NOM-050-SCFI Commercial Information - General Product Labeling

The purpose of the standard “NOM-050-SCFI Commercial information - General product labeling”, published under the Official Mexican Standard (NOM), is to determine the commercial information that must be present on products of national and foreign origin intended for consumers in the national territory and the characteristics of said information.

This standard is applicable to all products of national and foreign production intended for consumers in the national territory. However, the following are excluded from the scope of this standard:

• Products subject to commercial information provisions contained in specific Mexican official standards or other applicable regulations.
• Bulk products
• Living animals
• All kinds of books, magazines, fascicles and periodicals, including but not limited to magnetic and compact discs, tapes and similar products, album covers, software, phonograms, videograms, audio cassettes and video cassettes
• Spare parts or spare parts obtained through catalogues and identified by a part number or code depending on the make and model, used only for the maintenance or repair of products.
• Other products determined by the competent authority in accordance with its powers.

For the purposes of this standard, the following terms and definitions apply:

• Consumer refers to the real or legal person who acquires, produces or benefits from goods, products or services as the ultimate buyer.
• Packaging is the material that wraps, preserves and protects products for storage and transportation.
• A package is any container or wrapper in which a product is placed to be sold to consumers.
• Multipack or bulk packaging is any container or package containing two or more identical or different prepackaged product units designed to be sold in that presentation to the consumer.
• A label is any label, tag, text, picture or other descriptive or graphic material written, printed, stencilled, marked, worked in high or low relief, glued, superimposed or fixed on the product, its packaging or, when this is not possible due to the characteristics of the product or its packaging, on its packaging.
• Warranty is a document in which the manufacturer or importer agrees to support its product against defects in the operation, materials or workmanship used in production.
• Instructions or user manual are information printed on the label or attached document containing data regarding the use, handling and, if any, precautions, warnings and installation, maintenance and repair of the product for the end user.
• Warning information, any text, symbol or graphic representation or combination of the foregoing, informs and, where necessary, warns the consumer about the presence of a certain ingredient or the possible health and integrity hazards that may arise as a result of incorrect use or application of the product.

The general requirements in this standard are described as follows:

• Information about the products must be truthful and must be described and presented in a way that does not mislead the consumer about the nature and features of the products.
• The labels of products subject to the application of this standard must contain at least the following mandatory commercial information:
  • The name or general description of the product, if it cannot be detected by the naked eye of the consumer. A product can be identified at first glance if it is in a package whose contents are visible, or if there is an image of the product on the packaging, but this image should not show other products not included in the packaging.
  • In accordance with the NOM-030-SCFI standard, the quantity declaration need not be made only if the content or the number of pieces of a product can be understood at a glance. In this sense, whether or not the quantity declaration is made on the products in question and how it is made is of no importance, provided that the declaration is appropriate for the product on which it is made. In multipacks or bulk packages, the quantity declaration, the content of which cannot be understood at a glance, must be made in accordance with the NOM-030-SCFI standard. The description of the components can be placed on the information surface and must include the name or general description of the products and their content or net content.
  • For national products, the name, title or company name of the manufacturer or person responsible for manufacturing or the importer and the tax address, including postal code, city or state. For imported products, this information may be included in the product on national territory after customs clearance and before it is placed on the market.
  • A statement indicating the country of origin of the product.
  • In the case of hazardous products, risk warnings through descriptions, graphics or precautionary symbols.
  • This information must be provided when the use, handling or storage of the product requires instructions.
  • Expiration date or best before date, where appropriate.

Our organization, which has been trying to support businesses from every sector with its testing, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies carried out in a wide range for years, has a strong staff that closely follows the developments in the world in the field of science and technology and constantly improves itself. In this context, testing services in accordance with the "NOM-050-SCFI Commercial Information - General Product Labeling" standard are also provided to businesses.