Although intermodal transport is an efficient alternative for moving cargo in Mexico, daily operations face challenges that go far beyond the movement of containers, including: the balance between imports and exports, equipment availability, terminal capacity, and an increasingly demanding regulatory environment.
Alberto Castillo, Deputy Director of Warehouses and Foreign Trade at Grupo México Transportes (GMXT) , stated that in the last 12 months almost the entire customs framework in the country has been modified, just on October 23rd “they surprised us with a new provision in the Official Gazette of the Federation that is related to undervaluation.”
During his participation in the second day of Container Week organized by the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport (AMTI) , he recalled that among the most relevant changes is the reform to the Customs Law published on November 19, 2025 , which came into effect on January 1, 2026, along with the new General Rules of Foreign Trade.
“We had high expectations not only for the control, but also for the facilitation of customs operations; however, controls were increased, but customs facilitation was reduced, because the more you control, the less you facilitate,” he said.
Subsequently, on February 23, 2026, the Customs Law Regulations were updated to establish in greater detail various operational procedures and obligations related to the presentation of information.
Also, starting April 1, a new requirement for Strategic Fiscalized Premises began to be applied, in addition to modifications related to the registration of carriers , reinforcing the requirements for those who participate in operations linked to customs clearance, to mention a few.
Castillo also commented that previously it was possible to make various changes to the customs declarations before customs clearance, “now that’s no longer the case, there are certain restrictions on doing so, and if you want to do it after clearance there are even more limitations.”
Regarding the implementation of the electronic value declaration, he mentioned that it will begin on November 1st, and will be implemented in stages: November 15th for the strategic bonded warehouse, December 1st for transits, December 15th for the bonded warehouse, January 1st, 2027 for temporary imports, and January 15th for definitive imports.
“It will have an impact, yes. I would hope not as much as at the beginning. The fact that the implementation of this declaration of value was postponed for so long allowed many companies to already have the technological means to do it quickly. Yes, there will be an impact, as with any new legislation, but little by little it will become more agile,” he explained.
Regarding undervaluation, Castillo indicated that in this case it will be the customs authority that “assumes” that certain merchandise is under such circumstance, “that is the problem and the sanctions are very high.”
The above is related to the fact that the Mexican Congress concluded the approval of the changes to the Customs Law, so the decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on October 23, with an entry into force scheduled for January 1, 2027.
The modifications, focused on preventing undervaluation, strengthen the review of the declared value and eliminate the 50% threshold that conditioned the cause of precautionary seizure for differences in declared value at customs between similar goods.
Given this scenario, he indicated that it is necessary to monitor and map where each flow is dispatched, confirm that the carriers are registered with the authority, and require seals, customs declarations, among other documents.
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