The ‘chocolate’ cars turn on the alerts of the automotive sector again. The government published on January 19 in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) a new decree that seeks to promote the regularization of used vehicles illegally imported into the country over the next six months.
The representatives of the manufacturers of vehicles, both light and heavy, auto parts and distributors assure that this new decree is unjustified, while the country already has another that regulates the importation of used cars and that allows consumers to do so doing the paperwork and paying the corresponding taxes.
“But now we find that this new decree gives greater facilities to those who have introduced used vehicles illegally than to those who have done so legally,” said Guillermo Rosales, executive president of the Mexican Association of Automotive Dealers (AMDA).
The new decree, which will be in force until July 20, 2022, will allow it to circulate in the states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Durango, Michoacán and Nayarit.
“We view this measure with concern, because it sets a precedent and encourages the illegal importation of used cars,” said José Zozaya, president of the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry.
Rosales gives an example: although Nuevo León is a border state, the presence of illegally imported used vehicles in the Monterrey metropolitan area is minimal. But this decree, says Rosales, now opens the possibility that more units will be imported in these six months.
“There is no problem, but we are giving rise to it becoming one. The same happens in the capital of Chihuahua”, assured the representative of the distributors.
The Mexican Association of Automotive Dealers calculates that in some border cities illegally imported models already represent up to 50% of the units in circulation.
The new decree establishes that those interested must cover a fee of 2,500 pesos, which has outraged vehicle manufacturers and distributors. “It is a completely inequitable treatment insofar as they are being exempted from paying other taxes, such as VAT or ISAN, which they do have to pay for new models or even used ones that are imported legally,” said Rosales.
It also requires that the units that are to be regularized comply with the physical, mechanical or environmental protection conditions, in accordance with the applicable federal or local provisions, that they have not been reported as stolen and that they are not related to the commission of a crime. crime.
But Rosales warned that the decree that promotes its regularization does not establish any mechanism to verify that the units meet these requirements and that it will suffice for the interested parties to present a letter, under protest to tell the truth, that the vehicle is not in the assumptions. planned.
The industry is now calling for a regulatory framework that allows mechanisms to be established to verify the physical, mechanical and legal conditions of used vehicles that were illegally imported. “We believe that the customs agent must make a query in the United States databases, as occurs with the models that are admitted legally,” Rosales concluded.
