On July 31st 2020, the Interinstitutional Accord between the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Health, through the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS) and the Consumer Protection Federal Bureau (PROFECO) regarding the surveillance activities of the Amendment to the Modification of the Mexican Official Standard NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010, was published on the Federal Official Gazette.
The Interinstitutional Accord mainly provides the following:
- Non-sanction- From August 1st until November 30th, 2020, manufacturers, importers or marketers will not be sanctioned during the verifications/inspections visits carried out by PROFECO and COFEPRIS regarding those prepackaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages subject to the amendment of the NOM-051 and the Amendment.
- Previous compliance- A period from August 1st, 2020, to September 30th, 2020, is granted in order for products that comply in advance with the Amendment of the NOM-051 can be marketed to the final consumers before its entry into force (October 1st, 2020). It should be noted that this exemption is not applicable to importer of record of the products.
- Extension – A period from October 1st, 2020 to November 30th, 2020, is exclusively granted, so that prepackaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages that complies with the NOM-051 but do not comply with the Front Warning Labeling System (labels and legends) referred in the Amendment can be marketed to the final consumers.
Please be informed, that it is expressly established that neither COFERPIS nor PROFECO will administratively sanction with warnings, fines, closure, arrest, suspension, revocation, cancellation, prohibit immobilization, insurance, withdrawal of the market and/or issuance of alerts, in the terms of the provisions referred above. The Interinstitutional Accord came into effect on August 1st, 2020.