Mexico – Fourth amendment to the Foreign Trade General Rules for 2012

On April 10, 2013, the Fourth Resolution of Amendments to the Foreign Trade General Rules (FTGR) for 2012 and Annex 22 thereto was published in the Federal Official Gazette, which entered into force the day after its publication.

Recent Developments

By means of this resolution, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP, for its acronym in Spanish) amends and adds rules contained in Chapter 3.8 – Certified Companies, by modifying certain requirements to obtain the registration as Certified Company, the renewal of such registration, as well as the cases of cancellation.

This resolution adds rule 3.8.14 which allows transportation companies which transport foreign trade goods, to apply for their certifications as Commercial Partner. This rule sets the requirements to be complied in order to obtain the registration as Certified Commercial Partner, as well as the administrative procedure to be followed for this purpose. This certification will be in force for one year, and can be renewed annually. This rule also provides the cases in which the certification can be cancelled.

Rule 3.8.15 is also added. It sets forth the benefits of transportation companies which are certified as Commercial Partners. The principal benefit is that the customs authority will keep a record of the Certified Commercial Partners, in order to share such records with the companies registered as certified companies. On the other hand, this rule sets the procedure to determine the import duty taxable base when changing the customs regime, in case of theft of trailers and semi-trailers imported on a temporary basis.

Likewise, this resolution includes the applications in Annex 1 “Declarations, notices, applications and procedure manuals”, in order to apply or renew the Certified Commercial Partner procedures.

This resolution, incorporates the procedure to carry on the amnesty program pursuant to the Third Transitory Article of the Federal Revenue Law for fiscal year 2013, published in the Federal Official Gazette on December 17, 2012, for foreign trade related duties and taxes which have been self determined, and the procedure to reflect such amnesty application in the corresponding import entry summaries (pedimentos).

Conclusion

By means of this Fourth Resolution of Amendments to the FTGR for 2012, the SHCP is seeking to strengthen the supply chains for certified companies under the New Scheme for Certified Companies (NEEC, for its acronym in Spanish). Thus, the SHCP included the transportation companies as part of this scheme, by noticing that they are a fundamental stakeholder considering that most goods are transported in our country by land.

The above mentioned Resolution also sets forth the procedure to carry on the amnesty program contained in the Third Transitory Article of the Federal Revenue Law for fiscal year 2013, for foreign trade related duties and taxes which have been self determined.
In case of any question or comment regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us.

For a full discussion of these rules, please see the Client Alert prepared by our Mexican International trade and Customs Practice.