FEDERAL MARITIME LAND ZONE IN MEXICO

 

The laws of Mexico determine that there is a strip of land on the beach that is considered as part of the Federal Public Domain of Mexico, as is the sea along the coast of Mexico.

This area comprises the full length of the beach along all of the coasts of Mexico and 20 meters in from the high tide of the sea at any one given location. This area is known as the Federal Maritime Land Zone of Mexico (ZoFeMaT = Zona Federal Maritimo Terrestre.

But the federal zone does not stop there. All water courses are federal zone and it does not matter if it is a year round water course or water runs through it only when it rains. In addition all roads are considered federal and the property adjacent for twenty meter from the center of the road. To that we need to add all islands and caves.

The laws of Mexico foresee the possibility that the owners of the land located adjacent to this Zone may apply for and normally receive a concession on that portion of the Zone that is adjacent to their property.

The office of government in Mexico that has direct control over these matters is the Federal General Administration of the Federal Maritime Land Zone(Dirección General de Zona Federal Maritimo Terrestre) , which is part of The Federal Sub-Ministry of Natural Resources (Subsecretaría de Recursos Naturales). This latter sub-ministry is part of the National Ministry of Ecological and Natural Resources (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales).

The party that wishes the concession must file certain papers. Once granted, the government will charge the concessionaire an annual fee for the concession. In 1991 a decree was issued by the the executive branch of the federal government which stipulated that if such property was located on a cliff above a 30 degree angle from the beach, that said property would no longer be considered ZFMT property. There is a process to be completed to have the property declared outside the zone. If outside the zone, then it is possible to consider it private property and take title to it.

Here at Elementi Developers we have the staff to resolve any Federal zone issue that can arise.