Mexico Dropped the Automatic Import Permit for Textiles on September 15, Except in Consolidated Entries Already Open

Since September 15, 2026, textile and apparel imports into Mexico clear without the automatic import permit that the Secretaría de Economía (Mexico's Ministry of Economy, SE) required whenever the declared unit price fell below the estimated price. The reason is mechanical: the permit depended on a reference that no longer exists. On September 14, Mexico's Finance Ministry (SHCP) published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF) the resolution that repeals Anexo 4 of the estimated prices resolution, the annex that set those prices for textiles and apparel, and the repeal took effect the following day.

Two operations fall outside that reading. The first is the consolidated entry that received its first shipment before September 15: for those operations, the SE and ANAM (Mexico's National Customs Agency) issued guidance that the obligations in force on the date of the first shipment apply, even when later shipments and the closing of the entry happen afterward. The second is any product that shares a catalog with textiles and keeps its own permit or notice, starting with footwear. ANAM's Press Release 99/2026, dated October 13, put it in writing: the change applies exclusively to the textile and apparel products that were listed in the repealed Anexo 4.

What the automatic textile import permit was, and why it fell with Anexo 4

The automatic import permit for textile and apparel products is set out in Anexo 2.2.1, numeral 8 BIS, fracción II, of the SE's general rules on foreign trade (Acuerdo de Reglas y Criterios de Carácter General en Materia de Comercio Exterior). It became mandatory under one triggering condition: a unit price below the estimated price set in Anexo 4 of the SHCP's estimated prices resolution. The SE and ANAM laid this out in their joint press release of October 5, 2026.

The rules tie the permit to the actual transaction. Rule 2.2.15 requires the value and unit price stated in the permit to match the commercial invoice covering the import, and provides that a permit that does not match is invalid. That is why the permit was handled invoice by invoice, with the estimated price of each tariff classification as the benchmark.

When Anexo 4 was repealed, that benchmark disappeared. With no published estimated price for textiles and apparel, no unit price can fall below it, and the triggering condition for the permit can no longer occur. The change came through the Finance Ministry: it removed the reference on which the Ministry of Economy's rule depended.

The same repeal also ended, for these goods, the customs guarantee account that importers funded when they declared below the estimated price. We cover that side in our piece on the end of apparel estimated prices, which also explains what the value file now has to support. This article deals with the permit and the transition.

The four dates that shape the transition

The full sequence spans one month, and each date plays a different role.

On September 14, 2026, the SHCP published the repealing resolution in the DOF: a single article and one transitional provision. On September 15, the repeal took effect. From that day on, the key question for every textile operation is the date on which the applicable regulation was fixed.

The law answers that question. Article 56 of the Ley Aduanera (Mexico's Customs Law) sets the dates on which, among other items, the non-tariff regulations and restrictions applicable to an import are fixed. The SE's rules add rule 2.1.3: when a non-tariff regulation or restriction is withdrawn before the goods are presented to the automated selection system, compliance with it does not have to be proven. For an ordinary textile import presented on or after September 15, both provisions point to the same result.

On October 5, the SE and ANAM issued their joint guidance on how the repeal applies. They confirmed that the automatic textile import permit stopped being enforceable on September 15, pointed to the dates in Article 56 to decide which provision governs each operation, noted that all other non-tariff regulations and restrictions on the goods remain in force, and set the criterion for consolidated entries opened before the repeal took effect.

On October 13, ANAM published Press Release 99/2026 to clarify the scope. The triggering condition for the automatic permit stopped applying exclusively to the textile and apparel products listed in the repealed Anexo 4. All other goods and sectors must comply, where applicable, with Chapter 2.2 "Permisos y Avisos" and Anexo 2.2.1 of the SE's rules, and with the remaining non-tariff regulations and restrictions.

The trap in consolidated entries opened before September 15, and in catalogs that share an entry

A consolidated entry lets a company cover, in a single pedimento (Mexico's customs declaration), all the shipments it brings in over a period, with a weekly or monthly closing. It is the natural format for operations that cross goods every day, and it is exactly where the transition stops being automatic, because one entry can include shipments from before and after September 15.

For those cases, the October 5 guidance sets one rule: operations covered by a consolidated entry comply with the obligations in force on the date the first shipment entered, even when later shipments or the closing of the entry take place after the repeal.

An illustrative example shows how far that reaches. An apparel importer works with a monthly consolidated entry. Its September entry received its first shipment on Thursday, September 3, followed by near-daily shipments through the 30th. Under the first-shipment criterion, that entire entry is governed by the obligations of September 3, when Anexo 4 was still in force. Lines with a unit price below that day's reference keep the permit requirement, including those that crossed on September 20 or 28. For this importer, relief arrives with the first consolidated entry opened on or after September 15, which is the October entry. An importer on a weekly closing reaches the same point in days; one on a monthly closing, in weeks.

The second half of the trap is in the catalog. A consolidated entry rarely carries a single family of goods, and Press Release 99/2026 makes clear that the effect of the repeal is limited to the textiles and apparel of Anexo 4. Footwear is the closest case. The SE's rules keep the automatic import permit for footwear as a separate instrument, listed on its own in rule 1.5.1, and footwear estimated prices remain in force in Anexo 3 of the SHCP resolution, last updated in the DOF of February 10, 2026. A footwear line traveling in the same consolidated entry as apparel keeps every one of its obligations, and the same holds for any product subject to an automatic import notice or a prior import permit under Anexo 2.2.1.

The criterion also demands precision inside the textile universe itself. ANAM refers to the products that were listed in the repealed Anexo 4, so the correct reference for classifying each line is that annex as published on September 14, with the exact tariff classification of each product. Our guide to the three layers of control on textile and footwear imports maps where each of those obligations sits.

If your textile operation works with consolidated entries, a Joffroy expert can review with you which entries fell on the pre-September 15 side and which lines in your catalog keep a permit or notice.

Three steps to close the transition before the next cutoff

1. Inventory the consolidated entries that crossed the date. For every consolidated entry with shipments in September, record the date the first shipment entered, the tariff classifications it covers, and whether the automatic permit was obtained for the lines that required it. Entries whose first shipment predates September 15 keep their permits in the file. If any later shipment under those entries crossed without the permit the criterion required, review it with your customs broker to define the treatment before transmitting the closing.
2. Split the catalog into three groups. The first holds the textile and apparel tariff classifications that were in Anexo 4, which since September 15 clear without this automatic permit, except in the consolidated entry case. The second holds goods with their own permit or notice, such as footwear and products subject to an automatic import notice. The third holds the tariff classifications that still carry an estimated price in Anexos 2, 3 and 5, where the customs guarantee account still applies. Each group calls for a different instruction to your customs broker.
3. Update the instruction and date the file. Change the non-tariff regulations matrix your customs brokerage firm uses to prepare each pedimento, and record in the file of each consolidated entry the date of the first shipment and the provision that was applied. For new operations, control now rests on the value file and the Importer Registry, both still under review by the authority, as we explain in our piece on the end of apparel estimated prices.

Joffroy operates with three national customs broker licenses and more than 190,000 customs operations a year across more than 39 ports. At that volume, a transition like this one is managed entry by entry, with the date of the first shipment recorded in each file, so the provision that was applied can be demonstrated when the authority asks.

What changes in the textile importer's routine

The routine adjusts in two stages. While the consolidated entries opened before September 15 are being closed, the automatic textile permit stays in their files, line by line, with the date of the first shipment as the reference. From the first consolidated entry opened on or after that date, the permit leaves the checklist for every textile shipment, and compliance work concentrates on two fronts: the file that supports the declared value and the regulations that still apply to the rest of the catalog.

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Talk to a Joffroy expert to review your September consolidated entries and your non-tariff regulations matrix before the next closing.

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