Product Compliance in Mexico

The Mexican Government plays a major role in Mexico’s standards system. The organization responsible for management and coordination of standards development in Mexico is the Secretariat of Economy (Secretaría de Economía or SE), operating through the General Standards Bureau (Dirección General de Normas or DGN).

On July 1, 2020 a new law regulating standardization was published in the Mexican Official Gazette The QIL and entered into force on August 31, 2020. Mexico’s new Quality Infrastructure Law (QIL), replaced the Federal Law on Metrology and Standardization (LFMN).  The new law governs different aspects of standardization such as  accreditation, conformity assessment, and metrology activities. It also regulates  the coordination of metrology activities between the Mexican Government and the private businesses.

Two definition are worth to remember.

Official Mexican Standards (Normas Oficiales Mexicanas or NOMs). NOMs are mandatory technical regulations issued by government agencies and secretariats. The regulations include labeling requirements. NOMs is the set of rules regarding specifications, characteristics or requirements applicable to a product, process, service or production methods, attributes, guidelines, as well as the rules related to terminology, symbology, packaging, marking, labeling and their application.

Mexican Standards (Normas Mexicanas or NMXs), are voluntary standards issued by national standards-making bodies. Compliance with these standards is mandatory only in case of claim that a product meets the standards of the NMX, when a NOM specifies compliance with an NMX, and whenever it is required in government’s procurement process.

The National Quality Infrastructure Program (PNIC) is the official document used to plan, inform, and coordinate standardization activities in public and private sector, issued by the Mexican Government. The PNIC is published annually by SE in Mexico’s Official Gazette.

The PNIC provides information on plans for new NMXs and NOMs, and also proposes changes to the existing Mexico’s standards and technical regulations.

Many imported products used within Mexico must comply with the official Mexican standards, even if their compliance with international standards have previously been confirmed. This relates to the products that are stored, transported, commercialized and sold in Mexico.

More than 2,000 classified products that are imported to Mexico are required to meet Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM) standards. There are products of different industries, but some of them such as the electrical equipment and electronics are subject to additional energy efficiency mandatory standards.

The list of products which are subject to NOM Certification include household refrigerators, freezers, gas heaters, washing machines, air conditioners; small induction motors and motor operated tools; different kinds of water pumps; compact fluorescent lamps and wiring devices; telecom products that are data transmitters (digital, analogical, LAN or WAN systems) and those which are to be connected to the Public Telecom Network (PTN) and designed to process, receive, transmit or convert signals.

The Conformity Assessment process involving certification, verification, calibration, sampling and testing procedures is carried out in order to demonstrate that a product or item for sale meets relevant standards.

Testing by a laboratory outside of Mexico is allowed, only if it is recognized and approved by the Mexican General Directorate of Standards (DGN).

In the first step of testing identification of the legal and technical documentation for the particular product type is required. The  documents can be downloaded directly from the Internet, however it is a complex process to find out the right forms to be used.

Each company, agency, and intermediary involved in this process requires signed and initialized copies of relevant service agreement, including documentation confirming who is the holder of the NOM certificate. According to Mexican law the  certificate holder is always responsible for items such as the product’s liability, warranty, and maintenance.

The documentation regarding the power of attorney that is relevant to the NOM certification has to include the names and address of any agents and/or intermediaries that are authorized on behalf of the company to sign the documents related to the services that are needed. Any correspondence regarding the NOM certification and/or its process is sent to the power of attorney.

To initiate the next step which is testing the test samples have to be sent to the appropriate laboratory. The monitoring of testing is carried out to ensures that any issues or discrepancies are

A NOM Certificate for a product is issued after the successful passing of tests.

According to Mexican law, the holder of Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM) certificate is responsible for warranty, maintenance and product liability. NOM certificates are not subject of transfer. However, a producer who obtained the NOM certificate may extend the rights it gives to other Mexican distributors, who may then apply for their own NOM certification without additional testing. NOM certificates can only be granted to Mexican companies, or to manufacturers and exporters in countries with which Mexico has a free-trade agreement.

NOM Labeling Requirements

Imported products have to be labeled in compliance with NOM’s guidelines. The product label is subject to verification during the customs process or the product  is labeled in a warehouse by Authorized Verification Units (Unidades de Verification Autorizadas (UVAs). The majority of UVAs specialize in consumer information labels, however some of them focus on sanitary issues and other standards.  The Standards Office of the Secretary of Economy (Direccion General de Normas) has issued guidelines for labeling that specify matters such as size of letters, colors, language and other product labels’ characteristics.

The default labeling NOM is NOM-050-SCFI-I994. It contains the labeling requirements for all products that do not have a specific labeling NOM. Some product-specific labeling NOMs include:

• NOM-004-SCFI-1994.- Clothing and textiles
• NOM-05I-SCFI-I994.- Packaged foods and nonalcoholic beverages
• NOM-084-SCFI-1994.- Canned tuna
• NOM-142-SSAI -1995.- Alcoholic beverages
• NOM-141-SSA1-1995 – Packaged beauty supplies and perfumery

According to NOM 050 all labels on products subject to the NOM have to include the following information:

1. a) Name or generic denomination of the product, if not identifiable in plain sight by the consumer
2. b) Net contents of the product
3. c) Name and legal address of the manufacturer or party responsible for the manufacture of domestic products. For imported products, this information must be provided to the Secretary of Health by the importer upon the Secretary’s request.

The design of the NOM label is described in: NORMA Oficial Mexicana NOM-106-SCFI-2017, Características de diseño y condiciones de uso de la Contraseña Oficial.

NOM Annex 2.4.1. and the end of exemptions

On October 1, 2020, the Mexican Government published in its Official Gazette an amendment to Annex 2.4.1. (known as the “NOM Annex”), which provides information on the HS codes of imported products subject to compliance with technical regulations (NOMs). This change can be found here (in Spanish): NOM Annex (ESP).

Mexico has 14 labeling and commercial information technical regulations (NOMs):

• NOM-004-SCFI-2006
• NOM-020-SCFI-1997
• NOM-024-CFI-2013
• NOM-139-SCFI-2012
• NOM-055-SCFI-1994
• NOM-084-SCFI-1994
• NOM-050-SCFI-2004
• NOM-015-SCFI-2007
• NOM-003-SSA1-2006
• NOM-189-SSA1/SCFI-2002
• NOM-187-SSA1/SCFI-2002
• NOM-142-SSA1/SCFI 2014
• NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010
• NOM-141-SSA1-1995

A major change to the NOM Annex was the cancellation of three exemptions to mandatory compliance related to labeling requirements. Prior to October 1, 2020, companies had to use a non-commercialization letter to apply for an exemption to the requirement of compliance with one or more of the 14 NOMs.

Since October 1, the following exemptions to mandatory compliance with labeling requirements are not in place.

• Imported goods that would not be sold to the public in the form in which they were imported.
• Imported goods to be used directly by the importer, and that will not subsequently be commercialized.
• Products destined to remain in the border area or regions of Mexico and imported by persons or companies that carry out marketing activities, provide restaurant, hotel, leisure, cultural, recreational, sports, educational, research, medical, and social assistance services.
• Products to be used exclusively in the border area or regions of Mexico and imported by persons or companies that carry out marketing activities, provide restaurant, hotel, leisure, cultural, recreational, sports, educational, research, medical, and social assistance services.

IFETEL (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones or the Mexican Federal Telecommunications Institute), formerly known as COFETEL, regulates products using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G/4G, or radio frequency technologies. Equipment that connects to the PSTN, satellite, and other types of devices also require IFETEL type approval.

Testing is also required for equipment using the frequency bands 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz, and 5725-5850 MHz. LARCG typically needs two samples (one radiate, one conducted) for IFETEL testing in Mexico. LARCG assists in importation of the samples and the arrangements for testing of the equipment in Mexico. Modular and system approval depends usually on the equipment.

Special labeling is also required.

IFETEL resolutions include:

• NOM-208-SCFI-2016: Required for radio communication systems operating in the frequency bands 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz, and 5725-5850 MHz (replacing NOM-EM-016-SCFI-2015).
• IFT 008-2015: Specifies limits and testing methods for products that must be certified under NOM-208. Again, this applies to telecom equipment and radio communication systems that employ spread spectrum, frequency hopping, and digital modulation techniques in the following bands: 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz and 5725-5850 MHz.
• NOM-088/1(2)-SCT1: For microwave devices that will provide the point-to-point (P-P) and point-to-multipoint (P-MP) FS systems services.
• NOM-084-SCT1: Technical specifications of the transmitter devices used for fleets mobile services
• NOM-221-SCFI-2018: Required for all devices that employ cellular modulation technologies (2G/3G/4G LTE, 5G) This standard is broken into two parts,
• IFT-011-2017 Part 1: Physical verification and registration of the IMEI for all units that will be imported into Mexico. Requires the devices IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identifier) to be affixed to the device, and also requires manufacturers to unlock “FM” functionality of the approved mobile terminal equipment (i.e., mobile phones, tablets, laptops).
• IFT-011-2017 Part 2: Covers the required In-country testing of the cellular technologies

Legal Representation Requirement

Safety certificates (NOM-001, NOM-019, NOM-003, etc.) and testing certificates (NOM-208 from IFETEL) required bt the Customs in Mexico have to be issued in the name of a legal Mexican entity and specifically refer to the Mexican importers and distributors of the certified products.