Table of Contents

• Current Regulation
• Legal Remedies
• Revocation Relief
• Judicial Administrative Litigation
• Direct Amparo Proceeding
• Direct Amparo Proceeding’s Review
• What Would Happen if You Win the Case and Still Your Vehicle Has Already Been Sold on an Auction? 

Current Regulation

In Ciudad Juárez, as in other Mexican border cities, it is common for American vehicles to circulate around for a quick visit. There are many reasons, such as tourism, visiting relatives, seeking medical and odontology services, etc. However, such entries in our country can lead to the loss of foreigners’ property due to the violation of its customs law and their ignorance of them. 

In order to avoid such misfortune, the first thing you should know is the requirements to enter Mexico with your own vehicle for a short period of time without legal problems. Conditions that are regulated in rule 3.4.8 issued by the Tax Administration Service (Mexico’s Internal Revenue Service counterpart) of the Mexican General Rules of Foreign Trade, which are as follows:

Rule 3.4.8 Circulating Within the Fringe and in the Border Region for Foreign Vehicles: 

For the purposes of Article 136[1] (Mexico’s Custom Law) of the Law, vehicles owned by foreign residents may circulate within a 20-kilometer fringe parallel to the international dividing line and in the border region, provided that they comply with the following:

I. The vehicle must have and carry foreign registration plates or documentary proof of circulation abroad, valid when you cross the international dividing line and during your stay in the national territory.

II. A foreign resident must be aboard the vehicle (it’s not necessary that he drives the car, but have to be on board) […].

If those requirements are not met, Mexican customs authorities, pursuant to articles 150, 151, section III, 152, 153, 155, and 157 of Mexico’s Customs Law, will initiate a Customs Administrative Procedure (PAMA by its acronym in Spanish) which has these legal consequences:

1) Mexico’s customs authorities will raise an act of the commencement of the Customs Administrative Procedure which must include: I. The identification of the authority that practices the diligence; II. The facts and circumstances that motivate the start of the procedure; III. The description, nature and other characteristics of the merchandise, and finally, IV. The sampling of the merchandise (only if it’s suitable) and other evidence necessary to issue the corresponding resolution.

2) At the outset of the procedure, the customs authorities will require you to designate two witnesses and indicate an address to hear and receive notifications in Mexico.

If you don’t designate such witnesses or the designated ones don’t accept that function, Mexican customs authorities will appoint them. 

On the other hand, Mexico’s customs authorities shall warn you that if you don’t designate an address or, after that, you vacate it without further notice, all services of summons, proceedings notifications (even those labeled as personal) will be carried out by customs authorities’ public lists attached in its office. 

3)  In the same act, Mexico’s customs authorities shall attach the vehicle as a measure to guarantee the unpaid taxes and tariffs for the illegal internment of it. 

4) Finally, they will give you a copy of the said act, which must say you have ten business days to offer the evidence and formulate the appropriate allegations.

This short-term could be vital, let’s say if you didn’t have proper documentation to prove your legal status as a resident abroad or the validity of your foreign registration plates when you crossed the border with Mexico. 

5) If it’s proved in that period you are complying with the Mexican General Rule of Foreign Trade 3.4.8 aforementioned in its terms, Mexico’s customs authorities shall return your vehicle immediately without the imposition of fines, tariffs, taxes, or tolls of some sort. However, if you submit insufficient proof or none to discredit the findings and omissions depicted in the act, Mexico’s customs authorities shall issue a final resolution within a period not exceeding four months— counted from the day following which the deadlines for the presentation of all the documents of evidence and allegations have expired— to issue the resolution. If the final resolution is not issued in that term, the actions of the authority that initiated the procedure will be without effect. Therefore, your vehicle shall be returned to you.

6) In the case you couldn’t rebut the customs authorities, and they issued timely the resolution, although you have other legal remedies to challenge such a decision, the authorities now would be able to auction off your vehicle and sell it to another person. This is so, according to article 157 of Mexico’s Custom Law that states they shall transfer it for sale to the Administration and Disposal of Goods Service (Servicio de Administración y Enajenación de Bienes in Spanish) which does that according to the Federal Law for the Administration and Disposal of Public Sector Assets (Ley Federal para la Administración y Enajenación de Bienes del Sector Público in Spanish)

Legal Remedies

After the final decision of Mexico’s customs authorities was issued against you, basically, you have these legal remedies at your disposition to redress it:

Revocation Relief

A) This legal remedy is regulated in Mexico’s Federal Tax Code in its article 117, section I, subsection c) 

B) Must be filed through the tax mailbox within thirty days after the notification has taken effect. 

C) The same authority resolves this legal remedy through a higher-echelon public official.

D) This legal remedy is optional because you can forego it and go directly to the Federal Court of Administrative Justice.

Judicial Administrative Litigation

A) This legal remedy is a proper lawsuit, regulated in the Federal Law of Administrative Litigation Procedure (Ley Federal del Procedimiento Contencioso Administrativo in Spanish), and can be filed online or in person.

B) Through this legal remedy is possible to challenge the Revocation relief’s resolution. Therefore, in some cases, it’s appropriate to not forego it.

C) Must be filed within thirty days after the notification has taken effect. 

D) An impartial court generally composed of three magisters specialized in customs cases would resolve the case through a proper judgment. 

It’s important to note that we don’t have this sort of court in Juarez because the only one available is in the capital, Chihuahua’s city. Likewise, some cases regarding customs issues are sent to other Mexican states because some can only be litigated under Specialized Foreign Trade Chambers Courts. 

E) This legal is mandatory before filing a constitutional relief (amparo proceedings) If you don’t do it, the resolution issued by Mexican customs authorities will be upheld without hesitation. 

Direct Amparo Proceeding

A) This is not an ordinary legal remedy but an authentic constitutional lawsuit that, although processed in writing, has special notes to consider before filing it. It’s important to mention that only a few attorneys in Mexico know how to file successful amparo proceedings. Be aware of who you retain for it.

B) It must be filed within fifteen business days after the Federal Court of Administrative Justice issues its judgment and notifies you of it.

C) The case will be resolved by an impartial court called the Collegiate Circuit Court, composed of three Federal magisters. Their decisions are generally final. 

Direct Amparo Proceeding’s Review

A) This is an exceptional remedy that can only be resolved by Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice. 80% of the cases are not suitable for this remedy. 

B) It must be filed within ten business days after the Collegiate Circuit Court issues its judgment and notifies you of it. 

C) Only can be studied by the Mexican Supreme Court against direct amparo proceeding’s judgments that resolve issues regarding the constitutionality of general laws where one party establishes the direct interpretation of Mexico’s constitution or such proposition was pretermitted by the Collegiate Circuit Court in its judgment. 

D) Mexico’s Supreme Court must resolve this remedy in two different ways: from one of its chambers (we have two chambers composed of five justices, but the second chamber would resolve the issue for this case because it specializes in administrative and labor matters) or the court acting in full (eleven justices). Whatever the case, its judgments are final. 

What Would Happen if You Win the Case and Still Your Vehicle Has Already Been Sold on an Auction? 

After all the bumpy road to vacating the initial customs resolution and hence winning the case, this hypothesis can come along—it happens a lot. Sadly, Mexican Customs Law only considers compensation calculated over the value of the car and some interests. Payment that will be conceded after its request within two years counts from the judgment that ordered vacate the attachment. 

Of course, many foreigners who couldn’t recover their vehicles despite winning their cases have criticized this awful compensation. Therefore, some have filed several Amparo Proceedings challenging the supposed unconstitutionality of the precautionary attachment and improper compensation. However, Mexico’s justices have rejected their arguments, and I don’t predict they will change their doctrine on this issue in the short term. 

Some cases are still fresh, for example, the direct amparo proceeding’s reviews 1545/2015 and 5587/2019, where only one Mexican justice opposed this compensation system. Although these reviews are not legally binding because we don’t yet have a ‘jurisprudencia’ on this issue (binding legal decisions provided by higher courts. In some degree, it can be known as ‘precedents’) I don’t believe in the near future challenging on merits the precautionary attachment will work. Nevertheless, in a new blog entry, I will explain the arguments of Mexico’s Supreme Court over these amparos.

By Omar Gómez

Partner

beLegal abogados S.C

Abogados en Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México

Administrative, Constitutional, and Tax Attorney

Visit my personal website at www.ogomezabogado.com

Contact me at: [email protected]

Contact the firm: (656) 774-75-73 for English assistance and (656) 271-41-43 for Spanish.

For more info or inquiries, send us a message to [email protected]

---

[1] Article 136. For this Law, the territory between the international dividing line and the parallel line located twenty kilometers toward the country’s interior is considered a border fringe.

The border region is understood as the territory determined by the Federal Executive.