Mexico Standards Changes

Mexico’s Federal Law on Metrology and Standardization (Ley Federal de Metrologia y Normalizacion, or LFMN, and its associated regulations govern Mexico’s standards system. On October 23, 2018, Mexico’s Secretariat of Economy published in the Official Gazette an amendment to Annex 2.4.1 (known as the “NOM Annex”) of the “Resolution by which the Secretariat of Economy issues the General Rules and Criteria in Foreign Trade,” which identifies the HS codes of imported products subject to NOM compliance.

One key change to the NOM Annex is that the importer can no longer use the exceptions listed in Article 10, Sections VII (products imported for the company’s own use) and VIII (products that will be used for professional use, industrial or manufacturing process) to import the product without a compliance certificate. Moreover, the changes to the NOM Annex include new requirements for conformity assessment bodies (CABs) to register with Mexico’s standards bureau (Dirección General de Normas, or DGN) in order to qualify under equivalence for three specific technical regulations (NOM-001-SCFI-1993, NOM-016-SCFI-1993, and NOM-019-SCFI-1998). Changes became effective on June 3, 2019.

Additionally, the annex establishes a new scheme for Mexican authorities to validate the certificates issued by certification bodies (CBs):

The importer checks the list of accredited and approved certification bodies for each NOM.
The CB certifies the product and uploads the information in the system.
The certificate must have all mandatory information to be submitted to Mexican customs authority (SAT).
SAT allows the importer to carry out the customs clearance.

Key steps and information for the U.S. exporter:
Check if the product’s HS code is listed in Annex 2.4.1  If so, review requirements of the applicable NOM.
Double check and confirm the HS code of the product, as it is a mandatory element to issue the certificate.
  
This link provides the change published in the Official Gazette in Spanish on October 23, 2018.
 
This link provides the deadline extension published in the Official Gazette in Spanish on February 28, 2019.
 
We encourage U.S. companies to work with their Mexican importer and customs brokers to confirm if their product must comply with mandatory NOM certification.