The NAFTA is accompanied by supplemental agreements that provide for cooperation to enhance and enforce labor standards and to encourage environmentally friendly practices and bolster environmental protection in North America.
To be eligible to import well over 400 different items, including agricultural products, textiles, chemicals, electronics and automotive parts, Mexican importers must apply to the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit and be listed on a special industry sector registry. U.S. exporters complain that registering is bureaucratically difficult, and this requirement sometimes causes costly customs clearance delays when new products are added to the list of subject items with immediate effect, thereby denying importers sufficient notice to apply.
They also report that certain importers have been summarily dropped from the registry without prior notice or subsequent explanation, effectively preventing some U.S. exporters from shipping goods to Mexico.