1. General rules
The classification of goods in the Tariff of the Mexican General Import and Export Tax Law is governed by the following rules:
1. The names of sections, groups and subgroups are provided only for ease of use; classification of goods is carried out based on the texts of commodity items and the corresponding notes to sections or groups and, unless otherwise provided by such texts, in accordance with the following provisions:
2. a) Any reference in the heading to any goods shall be construed as a reference to such goods in an incomplete or unfinished form, provided that, being presented in an incomplete or unfinished form, such goods have the essential property of a complete or complete good, and shall also be construed as a reference to a complete or complete product presented in an unassembled or disassembled form.
b) Any reference in the heading to any material or substance is to be construed as a reference to mixtures or combinations of that material or substance with other materials or substances. Any reference to a product made of a particular material or substance shall be construed as a reference to goods consisting wholly or partly of that material or substance. Classification of goods consisting of more than one material or substance is carried out in accordance with the provisions of Rule 3.
3. Provided that, by virtue of Rule 2 (b) or for any other reasons, it is possible to classify goods into two or more headings, the classification of such goods is carried out as follows:
a) Preference is given to the product item that contains the most specific description of the product, compared to product items with a more general description. However, when each of two or more headings relates to only part of the materials or substances included in a mixture or multicomponent product, or only to part of the goods presented in a set for retail sale, then these headings must be considered equivalent in relation to the product, even if one of them gives a more complete or accurate description of the goods.
b) Mixtures, multi-component articles consisting of different materials or made from different components, and goods presented in sets for retail sale, the classification of which cannot be made under the provisions of Rule 3(a), you shall classify according to the material or component which gives the goods their essential property, provided that this criterion is applicable.
c) Goods which cannot be classified in accordance with the provisions of Rule 3(a) or 3(b) shall be classified in the heading last in ascending order of codes among the headings equally eligible for consideration in the classification of those goods.
4. Goods, the classification of which cannot be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the above Rules, are classified in the heading corresponding to the goods that are most similar (close) to the goods in question.
5. In addition to the above provisions, the following Rules must apply to the following goods:
a) Cases and cases for cameras, musical instruments, guns, drawing supplies, necklaces, and similar containers, specially shaped or adapted to contain the article or set of articles concerned, suitable for long-term use, and presented together with the articles for which they are intended, you should be classified together with the articles packaged in them, if such containers are usually sold together with these articles. However, this Rule does not apply to containers, which, forming a single whole with the packaged product, give the latter its main property.
b) Subject to the provisions of Rule 5(a) above, you should classify packaging materials and containers supplied with the goods they contain together if they are of the kind normally used for packaging the goods. However, this provision is not mandatory if such packaging materials or containers are clearly suitable for reuse.
6. For legal purposes, the classification of goods in the subheadings of a product heading must be carried out in accordance with the names of the subheadings and the notes relating to the subheadings, and in addition to the provisions of the above-mentioned Rules, provided that only subheadings at the same level are comparable. For the purposes of this Rule, appropriate section and chapter notes may in addition apply unless the context otherwise requires.
II. Additional rules
1. The general rules of interpretation of the Tariff of the General Import and Export Tax Law of Mexico are equally applicable to the determination of the tariff in groups and subgroups, with the exception of Section XXII, which classifies goods subject to special clearance.
2. The tariff of the General Taxes on Imports and Exports Law is divided into 22 sections, which are designated by Roman numerals, arranged in ascending order, the numbering of which does not affect the codification of tariff lines.
A tariff category defines a product and the tariff applicable to it and is an 8-digit code formed as follows:
a) The group is identified by the first two digits from 01 to 98, ordered in ascending order;
b) The tariff item consists of 2 digits of the group, followed by the third and fourth digits, ordered in ascending order;
c) The tariff sub-item consists of 4 position digits, followed by the fifth and sixth digits, separated from the position digits by a period.
Subitems may be of the first or second level, which are distinguished by one or two hyphens, except in cases where the numeric code of the subitem is represented by zeros (00) — have no levels. First level — the sixth number is zero (0). Second level — the sixth number is different from zero (0).
For the purposes of General Rule 6, the first level sub-items are presented in the Tariff as follows:
i) When there are no second level sub-items: consists of 6 digits, the last of which is «0», with a hyphen added before the descriptive text.
ii) When there are second level sub-items: not numerically coded, a hyphen is added before the descriptive text.
The second level sub-items are subordinate to the first level sub-items mentioned in sub-clause ii) above (not having a numeric code). In this case, the sixth digit is non-zero and the sub-item text is preceded by two hyphens.
d) Six digits of a sub-item with the addition of a seventh and eighth digit, separated from the previous ones by a dot, form the tariff category. Tariff categories are numbered from 01 to 99, with 99 used to classify goods that are not included in categories ending with 01 to 98.
The amount of the tariff specified in the tariff categories of the Tariff of the General Import and Export Taxes Law is understood to be expressed solely as a percentage, unless otherwise specified, and is applied to the tax base of the general import tax or the tax base of the general export tax, if applicable.
3. The Ministry of Economy, together with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico, publishes in the Official Gazette of the Federation and national publications decisions on the interpretation and application of the Tariff in order to determine the tariff classification of goods, as well as subsequent changes to these decisions.
4. In order to maintain the uniformity of criteria when classifying goods under the Tariff of the Law on General Taxes on Imports and Exports, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, after the preliminary conclusion of the Foreign Trade Commission, publishes in the Official Gazette of the Federation criteria for the classification of tariffs, the application of which is mandatory. Likewise, differences in criteria that arise with regard to tariff classification are resolved according to the procedure established by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico.