By Baker & McKenzie

On April 4, 2005, the Ministry of Economy ("SECON") filed before the Federal Commission for Regulatory Improvement ("COFEMER"), the draft containing the "Accord establishing specific benefits to Certified Companies operating a maquila export program or a program for the temporary importation to produce export goods" (the "Accord").

Once COFEMER approves the Accord, it will be returned to SECON for further publishing in the Federal Official Gazette.

The purpose of the Accord is to grant additional benefits to those set forth in the Customs Law and in the Foreign Trade General Rules, to Maquiladoras and PITEX companies registered as Certified Companies with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit ("SHCP").

The following are the benefits to be granted to Maquiladoras and PITEX companies:
When requesting the amendment or modification to their program, they will be relieved from:

a) Filing the document evidencing legal possession of the facility(ies) where the program will be operated;
b) Waiting for the inspection to the facility(ies) where the program will be operated.

* They will be authorized to import on a temporary basis, all tariff items of the goods required to carry out their productive processes, without filing the application to amend their respective program.

* They will not be subject to comply with the "Accord that establishes specific requirements upon temporary importation of goods", except when the goods to be imported are beans, ethylic alcohol, worn clothing and textile articles and consumption products.

* They may request the authorization to operate as service maquiladoras with respect to goods classified in chapters 50 to 63 (textile and clothing articles) of the General Import and Export Duties Law, without complying with the specific requirements set forth in the second paragraph of Article Fourth of the "Accord that determines the activities that service maquiladoras are authorized to perform".

* They should only include in the annual report of operations to be filed with SECON, the information regarding their total sales, indicating the percentage of sales into the domestic market and the percentage of sales abroad.

This benefit is also applicable to the reports to be filed under the Sectoral Promotion Program (PROSEC), Registry of Highly Exporter Companies (ALTEX) and the Registry of Foreign Trade Companies (ECEX), when the Certified Company operates one of the above programs.

* They may directly secure from the regional offices of SECON, the authorization to temporarily import under Rule 8th System the necessary goods to carry out their productive processes, except when the goods to be imported are agricultural and products with PROSEC preferential duty rate.

The Accord sets forth that both, SECON and SHCP, will be coordinated to implement the benefits referred to above, indicating that the regional offices will also be empowered to apply the provisions of the Accord.

It is important to mention that SECON, in its web page, establishes the possibility of filing comments or suggestions with respect to the Accord. Pursuant to the Federal Law on Transparency and Access to Public Governmental Information and its Regulations, SECON does not have to include in the Accord the comments or suggestions filed.
We will be pleased to assist you in the filing of any comment you may have in this regard, as well as with the applicable lobbing with SECON.

Finally, once the Accord is published in the DOF, we will prepare an informative bulletin in this regard.