Mexico: Proposed Revision to Textile Labeling Standards

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Textiles and Apparel.
Last Update: 07/24/2015

Mexico’s standards agency, the Dirección General de Normas (DGN), has published a notice (http://otexa.trade.gov/PDFs/DOFNMXA240INNTEX.pdf) inviting interested parties to comment on a proposed modification to textile labeling standard NMX-A-240-INNTEX-2009, which covers the use of graphics/symbols in care labels. Comments must be submitted within 60 calendar days of the notice’s publication, or by August 29, 2015.

Mexico proposes to cancel NMX-A-240-INNTEX-2009 and replace it with an updated standard, NMX-A-3758-INNTEX-2014. The differences between the two standards are not specified in the notice. Interested parties may review the complete document by visiting DGN’s offices in Mexico City or request a copy from Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Normalización Textil (INNTEX). There may be a charge associated with obtaining the full version of the standard from INNTEX.

Parties interested in providing comments on the proposed standard should do so well in advance of the August 29, 2015 deadline. Comments must be submitted to INNTEX, via email to rpineda@inntex.org.mx and vpalacios@inntex.org.mx. If submitting comments by mail or courier, they should be sent to the following address:

Instituto Nacional de Normalización Textil, A.C. (INNTEX)
Calle Tolsá número 54
Colonia Centro
Delegación Cuauhtémoc
Código postal 06040, México, D.F.

We advise U.S. exporters with customers in Mexico to be in close contact with their customers, agents, and/or customs brokers to ensure that they are aware of Mexico’s current standards and other requirements. Specifically, Mexico’s NMX-A-2076-INNTEX-2013 and NMX-A-6938-INNTEX-2013 were updated earlier this year, and the changes will be effective on September 7th, 2015. These standards cover labeling rules for natural and synthetic fibers. In response to numerous requests for clarification from industry, last month DGN issued a “dictamen” (opinion) (http://otexa.trade.gov/PDFs/criterio_NMX6938.pdf) for NMX-6938 to clarify that natural fibers may be listed in all capital letters, all lower case letters, or with the first letter capitalized and the rest in lower case.

For more information, please contact:

Laurie Mease
U.S. Department of Commerce
Office of Textiles and Apparel
Laurie.Mease@trade.gov
Tel: 202-482-3400