Guillermo Govela

Guillermo Govela, head of Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez, S.C.’s Life Sciences, Healthcare and Consumer Products’ practice, has had thorough experience in the legal and regulatory aspects of healthcare and consumer products, not only as a legal and regulatory advisor to private corporations, but has also been involved in health policy making, having worked actively for over twelve years in Mexico’s Federal Government, mainly in health policy institutions. Besides his formal legal education in Mexico (LLB -Licenciado en Derecho), Guillermo holds master’s degrees in international business law (LL.M.) from the University of Manchester (Chevening British Council Scholar), as well as in Public Policy and Administration (MPP) granted by the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Within the specific field of Food and Beverages Law and Regulation, Guillermo has been involved from a policy-making perspective in the drafting of Regulations and Administrative Rulings regarding food ingredients, additives and sanitary control activities related to this Industry, working both at the national health agency COFEPRIS (Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks) as an advisor to the Federal Commissioner, as well as at the Ministry of Health of his country, where he was appointed as the General Legal Counsel, being responsible, amongst other tasks, for the drafting, publication, and interpretation, of all of the relevant applicable health policy laws, regulations and administrative rulings.
In private practice, Guillermo has provided legal and regulatory advice to domestic and transnational companies involved in the Food and Beverages Industries. He has provided advice in the following fields: health regulatory requirements for establishments engaged in the manufacture/import/distribution/marketing of food and beverages; compliance with the stringent front-of-label regulatory requirements under the applicable Mexican legal and regulatory framework; advising food companies in navigating the complex advertising framework for pre-packed food and non-alcoholic beverages, both advising and engaging in litigation against administrative authorities; performing regulatory due diligences to large food companies in Mexico; providing advice to food tech companies in bringing to market innovative ingredients, complying with the legal and regulatory framework.
Guillermo has participated in several international forums as a speaker, such as the IBA General Conference 2024 (Speaker, Water Law Committee, September 2024, Mexico City), Food Law: Regulation, Compliance and Litigation (American Conference Institute, Chicago, May 2024), Food Law and Regulation Canada (Developing Global Food Market Entry Strategies—Perspectives form Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil) (Toronto, September 2024).
Guillermo and Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enriquez’ practice, are currently ranked both by Chambers and Partners (Life Sciences, Mexico, Latin America | Chambers Rankings), as well as by The Legal 500 (Life sciences in Mexico | Law firm and lawyer rankings from The Legal 500 Latin America guide).