On July 31, 2020, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Health, through COFEPRIS, and the Federal Prosecutor for the Consumer (“PROFECO”) published interinstitutional accord with regards to the verification activities over the modification to Mexican Official Standard NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010, General labelling specifications for prepackaged foods and soft drinks – commercial and sanitary information, published on April 5, 2010; modification published in the Federal Official Gazette last March 27, 2020. Herein after “Interinstitutional Accord”.
The Interinstitutional Accord seeks to grant a period of grace, between August 1st and November 30, to the companies of the prepackaged foods and soft drinks industry, and related activities, obliged to comply with the modification to OM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010, as per the following rules:
- From August 1st and until September 30, 2020, marketing to final consumers, in national territory, of prepackaged foods and soft drinks that comply with the amendment to NOM-051 NOM-051-SCFI / SSA1-2010 will be authorized.
- This rule is established on the basis of the dispositions included in article Third of the Accord establishing the criteria for the implementation, verification and surveillance, as well as for evaluating the conformity of the Modification to NOM-051-SCFI / SSA1-2010, which foresees that there will be no infringement, when the labels of the prepackaged products have the commercial and health information included in the Modification, before October 1, 2020.
- From October 1st and until November 30, 2020, marketing to final consumers, in national territory, of prepackaged foods and soft drinks will be authorized if, in compliance with NOM-051-SCFI / SSA1-2010, they do not display the frontal warning labeling system provided in the amendment to the NOM-051 NOM-051-SCFI / SSA1-2010.
In this regard, COFEPRIS and PROFECO, as per their attributions and in order to grant legal certainty to manufacturers, importers and retailers; will not administratively sanction, with warnings, fines, closure, arrest, suspension, revocation, cancellation, marketing ban, immobilization, seizure, withdrawal from the market and / or issuance of alerts to them in the cases and during the terms identified in the above-mentioned sections.
The lawyers of the Health Law Practice are at your service to clarify any query you may have over these topic.
S I N C E R E L Y
Daniel del Río
delrio@basham.com.mx
Rodolfo Barreda Alvarado
rbarreda@basham.com.mx
Ricardo Evangelista
revangelista@basham.com.mx
Mariana Arrieta
marrieta@basham.com.mx
Mexico City, August 3th de 2020.
