What is a Customs Broker?

The Customs Agent legally represents importers and exporters before customs in order to carry out the clearance of your merchandise or customs clearance. 

The Customs Agent is the natural person whom the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit authorizes through a patent, to promote the dispatch of merchandise on behalf of others, in the different customs regimes provided for in the Customs Law.

Your customs agent is a key piece for imports and exports to flow. In Mexico, the Customs Agent can operate a maximum of three customs offices other than those under his affiliation.

In this Blog we will present the requirements to be a Customs Agent, as well as their rights and obligations.

By the way, you can quote customs clearance with us, we help you release your product from customs quickly (Call us: 812 646 6312 or Send us an email: sales@transvectologistics.com)

Let's start with some of the requirements to obtain a customs broker license:

1. Being Mexican by birth in full exercise of their rights.

2. Not having been sentenced by an enforceable sentence for an intentional crime and in the case of having been a customs agent or representative, his patent has not been canceled or extinguished.

3. Not be a public servant, except in the case of positions of popular election, nor be a military man in active service.

4. Not be related by consanguinity in a straight line without limitation of degree and collateral up to the fourth degree, nor by affinity, with the customs administrator of the patent affiliation.

5. Have a professional degree or its equivalent in terms of the law of the matter.

6. Have experience in customs matters of more than five years.

7. Be registered in the federal taxpayer registry, and demonstrate that you are up to date in the fulfillment of your tax obligations.

8. Pass the knowledge test carried out by the customs authority and a psychotechnical test.

Let's continue with the obligations of the customs agent:

1. In customs procedures or procedures, always act as a customs agent.

2. In the case of goods subject to non-tariff regulations and restrictions whose compliance is carried out by means of an electronic or digital document, write down the corresponding acknowledgment in the petition.

3. Render the technical report when requested by the competent authority.

4. Fulfill the order that had been conferred, so you will not be able to transfer it or endorse documents that are in your favor or in your name, without the express written authorization of the person who granted it.

5. Declare, under oath to tell the truth, the name and fiscal domicile of the recipient or sender of the goods, the code of the Federal Taxpayer Registry of those and their own, the nature and characteristics of the goods and other data related to the foreign trade operation in which it intervenes, in the official forms and documents that are required or, where appropriate, in the mechanized system.

6. Create an electronic file of each of the corresponding customs requests or documents, with the information transmitted and presented in an electronic or digital message or document as part of its annexes in accordance with articles 6, 36, 36-A, 37 and 37-A of this Law and other applicable legal provisions. The electronic file must contain the customs petition or document in the format in which it was transmitted, as well as its annexes and acknowledgments, and must be kept as part of the accounting, for the periods established in the Federal Tax Code. Additionally, you must keep the original of the manifestation of value referred to in article 59, section III of this Law, as well as a copy of the document presented by the importer to the Tax Administration Service that proves the order that has been conferred to carry out the customs clearance of the merchandise and if this was granted electronically, it must keep the corresponding acknowledgment. The electronic files that are generated in terms of this fraction, must be provided to the clients that correspond to them, without additional charge, who will have the obligation to keep them in terms of the provisions of the third paragraph of article 6. of this Law. They must be provided to the clients that correspond to them, without additional charge, who will have the obligation to keep them in terms of the provisions of the third paragraph of article 6. of this Law. They must be provided to the clients that correspond to them, without additional charge, who will have the obligation to keep them in terms of the provisions of the third paragraph of article 6. of this Law.

7. Submit the guarantee on behalf of the importers of the possible difference in contributions and their accessories, in the terms provided in this Law, which could result from declaring in the petition a value lower than the estimated price established by the Secretariat for merchandise. that are subject to undervaluation.

8.Accept the visits ordered by the customs authorities, to verify that it complies with its obligations or for specific investigations.

9. Request the authorization of the customs authorities to be able to suspend their activities, in the cases provided for in this Law.

10. State in the petition or in the consolidated notice, the official lock number used in the vehicles or means of transport that contain the merchandise whose dispatch they promote.

11.Accredit, where appropriate, at each customs office in which the patent is exercised by at least one representative authorized by the customs authority.

12. Submit to the exams that the Tax Administration Service may generally convene annually. This must publish the general rules in which the guidelines will be established for the application of the exams that will be carried out by academic or specialized evaluation institutions and that are duly and previously accredited before the Tax Administration Service. All the costs that are generated due to the application of the exams will be borne by the customs agents.

Now let's continue with the rights of the customs agent

1. Exercise the patent.

2. Request the change of affiliation to a different customs office, provided that the authorization that has been granted to act in your affiliation customs office is older than two years, and proves that the process of the initiated dispatches has been completed. It will not be necessary to verify the conclusion of the dispatches initiated, when the customs agent of affiliation is authorized as additional.

3. Appoint up to five representatives.

4. Collect the fees agreed with your client for the services provided, even in the case referred to in the second paragraph of section XIV of article 144 of this Law.

5.Voluntarily suspend their activities, prior authorization from the customs authorities.

For more information on how to process your customs agent license, you can contact the National Customs Agency in Mexico:

facilitacion@anam.gob.mx

https://anam.gob.mx/requisitos-para-obtener-patente-de-agente-aduanal/

To continue, these are some of the requirements for the customs broker to operate

1.Be up to date in compliance with your tax obligations.

2. Maintain the main office of its businesses within the national territory, as well as give the notice of opening and closing of its branches in terms of the Fiscal Code of the Federation.

3. Tell the customs authorities the address of your office to hear and receive notifications in the customs constituency in which you exercise the patent, as well as the email address to receive notifications and those of your customs agents. Those that are carried out in that place will take effect in the legal terms; Likewise, notify them of the change of address or email address, even in the case of voluntary suspension of activities.

4. Personally and habitually take care of the activities of their function and not suspend them in any case, except when ordered by the Tax Administration Service or when authorization has been obtained to suspend their activities.

5. Make known to the customs office in which it operates, the names of the employees or dependents authorized to assist it in the procedures of all the acts of the dispatch, as well as the names of the representatives that represent it when promoting and processing the dispatch.

6. Use the personal identification badge in the fiscal precincts in which it acts; obligation that must also be fulfilled by their employees or authorized dependents and their representatives.

7. Carry out the corresponding acts in accordance with this Customs Law in the clearance of merchandise, using the electronic system and the advanced electronic signature assigned by the SAT.

8. Have the necessary equipment to promote electronic dispatch.

9. Take care, in its assigned customs office, of at least 15% of the import and export operations with a value that does not exceed that which, by means of rules, the Tax Administration Service determines, this obligation applies to each one of the customs offices. in which they operate, being entitled to a consideration of $390.00 pesos for each operation, (amount subject to change, it is suggested to be aware of its modifications).

10. Use the official or electronic locks in the vehicles and containers that transport the goods whose dispatch promotes, in accordance with what is established by the Tax Administration Service through rules, as well as prevent the tax locks that are acquired from authorized importers or manufacturers. , are used in containers or vehicles that transport merchandise whose clearance has not been promoted.

The Customs agent has to protect his patent, because otherwise they can take away the right to exercise it.

Here are some cases whereby the customs agent may lose the right to exercise the patent:

1. If any of the requirements indicated in article 159 of this Law cease to be met, for more than ninety business days, without justified cause, counted from the date the authority becomes aware of the facts or omissions that constitute it.

2. The customs agent stops exercising the patent for more than one year, except in the case of suspension of activities that has been authorized by the customs authority.

3. The license of the customs agent will be canceled for the following reasons:

a) The omission in the payment of taxes on foreign trade, rights and compensatory quotas, if applicable, exceeds $285,900.00 (amount subject to changes, it is suggested to be aware of its modifications) and said omission represents more than 10% of the total of those that should have been paid.

b) Carry out customs clearance procedures without the permission of the competent authorities or without counting on the allocation of the quota thereof, when required, or without fully or partially discharging the permit or quota before activating the mechanism of automated selection.

c) In the case of prohibited import or export merchandise.

Quote here your customs clearance

Call us: 812 646 6312

Send us a mail: sales@transvectologistics.com

Contact Information:

TRANSVECTO LOGISTICS

Website: https://transvectologistics.com

Phone: +52 1 812 646 6312 | +52 1 811 591 9822

Email: sales@transvectologistics.com

Address: Calz San Pedro 801,

Fuentes del Valle,

66220 San Pedro Garza García,

N.L., Mexico

Blog source: https://transvectologistics.com/blog/que-es-un-agente-aduanal