Application of NOMs to Auto Parts A Work in Progress

The New Quality Infrastructure Law was published in the Official Journal of the Federation on  July 1 and proposes that Mexican Official Standards (NOMs) be applied to a number of products and services. This law entered into force on Aug. 30 but implementation of the NOMs is expected in the second half of 2022.

This new law, which is undoubtedly framed in the terms of the USMCA, recently signed by Mexico, the US and Canada, replaces the Regulations of the Federal Law on Metrology and Standardization, which came into force 28 years ago and. As such, some of its terms were obsolete. It must be made clear that in Mexico, the practice of this type of regulation is not new, since the Law of Weights and Measures was established for such purposes in 1896.

This topic is important for the sector in which I am immersed, since automotive parts are said to be among the products that will have to comply with these official standards. And I say it that way because the law does not literally mention auto parts. The law refers to “Road Safety,” and it follows that some auto parts will be involved, especially those parts that have to do with the safety of people in vehicles, such as brakes, suspension, steering, tires, windshields and lighting. There are only two types of automotive components with a NOM: antifreeze and brake fluids.

Yes, there are Mexican Standards (NMX) for certain parts, such as ballast, but they are not mandatory. The difference between NOM and NMX is that NOMs are of mandatory use and NMX standards only express a recommendation of parameters or procedures, although if they are mentioned as part of a NOM standard, their observance becomes mandatory. 

The position of ARIDRA, the association that has brought together manufacturers and distributors of automotive parts in Mexico for 77 years, and which I am honored to preside over, is very clear in the sense that we agree that the auto parts imported into Mexico, including those manufactured here, must meet the highest quality standards. Above all, they must efficiently perform the fundamental task of protecting the lives of the occupants of the vehicles circulating on the streets and highways of our country. That objective cannot and should not be negotiated.

On the other hand, of course, we are aware that compliance with future NOM's will result in challenges and setbacks for manufacturers, importers and marketers of auto parts in Mexico, as well as additional costs for those they currently handle, but we are also certain that our market will tend to become a more determined niche where quality is the only condition, which obviously is in everyone's interest.

That being the case, we in ARIDRA sincerely hope that the New Quality Infrastructure Law meets its goals and helps us to become a country where excellence is the rule and not the exception.