Customs and barriers in Mexico: USTR
The U.S. Trade Representation (USTR) described a number of barriers applied by Mexican customs to Mexican imports.
«Mexico continues to provide insufficient advance notice of procedural changes, inconsistent interpretation of regulatory requirements at the various border posts, and uneven border enforcement of Mexican standards and labeling rules,» USTR said in a report.
Some goods are still not allowed to be imported into Mexico at all ports of entry.
According to USTR, the restriction of goods to certain ports has made it difficult for U.S. exporters to arrange transportation and logistics, especially in the case of e-commerce purchases by U.S. small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) exporters.
The Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA) prohibits arbitrarily limiting the number of ports in which a customs broker may operate.
However, Article 161 of Mexico’s Customs Law limits a customs broker to operating in four ports if the broker is not part of a customs agency.
The United States continues to urge Mexico to amend the law to allow brokers to operate in any port in which the broker can perform his or her duties.
Also, the USMCA requires Mexico to implement a periodic payment option for express delivery shipments, which has not yet been developed.
In addition, for express delivery, Mexico continues to limit the number of shipments that can be delivered to a single consignee per month.
Customs Barriers
On January 1, 2022, Mexico imposed a new «add-on» requirement on transportation services to the existing electronic waybill requirement.
Any shipment transported within Mexico on federal highways must be accompanied by an electronic waybill «complement» containing up to 140 data elements about the shipment.
The requirement affects most imports from their arrival in Mexico to their final destination.
The regulations for this new requirement were not published until December 24, 2021.
However, Mexico has delayed implementation four times since the requirement was first imposed, most recently until August 1, 2023.
The United States continues to monitor Mexico’s implementation of this requirement.
