Mexican shelter companies offer greater certainty to manufacturers.

Although much of the economic reforms proposed, approved and implemented over the last several years have been done so in very clear, certain and well-defined terms, one important issue that remained unclear has been clarified just recently. It has to do with the relationship between Mexican shelter companies and their clients (production firms) to which they provide their outsourced manufacturing support services.

Initially the government proposed that firms working under the auspices of a Mexican shelter company, and under its IMMEX certification, be allowed to do so for a period limited to four years. The Mexican government also stipulated that foreign firms already operating through a Mexican shelter service provider be allowed to continue to do so through January  1, 2017. After that time, manufacturers operating in Mexico with the assistance of Mexican shelter companies would be required to  form their own Mexican entity and begin operating on their own,  including having their new Mexican entity certified as individual entities under IMMEX.

As of the penultimate week of December 2015, Mexican authorities amended these rules. The changes that were agreed to were the result several years of meetings and education conducted by executives representing the country’s most prominent Mexican shelter companies to explain to federal economic policy makers, as well as the nation’s tax officials, the important role that Shelter firms play in attracting and retaining foreign direct investment from a diversity of manufacturing sectors and international economic partner countries.

The amended determination that has recently been put forth, stipulates that companies entering Mexico for production purposes may work within the framework and structure provided by a Mexican shelter company for a total of eight years. Furthermore, the January 1, 2017 limit on such operations by firms that are already up and running with a shelter service provider has been extended until the January 1, 2021. Despite the establishment of this new and longer deadline, it is anticipated that the Mexico’s government will continue to extend the deadline in four year increments indefinitely, thus eliminating the deadline a Shelter client can operate under the Shelter program.

Tecma’s Executive Team anticipates the extension in four year increments indefinitely, as the Mexican Government truly understands the importance of Mexican shelter programs in terms of the positive economic affects that they have on attraction foreign investment linked to many different industries and companies of all sizes, as well as to the highly beneficial role that Mexican shelter companies play in creating a significant number of jobs for the country’s citizens within Mexico’s manufacturing sector.