The head of Mexico’s National Customs Agency (ANAM), Rafael Marín Mollinedo, clarified that the reform to the Customs Law proposed by President Claudia Sheinbaum does not create new responsibilities for customs agents, but rather seeks to ensure they properly perform their “job” of inspecting merchandise entering the country.
The customs reform proposes eliminating the co-responsibility measures for customs agents because, according to Carlos Gabriel Lerma, Undersecretary of Revenue at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, these measures have been “recurringly” abused.
The new Customs Law seeks to make customs agents legally jointly responsible, along with importers, for ensuring that what is declared at customs in the import declaration corresponds to the merchandise being brought into the country.
During a working meeting of the Chamber of Deputies’ Finance and Public Credit Committee on the reform of the Customs Law, Marín Mollinedo clarified that this co-responsibility of customs agents is actually already established in the law.
He explained that the concessions the State grants to customs agents are so they can be “vigilants” and help ANAM verify that what is entering the country is properly classified and taxes are paid correctly.
He stated that customs agents currently only fill out customs clearance documents based on what the importer tells them, but “without inspecting the merchandise.”
“The concession they are being given is precisely so they can verify and help us certify that what is in a container is actually what is stated in the customs clearance document. So, that is the only thing we are asking them to do now: to inspect,” he stated.
In that sense, he said he sees no problem with the changes proposed in the customs reform “because they have to do their job properly.”
“I honestly felt sorry for the meeting with them, and I told them, ‘Well, all you want is to fill out the customs declaration; even I’ll do that,'” he said.
They’re targeting tax evasion and smuggling
For his part, the Undersecretary of Revenue asserted in his speech that customs reform aims to combat tax evasion and avoidance, thereby increasing revenue collection without raising or creating new taxes for citizens who comply with their obligations.
Meanwhile, Erick Jiménez Reyes, general administrator of foreign trade audits at the Tax Administration Service (SAT), acknowledged that in recent years the tax authority has detected “countless” improper practices carried out by importers, exporters, customs agents, and other foreign trade participants.
He asserted that in order to combat these practices, “it is essential to amend this law” so that tax and customs authorities have sufficient resources to review and sanction them appropriately.
This Friday, the Finance Committee will meet with private sector lobbyists and civil society representatives to continue discussing this reform.
Source: eleconomista
