'No Amnesty for Illegal Cars' Says Mexico's Undersecretary of Revenue The News
go to original October 25, 2012

Undersecretary of Revenue José Antonio González (The News)

MEXICO CITY – Treasury and Public Finance Secretariat (SHCP) Undersecretary of Revenue José Antonio González said that there would not be a mass legalization of used vehicles from the U.S.

González’s comments come after the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors (AMDA) said that it would issue an order to regulate so-called “chocolate” cars (unregistered cars from either Canada or the U.S. in Mexico).

In a joint press conference with Economy Secretary Bruno Ferrari, González said that there is no such order, but an “administrative agreement whereby admission fees for imported cars are facilitated … in combination with environmental regulations.”

He also said that a date has not yet been set for the agreement, which is currently being revised by the government of Chihuahua, to go into effect.

Ferrari said, “What both secretariats are doing is continuing with a previously established program” to regularize the cars in Mexican territory.

“What we are doing is looking at the cars already in Mexico and which can be regulated, and finding out who the owners are.

“Our purpose is to ensure that (cars) comply with the precise environmental regulations and it is these (cars) that we are recognizing, in accordance with this program, which has been ongoing for some time”

Ferrari said that both agencies are working with the government of Chihuahua to ensure that no vehicle coming from the U.S. enters the country without first being approved as meeting environmental standards. He reaffirmed that cars which don’t pass environmental inspections in the U.S. will not be allowed to run in Mexico. Ferrari said that in the case of Ciudad Juárez, cars that enter Mexico and circulate illegally being used in criminal acts is a larger problem.

“This has been a very serious problem on the border, Ciudad Juárez in particular, not only because (the cars) were not legally registered and they were used for criminal activities; (but because) it was not even possible to follow-up as they had either no plates or those that they had were from the United States.”

Ferrari said that the new regulation has been reviewed carefully by both the Economy Secretariat (SE) and the SHCP as it involves tax payer money and must take into consideration commitments previously established in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) regarding the importation of vehicles.

The Mexican newspaper Razón reported that 6.5 million “chocolate” cars have been imported from the U.S. to Mexico this year. Problems associated with these “chocolate cars” include a distortion of the internal market, road insecurity and their increasing use in organized crime.

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