI. To ratify or rectify the class and the risk premium of companies for purposes of covering the contributions of the occupational risks insurance;

XVII. To determine and enforce the amount of the constitutive capitals under this Law;

XVIII. To order and carry out on-site audits (visitas domiciliarias) with the personnel designated for such purpose and require the exhibition of books and documents, in order to verify compliance with the obligations established by the Law and other applicable provisions;

XIX. To order and carry out the corresponding investigations in the cases of employer substitution and joint and several liability provided for in this Law and in the Code, and to issue the respective opinions;

XX. To establish coordination with the agencies and entities of the Federal, State and Municipal Public Administrations for the fulfillment of its objectives;

XXI. To review the reports prepared by public accountants on compliance with the provisions contained in this Law and its regulations, as well as to impose on said public accountants, where applicable, the administrative penalties established in the respective regulations;

XXII. To make investments in companies and enterprises whose corporate purpose is complementary or related to that of the Institute itself;

XXIII. To enter into coordination agreements with the Federation, states (federal entities), municipalities and their respective public administrations, as well as collaboration agreements with the social and private sectors, for the exchange of information related to the fulfillment of its objectives, under the terms provided for in this Law;

XXIV. To promote and foster the conduct of research in health and social security, using it as a tool for the generation of new knowledge, for the improvement of the quality of the care provided and for the education and training of personnel;