Chetumal Introduces New Strategic Fiscal Regime Area

The spokesperson for the Employer Confederation of the Mexican Republic (COPARMEX) in Quintana Roo Estefanía Mercado announced that the state will offer a free trade area with the objective of diversifying the state’s economy and attracting more investment, according to Forbes México. This space will be under the Strategic Fiscal Regime (REFIE), which according to SAT is "a property located in the surrounding of any customs office, which enables the introduction of merchandise under the customs regime, also named strategic fiscal enclosure."

Mercado expects this free trade area to “generate more jobs for Quintana Roo, increase production and manufacturing exports, as well as become a development buffer in the face of the crisis derived from the COVID-19 pandemic,” she told to Forbes México. In addition, this new regime will support and will be supported by other projects such as the Mayan Train, which has a planned stop in Bacalar.

Quintana Roo, according to recent data from the Ministry of Finance, is among the states with the highest real growth. Quintana Roo ranked second in real growth in 2019 with more than 5.1 percent, below Baja California with 17.2 percent and above Oaxaca (5.1 percent), San Luis Potosi (4.2 percent) and Nuevo Leon (3.6 percent). Likewise, Quintana Roo was the state that registered the highest growth in its GDP from primary activities (14.3 percent).

Currently, customs and logistics expenses are under companies’ scrutiny as they seek to reduce their total logistics costs. “Companies with global operations and international supply chains seek to implement innovative logistics and customs schemes that allow reducing costs without affecting their products’ added value,” according to a statement from Ricardo Rodríguez, KPMG Partner, in an article published by Expansión.

REFIE users will be able to enter merchandise, raw materials, parts and components to be processed or manufactured, using fixed assets, all exempt, when appropriate, of import duties and VAT, explains Rodriguez. Another benefit is that "REF creates logistics corridors that enable companies to use similar schemes in different parts of the world," explains Rodriguez, which helps to create global supply chains that will result in tariff, tax and cost savings for operations. 

According to SAT data, there are six REFIEs in the country in Aguascalientes, Tamaulipas, Chiapas, Michoacan, Sinaloa and Veracruz. Queretaro intends to use this scheme to attract investment and detonate foreign trade activities in the state. Meanwhile, Aguascalientes is the most advanced state in the matter.