Mexico Labeling Requirements

Mexico has 14 labeling and commercial information technical regulations (Normas Oficiales Mexicanas; NOMs). On October 1, 2020, Mexico eliminated three exemptions to mandatory compliance with labeling requirements.  Prior to October 1, companies commonly used a non-commercialization letter to claim an exemption to the requirement to demonstrate compliance with one or more of the 14 NOMs.  As of October 1, the following exemptions to mandatory compliance with labeling requirements no longer exist:

1. Imported goods that would not be sold to the public in the form in which they were imported.
2. Imported goods to be used directly by the importer, and that will not subsequently be commercialized.
3. 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.

It is important that importers carefully review the text of the NOMs to confirm if their products are subject to the scope of the NOMs.  There have been reports of companies affixing labels when possibly not required.  If it is confirmed the products are covered by NOM requirements, importers have three options to comply:

• Compliance upon importing the product into Mexico: Companies have the option of complying upon import by having products labeled with the required        information.  Companies may choose to accompany the label with a certificate from an Accredited Verification Unit (Unidad de Verificacion Acreditada; UVA).  UVAs are  entities authorized by the Mexican Government to perform inspection of the labels.
• Compliance in Mexico at an accredited warehouse: Companies have the option to transfer their products to an accredited warehouse (Almacén General de Depósito;  AGD).
• Compliance in Mexico at a private address: Companies have the option to transfer their products to a private address for labeling, and request the services of an UVA to verify compliance.

For additional information, please refer to the Mexican Government’s Website describing these requirements, (in English).

We encourage U.S. companies to review the relevant NOMs and work with their Mexican importer and licensed broker to confirm if their product must comply with mandatory NOM certification. For further questions, please contact Standards Attaché Braeden Young at  braeden.young@trade.gov  or Commercial Specialist Manuel Velazquez at manuel.velazquez@trade.gov.