On March 13, 2023, the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (hereinafter, “COFEPRIS”) published the Official Letter COFEPRIS-CFS-083-2023 (hereinafter, the “Letter”), which refers to the amendments of September 8, 2022, to the Regulation of the General Health Law on Advertising (hereinafter, the “Advertising Regulation”), in connection with the guidelines that COFEPRIS had the obligation to publish in order to set forth the requirements for obtaining advertising permits (hereinafter, the “Guidelines”) for prepackaged non-alcoholic food and beverage products that display any element of the front labeling system contained in Mexican standard NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1-2010 (hereinafter, “NOM-051”).
Through the Letter, COFEPRIS indicated that it is still implementing the tools (digital platform) for the evaluation and issuance of advertising permits. The authority did not indicate when the Guidelines will be issued but it did indicate that they must go through a public consultation process before their publication in the Federal Official Gazette (hereinafter, “DOF”), in accordance with the provisions of the General Law of Regulatory Improvement.
In the meantime, COFEPRIS highlighted the following:
- The Amendments to the Advertising Regulation have already come into force, therefore their compliance is mandatory. In addition, COFEPRIS mentioned that it will be monitoring their compliance.
- With the amendments to the Advertising Regulation already into force, advertising for food and non-alcoholic beverages that have one or more elements of the front labeling system should not include child characters, animations, cartoons, etc., nor include graphic or textual elements indicating that these products have been recommended or recognized by societies or professional associations, to be advertised on broadcast television, cable television, movie theaters, internet, and digital platforms.
- Companies were invited to refrain from requesting advertising permits at this point. However, the authority suggested that advertising projects and supporting documentation for the claims made in such advertising be submitted through an “Advertising Notice” via the “DIGIPRiS” platform.
- The provisions of the Advertising Regulation are mandatory, therefore COFEPRIS will undertake health surveillance actions regarding compliance with the provisions introduced in the amendments to the Advertising Regulation.
- Finally, COFEPRIS emphasized that it will grant a reasonable transition period when the Guidelines are published, and that in the coming weeks it will announce a voluntary compliance mechanism aimed at promoting the adoption of the provisions that will be included in the Guidelines, with the purpose of recognizing those companies that, in good faith, decide to join such initiative.
The Amendments to the Advertising Regulation mainly impact Advertisers, however, the obligations for “Agencies” and “Media” regarding advertising for non-alcoholic food and beverage products subject to advertising permits, are the following: (i) Agencies must comply with the terms of the advertising permit for the preparation of advertising materials and must provide the Media with a certified copy of the advertising permit cover page; and (ii) Media must ensure that the advertising materials have an advertising permit.
If you need additional information regarding the contents of this document or if you need legal assistance, please contact the following persons:
Luis López Linaldi – Partner
LUIS.LINALDI@S-L.MX
Phone: +52 55 50015409
Alan Osorio Aragón – Associate
ALAN.OSORIO@S-L.MX
Phone: +52 55 50620074
Fernanda Romero Ojeda – Associate
FERNANDA.ROMERO@S-L.MX
Phone: +52 55 89473212