The upgrading project includes technological development, digitization, infrastructure work, and new trade policy measures.

As part of the Toward a 21st-Century Customs Administration (link in Spanish) program implemented by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) in partnership with the Tax Administration Service (SAT), Mexico is seeking to position its 49 customs facilities as global leaders and model service providers whose technological prowess sets them apart.

The main aim of the program is to streamline the entry and exit of goods into and from the country and to increase surveillance measures that allow illegal acts to be identified.

Each day, in the whole of Mexico, “an average 45,000 customs declaration are processed and 29,000 cars and 56,000 people cross the border” said José Guadalupe Bautista Montoya, a customs officer at Nuevo Laredo (link in Spanish). This indicates how important it is for the program to be implemented in the near future.

Mr. Montoya also mentioned that the project is made up of five core areas, which aim to create a customs service that is:

  • smart, automated, and highly technological, which will make it more efficient and secure;
  • transparent, through the use of QR codes on goods, which will enable the status of these on entry or exit to be identified using any mobile device;
  • competitive, with infrastructure improvements that will lead to greater physical capacity and better facilities;
  • collaborative, by establishing relationships with customs services from other countries, mainly by developing a shared dispatch service between the Mexican and US customs facilities;

and global, in constant communication with other customs services throughout the world.