Last year we identified two articles (Articles 46 and 157) in Mexico's new Immigration Law that addressed a new electronic system for reporting information on vessels, crew and passengers of aircraft and boats entering or leaving Mexico. At that time we expressed our great concern that this system would not be in the best interests of attracting General Aviation to Mexico because of the increased complexity as well as potential fines for non-compliance of US$ 5,000 to US$ 50,000 (Approx.)

Last month we received a copy of the proposed regulations that detailed how this electronic system would work and what would be required of private aircraft entering or departing Mexico. We have reviewed these new regulations with great concern. In short, we do not believe that private aircraft will be able to comply with the new regulations unmless they have Spanish speaking assistance from a Handling Company. Specifically, we are concerned about:

• Where the USA eAPIS and the CARICOM eAPIS allow you to file up to one hour or 30 minutes prior to departure (respectively) the Mexican regulations require you to file within 30 minutes prior departure. Not only that, they want PAX confirmation transmitted after the door to the aircraft is closed but prior to departure. There is no way a private aircraft can comply.
• Any change to date, route or departure requires a new transmission.
• The transmission is using the UN/EDIFACT format, not XML format.
• The regulations indicate that a portal will be provided but this will very likely be only in Spanish and unusable by the majority of US pilots.
• With this new law, fines of up to $ 50,000 USD for ANY error or transmission failure can be assessed. There is no clarification of who/how/when fines can be assessed and how they can be appealed.

We are currently working with AOPA to develop a strategy whereby US aviation organizations can develop a unified position that we can present to the Mexican government to try and convince them to repeal these regulations altogether or to make sufficient modifications so that it does not present a significant obstacle to travel to Mexico.

Stay tuned and we will continue to update members.

Rick Gardner
Caribbean Sky Tours