ANAM

ANAM, the Agencia Nacional de Aduanas de México, is Mexico's national customs agency. Created by decree and operating since January 2022, it took over the administration of Mexico's customs offices from the SAT, splitting the fiscal function (still SAT) from customs operations (now ANAM). ANAM runs the aduanas at land borders, ports, and airports, processes pedimentos, operates the automated selection mechanism behind the green/red light, and issues the CAAT code that identifies carriers in customs systems.

Its U.S. counterpart is CBP; a cross-border load clears one agency on each side of the line.

What this means when you move freight

Knowing the SAT/ANAM split saves confusion when problems arise. Invoicing, Carta Porte, RFC, and fiscal certification questions belong to the SAT world; module operations, inspections, carrier codes, and clearance mechanics belong to ANAM. When a Mexican partner says a shipment is held 'por la aduana,' the resolution path runs through ANAM procedures at that specific crossing, usually driven by the agente aduanal, and timelines vary by port. ANAM also drives infrastructure and modernization decisions at the crossings, so lane configurations, technology rollouts, and staffing at a given aduana can change operating reality on a lane from one season to the next. Your border partners' current, crossing-specific knowledge is worth more than any static playbook.