As with most civil law jurisdictions, Mexico does not have a formal discovery process. Under Mexican law, in civil and commercial proceedings, a party to litigation has no obligation to deliver or disclose to the counterparty any information related to the subject matter of the dispute. However, Mexican law establishes means to obtain the evidence in question following the commencement of proceedings, either as a pretrial preparatory procedure (medios preparatorios a juicio) or during the evidentiary stage of the trial.

The obligation to produce documents arises if such documents are related to a proceeding and are requested by a court. For a court to order the disclosure of documents and/or information by a litigating party to civil and commercial proceedings (and/or a third party), the following conditions must be met:

• The documents cannot be obtained from a party to the litigation directly from a public source (e.g., a public registry), and are only in possession of the counterparty.
• The documents are necessary, as relevant evidence to prove the disputed facts, in order to prosecute or defend the action.
• The documents are specifically identified by the requesting party (as opposed to a generic description).