Client Alert – Mexico Tightens IMMEX Rules: Footwear Now Off the List

In a new effort to bolster local production, Mexico has expanded its IMMEX restrictions—this time targeting footwear. Companies relying on temporary imports should review their classifications and compliance plans.

As you may recall, since the IMMEX Decree was issued in 2006, Annex I has contained a list of tariff classifications that are barred from temporary importation. That is, products classified under the tariff items listed in Annex I of the IMMEX Decree may not be imported on a temporary basis, with all that this entails.

This Annex I, with the aim of protecting domestic industry, has been amended on several occasions to prohibit the temporary importation of various products—essentially articles of apparel. Thus, on August 28 of this year, an additional amendment to Annex I was published in the Federal Official Gazette, incorporating a new list of products that may NOT be imported on a temporary basis by maquiladoras (IMMEX companies).

The products whose prohibition took effect on August 29 are classified under Chapter 64 of the Law of the General Import and Export Taxes (LIGIE). They comprise forty items, all of which are footwear. It is important to review this list in order to determine and take the appropriate legal actions.

At FisherBroyles, we stand ready to assist you in reviewing this matter.

For additional information, please contact   

Guillermo Massieu at [email protected] with any questions or more specific situations.

FisherBroyles is an international law firm practicing in a number of jurisdictions both in the United States and overseas through affiliated legal entities and branch offices of those entities.  Legal services in Mexico are provided through Bravo Gutierrez & Münch, S.C., a member of FisherBroyles (the “Contracting Member”), with offices located in Mexico City, at Parque Lincoln, 5th Floor, Aristoteles 77, Polanco, Mexico City, Ciudad de Mexico 11560 and in Monterrey, at Blvd. Antonio L. Rodriguez 3000-5to piso Interior, 501 Torre Albia, Col. Santa Maria 64650 Monterrey, N.L.

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