TÜV Rheinland Receives OK to Vet Mexican Labels
Global inspection services company TÜV Rheinland—which independently assesses the quality, safety, technology and environmental impact of companies across various industries—will now provide the labeling review service relevant to the 12 national standards for products imported or manufactured in Mexico.
“We are excited about this growth in our products business unit, since this year we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of TÜV Rheinland and we were recognized as one of the best conformity assessment bodies in the country,” Lillian Peregrina, director of products at TÜV Rheinland, said. “Having a commercial information Inspection Unit will help us continue our leadership based on our comprehensive services with a focus on safety.”
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The label review service checks product labels for compliance with appropriate legislation—in this case, those standards established in Mexico. Label review services can help reduce the risk of products being rejected for incorrect labeling. This issue accounts for 40 percent of denials in the EU and United States, according to the Société de Surveillance (SGS).
The 12 national standards are a series of mandatory technical regulations for various activities in Mexico, in this instance, referred to as Normas Oficials Mexicanas (NOMs), also known as normas. NOMs regulate products, processes and services that could threaten people, animals, plants and the environment. Manufacturers, distributors and importers must comply with NOMs to do business in Mexico. Some NOM labels, such as NOM-004 (textiles) and NOM-020 (leather goods), indicate compliance with Mexican standards.
Essentially, NOMs are mandatory safety labels requiring imported products to be tested and approved before being sold on the Mexican market.
While Mexico’s Ministry of Economy’s sister standard, NMXs, went into effect in 2014, NOMs have been around since 1997. TÜV Rheinland Mexico was established in 1993. Why the German firm is just now implementing the label review service is unclear, though Peregrina said TÜV Rheinland was missing this piece in Mexico as it’s the only country it services that requires approval by the government.
Regardless, TÜV Rheinland got that stamp of approval to evaluate the commercial information on packaging, artwork or labeling of products to make sure they’re issued Conformity Opinions and Certificates of Conformity (CoCs) per regulatory compliance for more than three dozen product categories, including textiles, clothing, household linens, natural leathers and footwear, as well as “products in general.” CoCs are intended to protect consumers, ensure a product is good quality and safe to use, that the product meets the quality standards stipulated by the country it’s being imported into and overall improve the chances of successfully importing goods into a country. Mexico has two kinds of CoCs: the dictamen (certificate of compliance) and the constancia (proof of conformity). The key difference, Peregrina explained, is that the former covers a product once and the latter is an unlimited quantity until the NOM or the product changes.
In any case, reviewing a product’s commercial labeling “contributes to the empowerment of the population,” TÜV Rheinland said, “since it analyzes that the information on the products is present, which promotes product comparison and an intelligent purchase.” Essentially, it gives customers the relevant information they need to shop smarter.
The independent testing and inspection services firm also recently partnered with Texbase, a cloud-based data management platform for the textile and consumer product industries. TÜV Rheinland is the latest company to join the Texbase Connect platform, allowing its customers to collaborate, send test requests and receive test reports within the software, joining the likes of Hohenstein and Oeko-Tex. For TÜV Rheinland, this partnership will help the third-party lab ensure brands and retailers take advantage of Texbase’s integrated data management platform to streamline communication of time-sensitive information necessary for product development or quality control.
“By adopting Texbase Connect, TÜV Rheinland is aiming to create seamless connections with customers using Texbase to collaborate more effectively while paving the way for new partnerships across the globe,” Haley Sprague, global key account manager senior, North America for TÜV Rheinland, said.
