After waves of protest from the sector, the government agreed to amend a ban
                 that was imposed on Tuesday on exports and imports of all textiles and apparel
                 through key points of entry, including such important border crossings as
                 Tijuana.

                 "The government had to do something with this (policy); it could not stand as it
                 was published," Adrian Velazquez, a lawyer with the Mexico City-based trade
                 and customs law firm Vazquez Tercero y Asociados, told Reuters late
                 Wednesday.

                 The original ban designated six Mexican ports for the import and export of
                 the materials, potentially forcing shippers to travel thousands of extra miles
                 on delivery runs as more convenient ports were shut to their business.

                 "They hadn't analyzed this. They suddenly realized what they had done,"
                 Velazquez said by telephone.

                 The government agreed to revise the port restrictions after sector
                 representatives said that, if upheld, the actions could devastate textiles and
                 apparels in Mexico's competitive maquiladora industry, which imports raw
                 materials and turns them into finished goods for export.

                 The measure was designed as a way to combat the high volume of illegal
                 smuggling of the goods across the Mexico-United States border.

                 Under amendments to the ban, Velazquez said, textiles and apparel destined for
                 or coming from the maquiladora manufacturing sectors will be exempt from
                 restrictions and still can pass through all points of entry.

                 The exemptions were justified by the already strict regulations imposed on the
                 industry, he said.

                 Importers and exporters of finished products will face lesser restrictions than
                 originally published by the government, with 11 instead of six official points of
                 entry.

                 New approved points of entry are expected to be the Mexico City airport,
                 Tijuana, Cancun, Veracruz and Manzanillo.

                 Shippers have also been granted a 10-day grace period before the new rules are
                 enforced.

                 Velazquez said the government will publish the amended rules soon, although
                 there was still no official statement from authorities as of late Wednesday.

                 The news should come as a relief to shippers of goods to and from the United
                 States, Mexico's top trading partner and the destination of nearly 90 percent of
                 Mexican exports.

                 Most of the nation's maquiladora industry is concentrated in the Mexican north,
                 within easy transport distance of U.S. markets.

                   Copyright 2001 Reuters.