Abuse of office: one conduct under article 57 is enough for liability
Abuse of office. Any one of the conducts set out in article 57 of the General Law of Administrative Responsibilities is enough to establish this administrative offense.
Official heading (Spanish): ABUSO DE FUNCIONES. PARA QUE SE CONFIGURE ESE TIPO ADMINISTRATIVO BASTA LA MATERIALIZACIÓN DE CUALQUIERA DE LOS SUPUESTOS ESTABLECIDOS POR EL ARTÍCULO 57 DE LA LEY GENERAL DE RESPONSABILIDADES ADMINISTRATIVAS.
The ruling
Collegiate Circuit Courts disagreed on whether abuse of office under article 57 of the General Law of Administrative Responsibilities requires all its conducts to concur. The Regional Plenary Court held that one is enough: arbitrary acts, an undue benefit, harm to a person or to the public service, or any conduct listed in article 20 Ter of the General Law on Women's Access to a Life Free of Violence.
Our take
The ruling widens the room for oversight bodies: they no longer need to prove that an official acted arbitrarily and also obtained a benefit or caused harm. One conduct suffices. For companies the effect is indirect but real: businesses contracting with the public sector often sit close to these files, and the files are now easier to build. We think the textual reading is sound; the weak spot is the principle of strict definition, which in sanctioning law should demand narrowly drawn conduct. Defense work will have to focus on rebutting the specific conduct alleged.
What to do
- Check whether the charge states precisely which article 57 conduct is being alleged.
- Focus the defense on rebutting that specific conduct, not on the absence of the others.
- In public-sector contracts, document that the official's decisions stayed within their legal powers.
Details
- Court
- Regional Plenary Courts
- Type
- Binding precedent (jurisprudencia)
- Identifier
- PR.A.C.CN. J/47 A (12a.)
- Digital registry
- 2032278
- Published
- June 19, 2026
- Area
- Administrative and other
- View official source ↗
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Prepared by Artegia for information only; not legal advice. Headings in English are unofficial translations. The official text is the one published in the Semanario Judicial de la Federación or the TFJA journal.