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3. Enforcement of Foreign Judgments338C H A P T E R X X I IIn general terms, for a foreign judgment to be recognized in Mexico it must be valid,which is to say that in its country of origin it has been issued in accordance with the foreignlegal system supporting it. Mexican courts cannot examine or decide on the fairnessor unfairness of the decision, or on the factual or legal basis on which it is supported; theywill be limited to examining its authenticity and enforceability.In Mexico the competency assumed by a foreign court for purposes of enforcementof judgments may be recognized when such competency has been assumed for reasonscompatible or analogous to domestic law, except in the case of matters of exclusivecompetency of Mexican courts, such as: (a) land and water located in Mexicanterritory, (b) matters relating to the exclusive economic zone, (c) acts of authority ofthe Federal agencies, and (d) internal governance of embassies, among others.The enforcement of foreign judgments in Mexico is regulated first by internationaltreaty law and then by internal law. As party to international treaty law, Mexico hassigned the following international treaties governing the enforcement of foreignjudgments:a) Inter-American Convention on Extraterritorial Validity of Foreign Judgments andArbitral Awards;b) Convention on Competency in the International Sphere for the ExtraterritorialValidity of Foreign Judgments;c) Convention between the United Mexican States and the United Kingdom of Spainon the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judicial Judgments and ArbitralAwards in Civil and Commercial Matters.The recognition of foreign judgments is also regulated by internal Mexican lawthrough the CFPC and the CCF.Such laws provide that both local judges and federal judges can recognize and enforceforeign judgments. The competency to recognize judgments in civil and family matterscorresponds to the agencies of each state since such matters, according to the Constitution,are state matters.Commercial matters are concurrent: they can be heard by either federal or stateauthorities. The competent judge to hear and execute a judgment will be determineddepending on the court chosen by the parties and, in the absence of such a designation,by the domicile of the one against whom the judgment is enforced or the locationof the goods within Mexican territory.All foreign judgments must pass through the exequátur procedure to obtain theirrecognition and enforcement.