More secure cargo and quicker crossborder transit will be result of the implementation of a NEEC lane at commercial border crossings Mexican Customs installations.

The NEEC, or Mexico’s Nuevo Esquema de Empresas Certificadas, is our southern trading partner’s equivalent of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) in the United States. These programs have been put in place by the customs agencies in the respective countries for the purpose of creating the conditions required to enhance shipping security. By October 15, 2015, the commercial land port at Nuevo Laredo, in the State of Tamaulipas, will be the first of many ports at which a special NEEC lane will be activated. The port at Nuevo Laredo was chosen as the first to be addressed by this program, due to the large volume of imports and exports that transit through it on a daily basis.

In addition to enhancing overall security, the purpose of Mexico’s Nuevo Esquema de Empresas Certificadas (NEEC) is to combat and to monitor the trade of illicit and/or regulated goods. Some of the items with which Mexico is experiencing difficulties include: used automobiles, footwear and textile products. The reason for the choice of these items for extra vigilance under the NEEC program is that these products are particularly susceptible to undervaluation by the importing parties. Undervaluation is, technically speaking, a form of contra-banding. Scrutiny of these items as a result of their passage through a special NEEC lane at an increasing number of Mexican ports will, to a large, extent address the problem effectively.

The initiative of installing a special NEEC lane in Nuevo Laredo, as well as at other border land crossings, is a part of Customs Modernization Plan that will be executed over the course of president Enrique Pena Nieto’s term of office. In total, the financial resources that have been committed to activities and projects to upgrade Mexican Customs are valued at just over US $62 million. In addtion to the presence of a new NEEC lane, or lanes, commercial border crossing at land ports will be reorganized, as well as will be expanded in size by several lanes where needed. It is important to keep in mind, however, that an NEEC lane at any of Mexico’s Customs facilities may only be used by those commercial trailers that have been certified under Mexico’s Nuevo Esquema de Empresas Certificadas (NEEC). In addition to enhancing cargo security, these special lanes will also speed the international transit of the crossborder shipments that they carry.