On January 14, 2022, the Mexican Department of Economy published in the Official Journal of the Federation new Official Mexican Standard NOM-004-SE-2020, Commercial information-Labeling of textile products, clothing, its accessories and linens. Such new set of rules (“NOM” per its acronym in Spanish) serves to cancel NOM-004-SCFI-2006). The new NOM will enter into force as of January 14, 2023, and replaces the current NOM-004-SCFI-2006, which has been in force since August 20, 2006.
The purpose of the new NOM is to establish the rules for providing information to final consumers that must be contained in packaging and labels of textile products, clothing, its accessories and linens, either for domestic manufacturing or importation, for products imported and sold in Mexico.
Among the new provisions of the NOM are the following:
- The list of products exempted from compliance is increased, including surgical face masks, disposable clothing, textile laces and straps, among others.
- The provisions of NMX-A-029-INNTEX-2010,Textile industry-Intertwined textiles-Auto-extinguishable fabric-Specifications, and ISO 13688:2013 Protective clothing General requirements, are incorporated as referenced regulations.
- Relevant definitions are added, such as “marketer”, “QR code label”, “recycled fibers”, “recovered fabrics”, “protection supplies”, “licensee”, “product responsible”, “protection clothing”, “protection textiles” and “technical textile”, among others, and certain existing definitions are amended such as “consumer”, “manufacturer”, and “textile”, among others.
- The use of the Taxpayer Registry Number of the manufacturer, licensee or importer, as appropriate, becomes mandatory.
- The procedure to evaluate compliance with the new NOM is detailed.
- The option of adding labels with QR code (Quick Response Code) is included, without such replacing the mandatory labels or the other information that must be included.
- It is mandatory to specify any contents from ornaments incorporated into the products regulated by the NOM when the weight of such is more than 5% of the total product weight.
It is important that manufacturers, importers and sellers of the products regulated by the NOM become familiar with the new contents of such, and be ready to comply with the new rules beginning on the date the NOM enters into force. In this regard, any certifications and audit compliance reports issued under the current rules will continue to be valid as issued, and products audited under the current rules may be sold until current inventories have been exhausted.
