The Mexican Bureau of Standards (DGN, Dirección General de Normas) is responsible for overall management and coordination of standards in Mexico. The legal framework for Mexico’s regulatory process is the Federal Law of Metrology and Normalization. This law gives authority to the competent Mexican ministries and agencies to establish regulations relating to the protection of human, animal and plant health, and the environment. This law establishes the requirements for products, services, processes, raw materials, labeling, testing, packaging, facilities, and safety and hygiene, among others. In addition, it lays out the administrative procedures by which the regulations are developed and disseminated.
The Mexican government publishes technical regulations (Reglamentos) or standards (Normas Oficiales Mexicanas, often simply referred to as NOMs), in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (Diario Oficial), which is the Mexican equivalent of the U.S. Federal Register. Mexico’s Secretariat of the Economy (ECONOMIA) coordinates the regulatory process through its Directorate General of Normas. Although other Mexican federal agencies may develop regulations under their jurisdictions, they must work through ECONOMIA. Electronic versions of all valid NOMs are available on the ECONOMIA website at http://www.economia-noms.gob.mx. These NOMs are coded by subject and are revised every five years.
Additional laws directly applicable to food and agricultural product imports are the General Health Law, the Federal Law for Animal Health, and the Federal Law for Plant Health.
