Importing Electric Vehicles Into Mexico, Duty-Free Period
The Mexican General Import and Export Duties Law (“the Mexican Tariff”) was recently modified through a couple of decrees (effective Sept. 4 2020 and Oct. 23, 2020) to create tariff items that expressly identify electric passenger vehicles (8702.90.07), used electric light vehicles (8703.90.03) and used trolleybuses (8702.90.08), within the Mexican nomenclature of goods, subject to general import duty rates of 20, 15 and 15 percent respectively.
According to the published decrees, electric vehicles classified as electric passenger vehicles (8702.90.07), electric light vehicles (8703.90.01), electric cargo vehicles (8204.90.01) and trolleybuses (8702.90.01) are allowed to be imported duty-free for a period that expires in September 30, 2024.
The inclusion of the above-mentioned electric vehicles in the national nomenclature, along with the referred duty-free period, is intended to facilitate access to clean technologies in transportation and help promote their use.
It is expected that the duty-free periods included in the decrees will stimulate electronic vehicle brands to lower prices within a more affordable range, speeding up their acquisition and the eventual transition to electric mobility in Mexico, which has been very slow due to the relative higher prices of models, and slow availability of necessary electric mobility infrastructure.