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welcome, and thank youfor standing by. at this time, all participantsare in a listen-only mode until the question and answersession of today's call. at that time, you may pressstar-one to ask a question. also, at this time, i would liketo inform all parties that today's callis being recorded. if you have any objections,you may disconnect at this time. i would now like to turn the callover to manuel velazquez. thank you,you may begin.
thank you, good afternoonfor those of you joining on the eastand west coast. thank you for joining us for ourexporting to mexico webinar series: mexican import process webinar. this webinar is our sixth webinarout of the series of seven, which is brought to you by the u.s.and foreign commercial service and the departmentof commerce. my name is manuel velazquez, commercial specialistfor global market,
for the foreign commercial officein monterrey, mexico. i will be today's moderator. in a moment, i'll turn the presentationover to our main speaker, mr. ruben lopez, commercial directorof lopezadri forwarding, and mr. doug barry,international trade specialist for global knowledge centerfor the u.s. commercial service. mr. barry will be moderatingthe q&a session. all the speakers will be availableat the end of the presentation to answeryour questions.
contact information willalso be provided to everyone. for those of you who just joined, you can still log on to the webinar byentering the url website and passcode from the instructionsthat were sent to you by email. we do have a few housekeepingdetails to make sure everyone gets the most benefitfrom this morning's webinar. you will be able to hearthe presentation via your telephone and view it simultaneouslyvia your computer. if you are not hooked up to both,please take a moment to do this.
if you are experiencingany technical difficulties, please press star-zero anytimeduring the presentation. during this webinar, we will be takingvoice and written questions. to ask a voice question,please press star-one. to ask writing questions, we invite you to type in questionson your screen as they occur to youduring the presentation. there is an iconwith letters q&a on the upper left-hand sideof your screen.
q&a stands for questionsand answers, where you can click and type in your questionsanytime during the presentation. we will compilethe questions and answer as many as timeallows after the presentation. text questions which arenot answered during the webinar due to time constraintswill receive personal answer, via email,after the webinar. and we're going to startthis presentation telling you that we are a u.s. commercial service,and this is our agenda.
and we have three officeshere in monterrey, one located in guadalajara,another in mexico city and monterrey. our main goalis to help you to locate qualified reps and customersto our services. we have different types of solutionsto help you to export to mexico, like trade counselingand advocacy, partner search,market research, and for the topics relatedto the customs, any questions that you have,any doubts or if you want to know more
about how the process to exportto mexico and to import in mexico, please let us know. we want to be your sourceof information. now, i'd like to introduce, live on the line,to mr. ruben lopez, commercial directorof lopezadri forwarding. ruben is one of our secret weaponsfor this topic. ruben, thank youfor joining us. thank you very muchand good afternoon, everyone. thank you for being here.
we're all here,we are very happy and it's an honor to participateon this webinar. i would like to thank my friend,manuel velazquez and the u.s. commercial servicefor this distinguished invitation. thank you very much. today, we are having this webinarabout exporting to mexico, and we are goingto share some important tips on how to exportproperly into this country, and also, we'll talk aboutour experience on this field,
in order to give you recommendationsfor you to have a much better experience when doing businessin mexico. so, if we go to the first slide,you may see the main topic we will holdthrough this presentation. -are we there now?-yeah. exporting to mexico 101. first of all, we'll seeyour customers' profiles, we'll talk about also whatthe padrã³n de importadores means, and importance of it.
also, the relation between importersand customs brokers, the important role of a trading companyas a third party importer, and what are the advantageswhen working with a trading company. we'll see some exceptionson an importer registration, and finally someimportant information to consideron your international business. so, we can goto the next slide, please. mexican customer profile. you might think at this momentabout a customer
with some kindof commercial profile, but for this presentation,this is not the case. we are talkingabout exporting. so, what i want to start,with a profile, is for you to know if you are dealingwith a domestic company or an international companyin this mexican market. so, before shipping,you need to know your customeror consignee legal basis titles. if you are dealing with a domesticcompany, you should consider
that they don't haveany import/export experience, and you might need more effort andassistance to comply for your export. nowadays, with all thistechnological and internet era, exporters are easily contactedby many mexican clients who believe importing into mexicois such an easy thing because they have a wayto make a contact overseas, and they will be ableto import or trade anything. so, whenever youare contacted by anyone, just pleasemake sure if they are
domestic companyor international company. on the international companies,well, there's some advantage there because if you're doing businesswith this kind of company, it means that they are active importerswho have import/export experience, and their own customs brokeras well. obviously, making a transactionwith them is easier and smoother. under this category,you may find also importers for domestic business only, which are companies that importfinished goods in the mexican market,
of course,as an international distributor. this company must comply with allcustoms and commercial regulations. and also, you will findmanufacturing companies which import raw materialon a temporary basis to transport them unfinished goods,which would later be exported. these kinds of companies workunder special government programs called index and they have manyadvantages over regular importers. they don't have to complywith most of the commercial or restrictions at customs.
can we turnto the next slide, please? selecting the right way to export. the importance of knowingyour customer profile is because it will guide you to select the right wayto export into mexico on a practical way. so, this will depend if you're dealingwith importer clients or you are dealingwith a non-importer client. it also will dependon the incoterms you are dealing, and this incoterm is basicallythe international terms of agreement on your sale, which will markthe scope of commitment
or liabilityon your transaction. you may agree to sell justat your facility under export and that you're tying alongall the costs, risks, expenses, together in their place, but also you may agree deliveringto your client under ddp incoterm. under this scenario, you arethe exporter with all costs and expenses. but i can tell,according to our experience, that the most popular incotermamerican exporters use to export into mexicois the dat,
which means"deliver at frontier." we go to next slide, please. no computer here. okay, so underthese circumstances, the right way to exportto an importer, or customer, on that way, you would needto contact their customs broker. i can tell that they are active importers,they already have that instruction, they already havetheir customs broker. so, if you are dealingwith an active importer
that you sell to dat incoterm,delivery at frontier, ship to the forwarding company,united states, and then you just sendthe customs paperwork, which involves commercial invoice,packing list, nafta certificate, and bill of landing,to the broker at the border. from that point, they can take itfrom there and ship it into mexico. if you are dealingon a ddp incoterm, which means that you maychoose a customs broker, you can do it as long as the importerprovides their approval.
remember thatimporters in mexico, they have a tight relationwith the customs broker, and sometimes it's kindof difficult to change their broker. so, we goto the next slide, please. all right, so exporting to active importers,as we just told is the easiest way, but we are here to learnabout alternative solutions on exporting to mexico,so you'd be able to face those difficult situationsthat can be presented when you're trying to developa business with a non-importer.
it's very common for us,as a mexican customs broker to receive calls from companiesthat have their shipment and stock at the airport supporters becausethey're constantly, or trying, this non-importer. and they are not registered importersin that they are very different for this kind of assistance. and that is why the importanceof knowing your client's title to avoid this kind of situation is--my recommendation is you must first knowif your client is able to import.
so, what do we need to doif we are dealing with a non-importer? first of all, you will need to contacta mexican customs broker, because certainly they will havesuch contact. you will need to getyour product classified, according to the harmonized tariff code, and see what product requirementswe may have. you also will need to contacta trading company, which may act as a third-party importeron the operation of customs, and develop the pricewith them.
establish a sales price,and then sell to that mexican partner. so, that's the modelfor this kind of business that we will see in a moment. we go to the next slide, please. when talking about the product,for customs regulation, all products we may have here, many kind of productson the companies you work for. the main thing when you wantto export into mexico is to get that tariff code,that harmonized tariff code.
and it may comparebetween the american tariff code, canadian tariff code, mexico has their owntariff code. at the nafta region,the first six digits may be the same, but eight is hard to change. so, you will need to confirm thatwith a mexican custom broker, and then see which kindof regulations you may have for importation into mexico. the regulation we may haveis labeling for retail products.
we may have regulationsfor quality nom, and that goes for electronicsor for retail as well. you may be subjectto official inspections if you handle agricultural or food,or human consumption products. you may need a special permitif you are handling some cosmetics, or some hazardous material. and you also might needto have trademark licenses. it's very common for us, also,that we are contacted by many people that they want just to finda customer in mexico
and they have dell computers,they wanna export it, but if no one has a trademark license,you cannot do that. so, i put there"importer's letters of exemption" because there are somekind of operations that you can avoid this kind of regulationif you are doing a special transaction to some customer in mexico. we can go to the next slide, please. you may ask, how does a non-importerbecome an importer, or how difficult is for a companyto become an active importer in mexico?
one popular question we haveis does an american company can be an importer in mexico,can they have their own license? well, this is a very common question because the ideais to deal with importers, and the idea is to makethings practical. but what i can tell is, in mexico,there is an official government database that is named padrã³n de importadores,and if the person or the company is not registered on thatpadrã³n de importadores, on that database,that person is not an importer,
and that is the principle difference. so, if you are registeredon the padrã³n de importadores as a mexican company,you are allowed to become an importer, and it is exclusivelyfor mexican legal entities, and mexican persons. one requirement we havefor the padrã³n de importadores, it is vital to have a mexican legal entityor business established in mexico. you will need to havea regular fiscal record. and also, to submit an electronicrequest to the government portal.
all this is free of charge,but it can take you some time to get it. an average can betwo to three weeks, but there are casesthat they make take months, and it all depends on howyour regular fiscal record is, and that's the main thing. so, can we go to the next slide, please? after getting authorizationon the padrã³n de importadores, now the new importer willneed to set up an account with a mexican customs brokerof their choice,
following a one time process. according to customs regulations, the custom broker must requestand have on file all the importer's legal documentation. and that can take--well, as fastas the importer can do. they will need also to submit lettersof authorization, such as the power of attorney, electronic authorization throughthe web portal, the government, and also electronic filefor electronic custom procedures.
after getting the setup accountwith a customs broker, now you can start shippingor importing into mexico. this is why the relation betweenimporter and custom broker is so special and so tight. and whenever you, as exporter,you are consulting with a different custom broker,you wanna deal with that custom broker, if you have an importer companywith a different one, then it's kind of difficult to gowith the one you already have. and the easiest way is to goto the one that is already set up
with your final client in mexico. let's go to the following slide, please. the ideal market for u.s. exportercan be for many exporters, obviously if they are lookinginto mexico, the ideal would be to have all peoplebeing active importers or importer. this is because having importers,the process, makes this easier. but, if we go to the next slide, please... the real mexican market for exportersis that you only find a little portion of these active importers.
in most of the mexican market, i can tell more than 80 percentof the mexican market, are non-importers. so what do you want to doas a trading country or exporting countryin mexico? what you would like to dois to define our business plan to go to those non-importer companies. and this will be whati can tell you need to do if you are just goingto non-importer companies,
or you want to extend the rightof your export profit. in this scenario,you need to have a third party importer, a trading companywhich has already set up an importer, and that can be your partnershipor commercial representation in mexico. this is an easieraccommodation. if you are dealing,or if you go through experience dealing with non-importer companies, what i would say isthat the best thing for you is to sell to only active importers,
but the real thing is how to dealwith non-importers with going throughthird party importers. and we go to the next slide,please. even though the trading-- okay, trading partners. the trading partners,they give you a lot of advantages. it is what i recommend to exporterswho are starting in our position on a first stagein a business venture in mexico. using a trading partner (unintelligible)standardize your export procedures.
also, a trading partner will offer youbackup on customs brokerage, freight forwardingand logistics, and that's a good trading partnerthat can do that. also, you are able to complywith this trading partner for the most of customs regulations,permits, noms, or labeling. and i put labeling in capital lettersbecause you can standardize your product using the labelingfor the importation into mexico only once you are a company because the labeling departmentoften requires you to label
the name of the companyof each single importer. let's say that you have importercompanies as a customer and you are sending products to them, and you canlabel the requirements, you will need to label every singleproduct with the label per importer, but if you use a trading partner,you standardize your label, and you can just importto one importation company and comply with regulationsonly using one single label. also, using a trading partner,you may handle the transaction
as a domestic salewith your final customer. nowadays, we know there are manycustomers that they don't want to deal with suppliersthat gave them problems, and most of the time,they prefer to purchase, or to get their productfrom their plant and have the supplier, or exporter,get involved on all the process. so, handling the transactionwith a trading partner can help you with all these backup logistics,customs brokerage and all that, and make things easierfor the purchaser
because they will have the productin mexico as a domestic sale. it also gives youthe opportunity to deal with some governmentprocurement. whenever they are limitedto national companies, you can use your trading partnerin mexico to lead, to beat on those procurementsand to win a very good business. using a trading partneroffers also legal liability and low riskto exporters and customers. everything on legaland customer relations,
it goes to the trading partner,all the risk is on them. it offers commercial representationand a complete business management, which is invoicing mexicoaccording to commercial regulations, receiving paymentsin mexico, and then doing the bank transferto your company in the united states. we're gonna skip that one, and manuel is at the most commonscenario, we go through the proper way,much better. are we there?
okay, the proper way. choose your trading partner. it will depend on what kind of partneryou are handling the experienceof that trading partner. i can tell, and i take the vantagethat our company will be dealing, for more than ten years,on these kind of scenarios, and we have several customers,and we do their representation, and we workwith the trading partner. so the proper way is firstchoose a correct and reputable
trading partner in mexico,that they have the experience and all the backupwe have talked. also, after you choosethat trading partner, you will need to work on a price list, and i quote "ddp mexico"saying a price at the door of your mexican customer. and plus iva, which is the sales pack,which is important, i think, on this kind of scenario. we will see the modelin a moment,
but it's important for youto get your product catalogued, and then, do all the copying,all the expenses, and put a pricein mexico with the partner. and after that, you will sellor you will import your sales force and sell your product through yourpartners via this platform in mexico. this means that the customers,the orders, will go from the final customerthrough the trading partner, and then from the trading partnerto your company. this is an example of pricingand tax of one of our customers,
and we got the chance to workwith them and we are working right now. this company is in the united states, and this is only a representation,they are not real values. it is just to simplifythe business plan. in the united states,you have the product, this idq product is $9.00, and then we have the lineof the border, once it crosses the border, the mexican customs will request youthe 16 percent of those values.
and then you got lopezadri,which is our company, and all the products on therethat we offer, trading services, customs broker,freight insurance and all that. so you add all the cost,and they presume all that cost for lopezadri is $1. for the final customer,you're gonna list the price of $10 plus tax. the final customerwill see the price in mexico and will pay that price in mexicoto the trading partner.
the trading partnerwill keep the $1, and then forward the transfer of $9to the exporter in the united states. if we go to next slide,you see how the model, the business model works. the u.s. on the top,you see the u.s. exporter keeping the relation with the customerand with the sale. but that is how it should work. the trading partner will not dealwith your customer. you have two relations to credityour agreement.
the purchase order will goto the trading partner, and then the trading partner will forwardthat purchase order to the u.s. exporter. the u.s. exporter will submita customs invoice to the trading partnerfor customs purposes, and then the mexican--the trading partner will make a different mexican invoiceto the final customer with the final price. then the payment is going back from the customerto the trading partner,
the trading partnerto the u.s. exporter. finally, the product is releasedfrom the u.s. exporter going to all these backups,logistics backups to the trading partnerand finally, delivery to the final client. and that's the model of how we workwith a trading partner. go to the nextslide please. there are some exceptions. and going back to--going to, uh, selling
to non-importersor active importers. there are some exceptionsthat you may take advantage, and it is under customs--mexican customs rule 1.3.1. and what this rule allows youis to ship several kinds of products to anyone that evenif they are non-importers or not. and what kind of productscan go through this rule, let's say one of themis machinery assets. if you are selling equipment,machinery that is-- they are calling mexicovienna de capital
which they're gonna usefor production or for some business activity. then you can dealwith anyone. there's no need for havingany further registration or having... you would need though,to have a custom broker, but you don't needthis registration. also, on this rule you may--you may export agricultural equipment only if your company in mexicois registered as an agricultural person.
books, sculptures,paints, or artworks are also exempt ofan importation registration. courier packageup to $1,000, and these are usedfor many person that might sendproduct samples and all that to courier a company,and on these-- on these items,on this line you won't even needthe custom corporate system, you only can usethe courier company to import.
it's important for youto consider that there are many confusionon this part because many peoplesend sample by like powder or some chemical product, and this rule would notallow you to do that. these are all different. products that are easy to identifythe useful of the product. it will make you golike chemicals or loose product withoutany packaging information on that.
another--another exception is... when you send productsunder $5,000-- $5,000 value,and it can be importer-- and it's the same thingas the courier packages-- as long as you are sellingor sending a product to a particular that isa product that is identified very easily. let's say, furniture,a desk, a chair, or any product that is notdifficult to identify,
they're naturalizations. so, this kind of operationcan be done by non-importers onlyfor one time on a 30 day period. so it's also importantfor you to know this important rule. and also,before doing this, you need to contacta courier company whoever you'regonna choose,
it might be via shell,fedex, ups, and ask them aboutthis rule, because most of the timethey don't know it and they just stopthe product as customs, but you got these rulesthat you need to ask if they are willing to use it,because sometimes because they return our policies,they just discard it, and they don't use it,and they push you to use an active importers,trading companies,
and customs broker,and all that. we go to the nextslide please. also importantfor you to consider, when doing businesswith mexico, the nafta is a duty freeagreement, not a value added tax agreement. and this is because mostof the products coming to mexico, they are subject ofthe 16% of iva. they are charged atthe moment of crossing,
the customs request the fundsin advance for those 16% of iva. and many companiesare very confused on this because they say,"hey, when i ship to canada and we are in nafta,and there's no, uh, duty or there's no tax there,or when they were even-- when mexican companieswere shipping to united states, the government, they don'tcharge you any duty or any tax, because they think becauseof nafta. but according tothe mexican regulations,
the nafta is a duty free programand you're not paying that-- you're not payingthat duty. they are charging youfor a sales tax. they charge you that sales taxin advance. and the most importantthing about the sales tax is that many exportersconsider that tax as a costand it is not a cost. the v--the sales tax payingat mexican customs is... it's a value added tax,which is creditable
to the mexican importer,so somehow or sometime the mexican importer willtake advantage of that 16% and will be creditedto their booking. so it is only a cash flow issue. it's important for youto consider that, um, the mexican customsthey request you up front paymentof taxes or duties. and also, and forthe other hand, we have american exportersdoing business in mexico
and most of the timethey forget to do the shipper export declaration. and maybe we are talkingabout exporting to mexico, but it's very commonthat the exporter just ship the product and they forgetthis important step at the u.s.--at the u.s. customs. the shipper export declarationis an important process that you will needto consider. and if you are notdoing that,
you might be subject to penalize,um, the u.s. customs, you might be subject to--if you are caught at the customs to get your product holdat united states customs until you pay the fine and submitthe u.s. shipper declaration. the u.s. shipper declarationmay be submitted by a customs broker,by a freight forwarder, by the supporter directly. and if no one submitsthe shipper export, the customs or treaty will go backfor all the parties involved.
so, don't forget that. submit the shipper export wheneveryou export anything anyplace. and finally, it's importantfor you to consider the difference betweencustoms broker, forwarders, freight forwarders,logistic companies. nowadays we have companiesdoing logistics and they give you--they tell you, "we are a door-to-door companyand we can offer all these services." but most of the timewhen it goes through customs,
or when it goesto the border or the point of crossing,a logistic company they told you, you know,"what... who's your custom broker?" and you should considerthis and that. so, you need to bevery careful on which provider you're using,and think about if they are a custom broker,or a forwarding company, the forwarding company.
what i can tell custom broker,they do customs documents, and custom dispatch. the forwarder, they don't do that. they only receive shipmentsat the border, they count and theyforward the shipments. the freight forwarder,they take the freight to the place you tell them. and the logistic companiesis a company that coordinates with all these parties involved,and get the product into mexico.
it's important for you--you have to keep in mind whenever you are usinga service or any supplier, make sure that they havetheir custom broker, also that your partyor your company in mexico is a registered importerand you can go through that process easily. if not, then you will needto go to a trading partner and work on some kindof model that we just talked, and have your business done.
well, that's all for now. manuel, thank you very much. i really appreciateyou being here, and you listen tothis presentation. my name is ruben lopez. and whatever you need here,i'm located in laredo, texas, at the border. and we do havea trading company, custom broker companyas well,
and we may help you guysif you want to deliver a product into mexico. thanks very much, manuel. thank you very much! i don't know if he'sstaying around there. it looks like he's not here,but well... before to start the questions,i want to let you know that we have a lastwebinar for the season. it's going to be next month.
it's called "how to settle disputeswith the mexican customs." it's going to be on march 12th. and in this webinar,you will learn how to solve controversiesand misunderstandings about harmonized system codes,the permits and requirements. sometimes we receive herequestions about how to deal with the mexican governmentonce that you have a problem or when you havea shipment stuck in the mexican customs.
now i'm going to passwith catherine to see we have any questions,a voice question. thank you. at this time if you would liketo ask a question on the phone, please press *1on your touch tone phone. please ensure your phoneis unmuted and record your name clearlyat the prompt. once again, that is *1on your touch tone phone. it does take a few momentsfor the questions to come through.
please stand by. i'm showing no questionsat this time. well, we have two questions,two written questions. we could answerone of them. one of the questions is... let me see. "will we get a copyof this presentation afterwards or do i needto attempt to write all this down?" no, of course,we want to send you the link
with the presentation just... pay attentionto your e-mail. we're going to send the informationof this webinar, and the informationfor next webinar. and the second questionthat i have here for ruben is... "is a u.s. company ableto manage import activities from a u.s. office?" ruben? yeah, thank youvery much, manuel.
yes. this is a very popularquestion to ask. i'm assuming that you'd like to knowif an american company may be an importerof record in mexico. and, well, if that's the case,that is not possible. unless your companyestablish a mexican legal entity, and that's the scenarioof many international companies doing business in mexico, they go through to lawyersand set up their own company
in mexico with allthe legal requirements, and once they're set upin mexico, they're a legal entity in mexico,now they can request a registration underpadrã³n de importadores which will allow them to bean importer of record in mexico. but that's the only way. you--the government will notlet you use your u.s. base corporate or companyin the united states to be an importerin mexico.
that would not beacceptable for them. so the only way isfor you to come here in mexico and establish a mexican company. and i was understanding, too,that crowley, uh, nicole who madeup this question is probably havingthis approach that from united statesto make all the process, could we have door-to-doorexport or operation like you explain us?
they could usea trading company, right? yes, if they're usinga trading company, they can offer to their customersdoor-to-door services. and using, of course,using the proper way of a trading company,using all their business platforms, and using them to sellthe product into mexico. and that's for dealingwith non-importers, but if our friend here, as we said,doing the question, they have importers companyalready set up
for customers in mexico, they can do it withoutusing a trading company. they can go--they can go and coordinate with a logistic company. the only thing they will needto request, uh, the custom broker informationfrom their client so they can contact themand make deposits. excuse me, i do have nicole. she is queued up onthe question and answer.
so, go ahead nicole,if you need to further ask questions. yeah, thank you. we do have--we already havea legal entity present in mexico. i was just wonderingif the actual processing could be managed bythe company by... the centrally located officein the united states working with a custom--i'm sorry, mexican customs broker? yeah, well, you would need to... to have someone in mexicodoing the customs paperwork.
there are electronic right now,that, you know, may allow you to do the documentation,let's say in the united states. but you will need to havea licensed customs broker to submit the pedimento,the customs paperwork to customs so your shipmentcan be clear. so if--there are some newregulations coming in mexico, if you got a legal entityalready established, as you have told,then you may, um, you can request to the customsor the mexican government
to have one of your employeesbeing the one that submits the pedimentoand all this customs procedure. you will be independent,you will not need even a customs broker. but this is goingto a different process, and this new regulationjust coming in that they're allowingimporter company, or mexican companies,to do their own paperwork, customs paperworkwithout using a customs broker.
so it can be doneas long as you follow the process. do they have to physicallybe in mexico? yes, according to the regulation,they need to be in mexico, yes. but if you have a customs brokerthat is physically in mexico, you would be ableto transmit the correct information and handle the brokers--they could handle the brokers on your behalf? -yes, they can---without you being--okay. we have plants andwarehousing facilities,
so we don't have the expertisefrom a customs perspective like we do herein our central office. okay, well, if you got transactionsgoing back and forth, import/export, i mean,i'm assuming your legal entity in mexicois an importer company, and you only need to useyour customs broker. and for us to be a custom brokerwe need to have a license on behalf of the government. and also there's a choice,in the new regulations,
that you can name oneof your employees in mexico, and it should be in mexico,as your custom rep, that is the namethey will have. legal customs rep. and they can submit,they will be able to submit all custom paperworkwithout using a customs broker. okay. all right, thank you. thank you, i did get anotherquestion queued up coming
from ashley jacobs. go ahead,your line is open. hi, um, i just wantedto comment, too, to nicole. we have that,it's not always easy, but we do it. and then my second,my actual question was for manuel. does the u.s. commercial serviceshave some sort of newsletter to kind of show usas exporters what changes mexico customshas had recently?
for example, we've hada change to steel import rules, and it's kind ofcaused a few issues here. so we're trying to come up with a wayto get ahead of these changes. so, does the u.s. commercial servicespublish some sort of newsletter to identify those changes? hello, yes. well, in this case,we don't have a specific like update. but if you send me an e-mailwith this specific question i can make a research on that,and i answer directly to you.
it's the same for almostall the industries. i'm in charge of allthe import process here, and then when you havea specific question or if you want to knowwhat is happening with the changesor an update, because sometimesthe new updates in the mexico regulation,and i go and review it, and i write the market research. sometimes i write market researchand i provide that to--
to our database. but if you have anyspecific questions about your sector,you can send me an e-mail and i work on that,and i send you that information direct to you. that'd be great. you'll be getting a few e-mailsfrom me then. -thank you.-sure! all other cases is for free.
i would like to advantageon that question, ashley. we also--we as a company,we do send some updates on new regulations and we dohave some experience in the steel industry, we do havecustomers on that industry. so, um, i would be morethan happy to have your e-mail or manuel you can give meher e-mail, and put us on our company updatesand news for new regulations. thank you,and i show no further questions on the phones at this time.
okay, we have one questionfrom (unintelligible) and that is very interesting,because she's saying: "please review the differencesbetween broker, freight forwarderand logistics." what can you addabout that, ruben? yes, thank you very much. well, a customs broker,specifically, they do allthe customs paperwork. and in order to do that,they will help you as well
to get your specificationon your product, and get all the restrictionsor, um, regulation for your product to beimported into mexico. that's the main roleof a customs broker. besides doing justthe import/export documents, and dispatch the cargoat the port of entry, they also may help youto get the tariff code, the proper tariff code,the requirements and regulation for your product.
that's the custom broker. the forwarder most of the time,custom broker, they have theirsister company named forwarder company,and those are based, for the time,at the border. and this forwarder,their profile, they have warehousingto receive materials that are gonna be importinginto mexico. they don't do anycustoms documents,
but what they do,they will get your material someplace,some warehouse, or some yard, to get it preparedto the customs clearance. so, and then we gotthe freight forwarder, which are mostly likea transportation company. they just move the load. and sometimes they don'tdeal with nothing about customs. they just, uh,move the material from point a to point b.
and finally, the logisticcompanies right now, which is one of the popularsat this moment, the logistic are coordinators. and they may havecustom broker assistance, they may havea forwarding company, but logistics, they are morelike a coordinator company. they will select the properway to get the material internationally into mexicoor into any other place. so that's the main difference.
i don't know if that's--that'd be clear. okay, just following that idea, how to choose the propertrading partner or the proper custom broker? what do you suggestto our friends, the exporters from the u.s.,how are they going to select this propertrading partner or custom brokers? yeah, well, most of the timeswhat i recommend
is to know about the companythat are offering the service. you may go to their website. but not also only the website,you can-- if you want a real,let's say, company as a custom broker,logistics can tell you, "you know, i can bethe customs broker." but how do you knowif they are really a customs broker or not? so, what i recommendis to go, let's say, laredo,
there's associationof customs broker, and you might lookto their directory of customs broker companies. if the logistic is registeredon that--on that directory, then it's a good company,and it is recognized by this association,and you can work with them without any problem. that's my suggestion,but sometimes the feedback that you receivefrom our presentation,
you may look, how--what is this called? what are their terminals? what are their offices? if the offices are reallyoffices from them, or they are just, um,addresses--there's nothing there. so, it kind of--doing a little research on your supplier. perfect. i don't know if we havequestions from the--
our audience. i'm still showingno questions at this time. looks like we are ready--out of here, and... i think that's all the timethat we have. remember for those of youwho have questions and you want to sendit through e-mail, we want to answeryou back after this webinar. please make a noteof contact information that we send to you.
you can contact anyoneof our speakers. please take a momentto write down your contact information. and thank you to everyonefor joining us. thank you to mr. ruben lopezfor your expertise, also thanks to allof our participants. please check your e-mail,both e-mails for more information on upcoming webinars. any questions,please let us know.
and thank you very much. thank you everybodyand goodbye. thank you,goodbye. that does concludetoday's conference. thank you for participating. you may disconnectat this time.