{"id":890,"date":"2026-10-14T13:31:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T19:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/services\/foreign-trade\/merchandise-seizure-and-pama\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T13:31:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T19:31:33","slug":"merchandise-seizure-and-pama","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/services\/foreign-trade\/merchandise-seizure-and-pama\/","title":{"rendered":"Precautionary Seizure of Goods and PAMA: Your Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>In what cases can the authority seize goods?<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.diputados.gob.mx\/LeyesBiblio\/pdf\/LAdua.pdf\">Article 151 of the Customs Law (Ley Aduanera)<\/a> lists the grounds for precautionary seizure of goods and means of transport. They include goods without customs documentation proving lawful presence (legal estancia) or possession, failure to pay antidumping or countervailing duties or to comply with non-tariff regulations, undeclared goods, false or nonexistent supplier or importer data, and a declared value 50% or more below that of identical or similar goods. The reform published in the Federal Official Gazette (DOF) on November 19, 2025 added temporarily imported goods that fail to arrive or cannot be located at the registered addresses.<\/p>\n<h2>How does the PAMA work, stage by stage?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Initiating record:<\/strong> it states the authority, the facts, the description of the goods and, where applicable, the samples. Handing you a copy is equivalent to notification (Article 150).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Evidence and closing arguments:<\/strong> the record states the period for submitting them; their evaluation is governed by Articles 123 and 130 of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.diputados.gob.mx\/LeyesBiblio\/pdf\/CFF.pdf\">Federal Tax Code (C\u00f3digo Fiscal de la Federaci\u00f3n)<\/a>. The period is short and runs from the date the notification of the record takes effect; it should be reviewed with an attorney from day one.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Resolution:<\/strong> if the evidence rebuts the ground, the goods are returned without penalties; if not, a final resolution is issued within a maximum period, and if none is issued, the actions that started the proceeding cease to have effect (Article 153). That period is suspended in the circumstances of Article 46-A of the Federal Tax Code, to which the Customs Law refers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When the seizure occurs during an on-site inspection (visita domiciliaria), the rule changes: the seizure record serves as the final record with respect to those goods, and the procedure is governed by Article 155, not Articles 152 and 153.<\/p>\n<h2>What defense options exist?<\/h2>\n<p>The strategy depends on the ground: proving lawful presence with documentation; showing that the declared value or origin is correct; requesting a technical advisory meeting when the seizure stems from a tariff classification (the request is not a formal remedy in its own right); or, in cases of surplus or undeclared goods, expressing agreement with the record to obtain a provisional resolution, paying the amount assessed and recovering the goods, which means accepting the facts and must be weighed beforehand. Where duties were omitted but a seizure is not warranted, the procedure under Article 152 applies, which is distinct from the PAMA.<\/p>\n<p>A seizure is often the outcome of a prior review; if you have not reached that point yet, read <a href=\"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/services\/foreign-trade\/customs-investigation\/\">what to do about a customs complaint or investigation<\/a>. For warehouse and parcel operations, see <a href=\"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/industries\/logistics-and-cross-border-ecommerce\/\">logistics and cross-border e-commerce<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Updated October 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This content is informational and does not constitute legal advice. Every case requires individual analysis.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In what cases can the authority seize goods? Article 151 of the Customs Law (Ley Aduanera) lists the grounds for precautionary seizure of goods and means of transport. They include goods without customs documentation proving lawful presence (legal estancia) or possession, failure to pay antidumping or countervailing duties or to comply with non-tariff regulations, undeclared [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":875,"parent":691,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-situacion.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-890","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/890\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knr.mx\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}