By Baker & McKenzie

On May 9, 2005, the Ministry of Economy ("SE") Publisher in the Federal Official Gazette an "Accord establishing specific benefits to Certified Companies operating under a Maquila Export Program or a Program for the Temporary Importation to Produce Export Goods" (the "Accord").

As indicated before, we informed you about the draft of the Accord now officially published, the purpose of the Accord is to grant additional benefits to Maquiladoras and PITEX companies registered as Certified Companies with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit ("SHCP").
The benefits granted to Maquiladoras and PITEX companies are the following:

• All tariff items of the goods required to carry out their productive processes are authorized to be imported on a temporary basis, without the need of requesting an amendment to the respective program.

It appears that a change to the computerized system of the customs authority would be required, since, currently, if a company intends to import a good not covered under its maquila or PITEX program, the import declaration (pedimento) will not be validated.

• No need 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.

• Possibility of securing authorization to operate as service maquiladoras when rendering those services 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 Article Fourth of the "Accord that determines the activities that service maquiladoras are authorized to perform".

• The annual report of operations to be filed with SE will only include the information regarding the value of the total sales and exports.

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

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

Finally, the Accord sets forth that the SHCP will inform the SE within a term not exceeding 3 business days of any authorization, renewal or cancellation of a Certified Company.

The purpose of this notification is to keep track of companies taking advantage of these benefits.

The Accord entered into full force and effect on May 10, 2005. Should you require additional information in this regard, please feel free to contact any member of Baker & McKenzie´s Foreign Trade Practice Group.