Mexico issues new labelling guideline for cosmetics

The Ministry of Health in Mexico has issued a new labelling guideline for pre-packaged cosmetics in a bid to resolve instances where a product might be misunderstood or even mis-branded.

According to the Ministry, with the new regulation, a cosmetic company in Mexico must register with the SSA (Secretariat of Health) for a physical and chemical analysis, along with a Spanish translation and / or a free sale certificate and consular legalisation, reported cosmeticsdesign.com.

The new standard was jointly developed by the Ministry, the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (COFEPRIS), and the Federal Consumer General Address Verification and Monitoring Research Coordination.

The standard PROY-NOM-141-SSA1/SCFI-2010 ‘Labelling of pre-packaged cosmetic products, Health and commercial labelling,’ is published in the administration’s official journal (Diario Oficial de la Federación).

The Ministry as per the new standard has issued a new set of requirements and recommendations to the cosmetic companies to make sure that a product makes its entry into the market meeting regulatory standards.

In recent years, the Mexican government has come down on cosmetic companies looking to make way for imported products onto the market.

In 2009, the government announced it was imposing an additional 20% higher duty on certain personal care products imported from the US, which it estimated of having an impact of approximately $2.4bn in trade with the US.

The government said the new move was part of its attempt at ending a pilot scheme allowing Mexican trucks into the US.

Mexico’s new standards are likely to affect some of the industry’s major players such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson which are popular in the country’s market.