Upcoming Regulatory Changes in Mexico: What You Need to Know

Recent announcements were issued noting a new Law of General Import and Export Taxes (LIGIE), which will come into force as early as December 28^th, 2020. The tariff classification of the goods will be composed of a harmonized shipping code consisting of 8 digits (at the fraction level), plus two additional digits which make up NICO (commercial Identification Number). For more information regarding this announcement, see SNICE webpage here. 

Additionally, major changes are coming to Mexican telecommunications requirements in February of 2021.

Starting February 24^th, 2021, the new Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT) Conformity Assessment Procedure will enter into force. Important key points to note:

• NOM Certificate of Compliance (CoC) and test report are not transferable.
• Each importer must obtain their own NOM CoC and IFT Approval. Leveraging modular IFT Approvals will no longer be allowed.
• There are 4 certification schemes:
• Single batch
• Single model and surveillance
• Family of products and surveillance
• Telecommunications or broadcasting device and surveillance
• Test reports must mention validity of 60 days.
• IFT will register all the conformity certificates or non-conformity letters in its electronic database.
• If the product testing fails, then it’s allowed retest a second time on different sample, but there will be no additional opportunity to retest a third time.

Starting February 25th, 2021, a new technical standard IFT-012-2019 for SAR will take effect. Applicable to products with radio frequency transmitter or transceiver that make use of radio spectrum, This IFT requirement is also applicable to radio equipped devices that connect to a telecommunications network in the frequency range from 30 MHz to 6 GHz and that are used:

• Near the head, particularly near the ear, in the frequency range of 300 MHz to 6 GHz, and / or
• At a distance less than or equal to 200 mm from the human body, in the frequency range from 30 MHz to 6 GHz.
• Currently, there are no accredited laboratories and accreditation bodies for this standard, but further announcements are forthcoming.

Nemko USA specializes in supporting manufactures all over world with Mexico markets access solutions and has accreditation to issue of NOM certifications.

If your organization needs expert regulatory advisement on what is needed to import a product into Mexico, or any other global market, please contact Nemko USA today.