Advances in Mexico for Foreign Trade

The renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will include, for the first time, the issue of e-commerce (electronic commerce) and it is expected that what was negotiated in the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP, for its acronym in English) serve as a basis on this occasion.

Among the issues that the TPP, an agreement that 11 of the 12 signatory countries are still seeking to rescue after the departure of the United States, range from alignment with international legal frameworks on electronic commerce, electronic authentication, consumer protection, procurement of paperless commerce, principles of Internet access and commerce on it.

Likewise, permits for cross-border transfer of information by electronic means, facilitation and shared charges for Internet interconnection, use of computer facilities without discriminatory practices, regulation of unsolicited commercial electronic messages, cooperation to support SMEs and support in matters of cyber security.

Mexican Association of Online Sales -AMVO: There is a whole window of opportunity for the digital economy to grow in Mexico”, he said in an interview with T21 and recalled that last year Internet sales worth 300 billion were made in the country pesos, but this amount still represents 0.5% for the Mexican economy.

This renegotiation will be "another opportunity to streamline all issues, we have a series of details on the issue of exports with the SHCP regarding the amounts that can be sold online... or the payment of taxes": ProMéxico.

Customs specialists from several countries will update in Spanish the explanatory notes to the harmonized system with which merchandise is classified internationally.

With the aim of standardizing information and facilitating foreign trade, in July of this year the XVII Session of the Ibero-American Nomenclature Committee was held in Mexico.

Officials and specialists from the member countries of the Multilateral Agreement on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance of Customs of Latin America, Spain and Portugal (COMALEP) participated in the session, who will update in Spanish, the Explanatory Notes to the Harmonized System of Description and Codification of Merchandise 2017 and the Classification Criteria Index.

The Harmonized System has the greatest relevance for all the countries that participate in international trade since it is a nomenclature for the codification, description and classification of merchandise and products in international trade, created by the World Customs Organization (WCO) in 1988 , and used for issues of customs taxes, rules of origin, price control and quotas, among others.

Given that the WCO only considers English and French as official languages, the work carried out in our country with experts from the entire region is of the greatest relevance, in order to have said nomenclature officially in Spanish.