Obligation to provide new documentation to imports into Mexico

From September 1st,2015, the new Rule 81 from the Customs Law will be mandatory. This law establishes additional requirements to perform imports which involve providing confidential and / or sensitive information.

According to Article 59, Section III of the Customs Law, one of the obligations of the importers is to deliver to the customs broker a declaration of value. This declaration must include elements that permit the tax authorities to determine the customs value of the goods, for which a copy of the demonstration should be stored, as well as other documentation and information necessary to prove its commercial value. These documents should be provided to the authorities only when required.

In order to regulate this, last April 20th 2015, the new article 81 of Regulations of the Customs Law was published in the Official Gazette. This article specifies the obligation of importers to provide, as an annex to the demonstration set value, documents and additional information, including information that could be considered strictly confidential and / or sensitive.

The new documentation required by article 81 is the following:

►► 1. Commercial invoice.
►► 2. The bill of lading, packing list, waybill or other transport documents.
►► 3. Documents which verify the origin of the goods.
►► 4. Documents stating the guarantee referred to in subparagraph e) Section I of Article 36-A of the Act.
►► 5. Documents stating the payment of goods, such as electronic payment transfer or credit card.
►► 6. Documents stating the expenditure on transport, insurance and associated costs corresponding to the operation in question.
►► 7. Contracts related to the transaction of the merchandise subject to the transaction.
►► 8. Documents that support the concepts that Article 65 of the Law refers.
►► 9. Any other information necessary to determine the customs value of the goods concerned documentation.

Due to the aforementioned obligation, the Article 220 of the Regulation has also pointed the obligation of the custom broker to retain the documents referred to the Article 81.