Turenna Ramirez Ortiz
Partner
Overview
Turenna Ramirez Ortiz is a corporate trade attorney in Holland & Knight's Mexico City office. Ms. Ramirez focuses on advising multinational companies on cross-border transactions related to international trade, customs and non-tariff regulations.
Ms. Ramirez has more than 25 years of experience, and her clients include automotive, retail, chemical, petrochemical, luxury goods, pharmaceuticals, software, cosmetics, electronics, maquiladoras (IMMEX) and trading companies. She handles strategic planning, trade compliance diagnosis, advisory on free trade agreements, preventive and reactive audits by the Mexican Tax Administration Service, as well as defense and litigation before the Mexican government and federal courts.
In addition, Ms. Ramirez advises on foreign trade, multilateral treaties and antidumping laws. Her experience includes design and implementation of business strategies, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) origin verifications, rules of origin, export controls, import/export regimes, bonded facilities structure and management, duty-quota design, high-level negotiations and implementation, and in-depth knowledge of tariff and non-tariff regulatory issues. She has participated in complex, high-visibility matters and in international trade negotiations with the secretary general of the World Customs Organization (WCO) in a program against forgery and piracy.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Ramirez was an attorney and board member of a Mexican law firm and Managing Partner of its Mexico City office.
Ms. Ramirez also has completed a leading professional service firms course at Harvard Business School, as well as several post-graduate courses on international business, commercial structure and legal aspects of foreign trade in diverse Mexican universities. She also completed an internship in the Congressional office of former Rep. Eligio "Kika" de la Garza.
Representative Experience
- Advised a global healthcare company on a regularization process for its automated inventory control system, which is necessary to obtain a new certification for value-added tax (VAT) purposes and to be exempted from certain VAT payments for its manufacturing, maquiladora and export service industry (IMMEX) program under recent reforms to the Customs and Tax Federal Law
- Advised a Japanese oil and gas company regarding its IMMEX program and new line of business in the energy sector; guidance included structuring legal strategies to optimize international treaties and reduce costs and risks; provided general advice to its foreign trade operations and conducted a preventive audit for such operations to prepare, organize and implement the client's VAT certification process
- Represented an international cosmetics company in an audit procedure initiated by the Mexican tax authorities in connection with the purported need to increase royalties on imported merchandise customs value
- Served as lead advisor of several American and Swedish textile and apparel companies in several customs audits concerning foreign trade operations, customs valuation and origin verifications; provided successful results in all audits as well as strategic counsel on the structure of corrective actions to reduce risks and contingencies detected and implementation of the same
- Represented U.S. industrial valves and airspace industry clients in two major North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) audits; representation included procedures before the Mexican tax authorities, preparation of origin evidence, attention to the legal procedures, and analysis and implementation of the recent NAFTA criterion of the importer's participation; obtained favorable resolutions in both NAFTA origin verification procedures and helped the client avoid long-term litigation
- Represented a global commodity trading company before the customs authorities in connection with the Mexican tax authorities' seizure of mineral ore tons; conducted global analysis of the customs, tax and corporate issues, evaluated contingencies, prepared a defense and successfully secured the legality of these operations before the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT)
- Represented a Mexican subsidiary of a global silicone producer in all its litigation cases related to the company's tariff item classification before the Mexican Tax Court and the customs authority; this confirmation allowed the company to continue import operations in Mexico with no tax assessments imposed
- Represented a U.S.-based commercial vehicle systems company in major customs litigation resulting from the Mexican tax authorities' decision to deny the origin of different automotive products; after five years, the litigation was resolved in favor of the company, confirming the origin of these products, successfully revoking the Mexican tax authorities' original resolution
- Advised several foreign companies in the strategic planning process for opening, expansion and business consolidation in Mexico, including advice on free trade agreements, support and legal lobbying before the federal government, including the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit and Ministry of Economy, as well as with national and international chambers
- Led conversations with the Mexican government on behalf of foreign and Mexican companies during the preparation of a federal decree that granted an important reduction of import duties through a duty-quota legal structure
- Represented several multinational companies in lobbying and negotiation of six Official Mexican Standards (NOMs) related to fabrics, toys, jewelry, massive fast moving goods consumer products, electronics, and leather and shoe products
Credentials
- Harvard Business School, Leading Professional Service Firms
- Universidad Panamericana, Postgraduate Studies in International Businesses
- Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), Postgraduate Studies in Commercial Structure and Legal Aspects of Foreign Trade
- Universidad de las Américas Puebla, J.D., cum laude
- International Bar Association (IBA), Legal Practice Division Council (LPD) Officer, 2023-2026; International Trade and Customs Committee, Chair, 2019-2022
- International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Commission on Trade and Investment Policy, Vice-President, 2020-Present
- Mexican Institute of Foreign Trade Executives (IMECE), Board Member, 2020-Present
- American Bar Association (ABA), 2010-2022
- American Chamber of Commerce, International Trade and Customs Committee, 2010-Present
- The Best Lawyers in Mexico, International Trade and Finance Law, Trade Law, 2023-2025
- The Legal 500 Latin America, Leading Lawyer, International Trade and Customs, 2024, 2025
- LACCA Approved and Thought Leader, Trade, Latin Lawyer, 2025
- Chambers Global – The World's Leading Lawyers for Business guide, International Trade/WTO, 2023, 2024
- Chambers Latin America – Latin America's Leading Lawyers for Business guide, International Trade/WTO, 2023, 2024, 2025
- Who's Who Legal: Mexico, Trade & Customs, 2024
- The Legal 500, Lawyer of the Year, International Trade and Customs, 2023
