Conflicts between the International Trade Terms (INCOTERMS) and the automatic notification regulations for imports of Chinese steel products

Abstract

The terms of sale and purchase of merchandise for imports coming from China are limited by Mexican legislation, related mainly to tax affairs specialized in foreign trade as well as  administrative matters specialized in economics, given the fact  terms commonly accepted by China for this type of international sales transactions are  INCOTERMS, and some INCOTERMS are not compatible with the aforementioned Mexican legislation.

The above problem is presented in a specific group of INCOTERMS, which are those that include freight and/or insurance, since, the general rules and criteria in foreign trade issues the Secretariat of Economy, in the case of automatic filling of import notices for steel products, it is stated that prices should be shown without freight and/or insurance.

This limits steel traders to use INCOTERMS that include freight and/or insurance, as if they did so the customs authority would be in a legal position to seize the goods, which inhibits and limits international trading in those steel products, understood as steel products, all goods which are classified under the tariff headings 72 and 73 of the General Import and Export Taxes Act (examples: bars, tubes, plates, screeds, etc.).