According to Art. 190 of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law, the telecom operators must keep certain data for the first 12 months in systems that allow consultation and delivery in real time to the competent authorities through electronic means. The data includes:
- the name or corporate name and address of the subscriber;
- the type of communication service or messaging or multimedia services
- data necessary to trace and identify the original and destination of mobile telephone communications, including the destination number and whether the line is the subject of a contract or tariff plan or is prepaid;
- data necessary to determine the date, time and duration of the communication, as well as the messaging or multimedia service;
- the date and time of the first activation of the service and the location label (cell identifier) ​​since the service was activated;
- identification and technical characteristics of the devices, including the international equipment and subscriber identity codes (where applicable); and
the digital location of the geographical positioning of telephone lines.
At the end of the 12-month period, the operator must keep the data for an additional 12 months in electronic storage systems, during which time the delivery of information to the competent authorities must be carried out within 48 hours.
It reported that all processing and storage systems used by operators and authorised people in this regard must be located exclusively in Mexico, however this is not clear from the regulatory text.

According to Art. 13.11 of the First Amending Protocol (which amends the Additional Protocol to the Framework Agreement of the Pacific Alliance), the four parties (Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico) commit to allow cross-border information transfers through electronic means, including also the transfer of personal data for business activities. Moreover, in Art. 13.11.bis the parties commit to ban forced localisation of computer facilities in their national territories. Other binding commitments can be found in Article 19.8.6 of the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), Art. 14.10 of the Mexico-Panama Free Trade Agreement, and Art. 14.11.2 of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

There are concerns that Art. 50 of the Provisions on Electronic Payment Fund Institutions might force firms to choose only cloud providers based in Mexico, thus indirectly imposing a local data processing requirement. The law requires electronic payment fund institutions to use secondary cloud service provided by a company that is not subject to a different jurisdiction. That would mean that the secondary cloud provider would need to be subject to the Mexican jurisdiction.

Consent is necessary for data transfer of personal data across borders on the basis of Arts. 6, 8, and 9 of the Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data in Possession of Individuals. Moreover, pursuant to Art. 37 of the law, domestic and international transfers of personal data may be carried out without the consent of the data subject under certain exceptions including, among others: the necessity of the transfer for medical diagnosis or prevention, health care delivery, medical treatment or health services management; the transfer to the holding company, subsidiaries or affiliates under the common control of the data controller, or to a parent company or any company of the same group as the data controller, operating under the same internal processes and policies as the data controller; the necessity by virtue of a contract executed or to be executed between the data controller and a third party in the interest of the data subject.

Pursuant to the Decree amending and adding several provisions of Articles 6, 7, 27, 28, 28, 28, 73, 78, 94 and 105 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, the "Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones" (IFT) is created. It is reported that the "Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones" (IFT), executive authority for the supervision and administration of the telecommunications sector services, is independent from the government in its decision making.

Mexico has appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

It is reported that Mexico mandates functional and accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market.

The Mexican Federal Law for Protection of Industrial Property provides a framework for effective protection of trade secrets.

There is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Mexico to deliver telecom services to end users. It is practiced in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector. Art. 1 of the Guidelines regarding the Deployment, Access and Shared Used of Telecommunications and Broadcasting Infrastructure states that it is intended to establish conditions that allow the access of different concessionaires to the infrastructure elements of other concessionaires installed in buildings, shopping centers, subdivisions, hotels or any other real estate, in order to promote the efficient development of telecommunications and broadcasting and the provision of such services under conditions of competition and free competition.

Mexico has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonogram Treaty.

The Mexican Federal Law for Protection of Industrial Property protects against the disclosure of trade secrets (Art. 169). Furthermore, the law lists different crimes regarding trade secrets (Art. 402). Art. 386 establishes administrative offenses to protect trade secrets. However, it is reported that conformity procedures of the Agreement by which the Plenary of the Federal Institute of Telecommunications issues the Conformity Assessment Procedure for Telecommunications and Broadcasting (DOF: 25/02/2020) contain worrying language requiring the sharing of test reports that may contain in-depth confidential information about ICT products.

Copyright is not adequately enforced online in Mexico. It is reported that digital IP crimes and the availability of copies of new-release movies are considered a source of concern. Also, there are concerns about the criminal enforcement of IP rights and a lack of enough penalties to deter violations. In addition, it is reported that the rate of unlicensed software installation in the country was 49% in 2017 (below the 52% rate of the Latin American countries) for an estimated commercial value of USD 760 million.

Mexico has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Mexico has a copyright regime under the Federal Copyright Act. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Art. 148 and the following list the exceptions, which include the reproduction of; parts of the work, for scientific, literary or artistic criticism and research; of a single copy, by an archive or library, for security and preservation reasons, and which is out of print, out of print and in danger of disappearing; among others.

There are reports of concerns about the length of administrative and judicial patent and trademark infringement proceedings and the persistence of continuing infringement while cases remain pending. Stakeholders have expressed concern that in administrative procedures on infringement, preliminary measures can be lifted if the alleged infringer posts a counter-bond.