Today was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation the "Agreement that modifies the one by which the Ministry of Economy issues general rules and criteria on Foreign Trade" through which articles 1, 3, 5 TER, 6 and 10 of Annex 2.4.1, also known as Annex of NOMs, are modified.
The main changes include the following:
- Modification of section VIII of numeral 3 to include the different modification to the Mexican Official Standard NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010, "General labeling specifications for prepackaged food and non-alcoholic beverages - Commercial and sanitary information", published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on March 27, 2020, through which the guidelines for front labeling are disclosed.
- Section 5 TER is included to establish that those goods that, due to their physical conditions and/or characteristics, it is not feasible to perform the tests described in the NOM and, therefore, cannot be certified individually, must obtain a resolution issued by the General Directorate of Standards.
- Item 6 is amended to indicate that the goods listed in item 3 comply with the Mexican Official Standards to which they are subject, when at the time of their introduction into Mexican territory the labels are attached, glued, sewn or placed on the goods as established by the respective standards.
For the goods listed in sections I, II, III, VIII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII and XIV of numeral 3, the importer may choose any of the following alternatives to prove compliance with the standards:
a) Present to customs clearance the goods with origin labeling complying with the requirements set forth in the NOM and the certificate of conformity in terms of the Federal Law on Metrology and Standardization or the Quality Infrastructure Law, as applicable, so that the customs authorities may verify that it matches the labels accompanying the imported products.
b) To perform the labeling in national territory within a General Warehouse accredited as a verification or inspection unit.
c) Perform labeling at the importer's domicile where a verification or inspection unit, as appropriate, will perform the verification or inspection, or the collection of samples to verify the veracity of the commercial information.
- Sections VII, VIII and XV of numeral 10, which allowed exemption from compliance with the NOMs on commercial information, are repealed, provided that (i) goods are imported to be used directly by the natural person importing them, for his direct use, and that they will not be subsequently used for commercialization or employment in business activities and (ii) goods that will not be sold to the public, when the importer uses them in the rendering of professional services, production processes, specialized inter-company sales or final conditioning or packaging processes.
Therefore, companies will no longer have the option of exempting the NOM with letters of non-commercialization and, consequently, must comply in terms of paragraphs 5 and 6 of the NOMs Annex.
The lawyers of the Foreign Trade and Customs area of the Firm are at your disposal to expand on the information contained herein and to answer any questions related to the same.
Sincerely yours,
Sergio N. Barajas Pérez
barajas@basham.com.mx
Roberto Serralde Rodríguez
rserralde@basham.com.mx
Felix Ponce Nava Cortés, Esq.
fponce@basham.com.mx
Rolando A. Ramirez
rramirez@basham.com.mx
Priscila del Ángel Cardoza, Esq.
pdelangel@basham.com.mx
Mexico City, October 2, 2020.
