Exporting from Spain to Mexico: customs, VAT, the EU–Mexico agreement and what your customer needs

Mexico is the destination of our best-documented shipments: the HPL panel order and the gym equipment order both left Spain for Mexico consolidated on a pallet. It is also a market where a commercial import follows rules a Spanish SME does not meet elsewhere: a registered importer, a licensed customs agent, a pedimento, 16% VAT and a trade agreement that can lower the duty if the paperwork is right. This guide explains each piece and what to ask your customer before the goods leave.

Who can import commercially in Mexico

A Mexican company cannot simply receive a commercial shipment at its door. Verified 22 October 2026 on the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT) site: to import, it must be enrolled in the Padrón de Importadores, which requires an active RFC (the Mexican tax ID), a valid e.firma, a positive tax-compliance opinion, a fiscal address verified by the SAT and an active Buzón Tributario; some product categories additionally need the sector-specific register (Padrón de Importadores Sectorial); and the company must engage a licensed customs agent (agente aduanal or agencia aduanal) or an authorised legal representative to carry out its foreign-trade operations (SAT, Inscripción en el Padrón de Importadores). The customs agent files the pedimento, the import declaration that covers the legal entry of the goods, with the Agencia Nacional de Aduanas de México (ANAM).

A private individual in Mexico is cleared differently, through the simplified courier route with its own limits. Tell us who receives the goods when you ask for a quote: a company on the Padrón and a private person are two different shipments.

What your customer pays at import

Three amounts are settled on the pedimento, all by the importer:

Add the customs agent's own fee. None of this is in our quote, and none of it is paid by you: that is what DAP means.

The EU–Mexico agreement: preferential duty, if you can prove origin

The EU–Mexico Global Agreement (in Spain usually called TLCUEM) has governed trade in goods since 2000 and gives a preferential duty rate to goods that originate in the EU under its product-specific rules. Verified 22 October 2026 on Access2Markets: the proof of origin is a EUR.1 movement certificate or an origin declaration on the invoice; any exporter may make the declaration when the originating goods are worth up to €6,000, above that only an approved exporter authorised by customs; the proof is valid for 10 months and can be issued at export or afterwards, within one year on the Mexican side (European Commission, EU–Mexico Global Agreement). "Bought in Spain" is not "made in the EU": goods you resell from a non-EU supplier do not qualify, and the statement is your responsibility.

A modernised agreement is on its way. The EU and Mexico signed the Modernised Global Agreement and a stand-alone Interim Trade Agreement in Mexico City on 22 May 2026; the European Parliament gave its consent on 8 July 2026 and the Council of the EU concluded the interim trade agreement on 14 July 2026, completing the EU's side (Secretaría de Economía, press release on the European Parliament vote; Council of the EU via the EU Delegation to Mexico). At the time of writing we have found no confirmation that Mexico's Senate has completed ratification, so your customer's customs agent should confirm which rules of origin and which rate apply on the day of entry.

What the customs agent will ask you for

• Commercial invoice with your EORI, the importer's RFC, the Incoterm ("DAP [city], Incoterms 2020"), HS codes, origin, quantities and values; an invoice in Spanish is a plus in Mexico.
• Packing list with boxes or pallets, dimensions and weights.
• Proof of origin (EUR.1 or origin declaration) if you claim the preference.
• Air waybill, which the carrier issues.
• Compliance with any Mexican Official Standard (NOM) that applies to the product: labelling and technical standards for many consumer goods, textiles and electrical equipment. Your customer's agent checks the tariff line; if a NOM applies, it must be met before entry, not after.

We prepare the export documentation with the details you give us and send the agent what they need, ready to file.

Questions to ask your customer before you ship

• Are you on the Padrón de Importadores (and the sectoral register, if the product needs it)?
• Which customs agent will clear the shipment, or should it go through the carrier's?
• What is your RFC and the exact delivery address?
• Do you want to claim the EU preference? Then we need to confirm the goods qualify.
• Do you understand that the duty, the 16% VAT and the DTA are paid by you at import?

How the DAP flow works with us

You tell us what it is, roughly what it weighs and where in Mexico it goes. We reply with a quote within 24 business hours. If you accept, we collect at your warehouse or office (or you drop it at ours), pack or palletize if needed, prepare the export documentation and fly it, in boxes or on a pallet. In Mexico the customs agent, your customer's or the carrier's, files the pedimento; we coordinate with them and send everything ready to file. Your customer pays the duty, the VAT and the DTA; we deliver to their door.

What we do

For companies in Spain, we handle the shipment from your door to your customer's in Mexico: we collect at your warehouse or office, or you bring the goods to our warehouse; we pack or palletize if needed; we prepare all the export documentation; we fly boxes and pallets; and we deliver door to door. Import duties and taxes at destination are paid by the receiver. We coordinate carriers and warehouses and work with the customs agent in Mexico; we are not a customs broker, and the customs information above is for planning, not advice. Lithium batteries, perfume, aerosols and chemicals can fly too: we run the dangerous-goods process in Spain and a DG specialist quotes the repacking. We reply within 24 business hours.

See also: export logistics from Spain and dangerous goods by air from Spain.