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US-Mexico MRA
U.S. - Mexico Telecommunications MRA (Date posted: 11/13/2012)
Introduction
The Mutual Recognition Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Mexican States for Conformity Assessment of Telecommunications Equipment was signed on May 26, 2011.
This Agreement provides for the mutual recognition by the Parties of testing laboratories, and for the mutual acceptance of the results of testing undertaken by these recognized testing laboratories in assessing conformity of equipment to a Party’s technical regulations. Specifically for the U.S, the Agreement provides for the Mexican regulatory authorities (COFETEL) to accept test results from third-party U.S. laboratories for the conformity of telecommunications equipment to specific Mexican technical regulations listed in Annex I of the MRA.
Status of Implementation
This MRA has not been implemented yet. The governments of the US and Mexico are in an 18 month transition period during which a number of confidence building activities are taking place.
NIST is not currently accepting applications for designation.
Quick Facts
(1) This bi-lateral Agreement covers the recognition of testing laboratories (and acceptance of test reports) only.
(2) Mexico will recognize qualified third-party U.S. testing laboratories (national treatment) only. Manufacturers’ laboratories (first-party) are not eligible to apply for recognition under this Agreement.
(3) This Agreement covers equipment regardless of the equipment’s country of origin.
(4) The Agreement does not cover recognition of certification bodies.
(5) The Agreement does not include Homologation. Homologation is handled directly by COFETEL.
(6) The Agreement does not cover electrical safety of telecommunications equipment.
(7) The seven (7) technical regulations (NOMS) for which Mexico will accept test reports from recognized U.S. testing laboratories designated by NIST are listed in Annex I. These NOMS are posted here (in Spanish).
*In the future, Mexico may add additional NOMS to Annex I.
(8) The laboratory’s ISO/IEC 17025 Scope of Accreditation must include the relevant NOMS for which recognition is being sought. Laboratories may now begin to obtain accreditation for the relevant NOMS.
Applying for Designation
A list of the documents that laboratories will need to submit to NIST for designation to Mexico is under development and will be posted on this website shortly.
It will include submittal of the following:
- The current ISO/IEC 17025 Scope and Certificate of Accreditation with the relevant NOMS included.
- Two (2) electronic copies of the most recent ISO/IEC 17025 assessment documentation (Assessor Report, Deficiency Report, Corrective Action Response(s) one in English and the other translated into Spanish.
- Other documents (TBD)
October 2-4, 2012 MRA Training Session
The government of Mexico hosted technical training sessions in Mexico City on October 2-4, 2012.
The following link contains each economy’s presentations. Click on the link titled "material de difusion". The presentations of each economy are listed under the section titled “Sesiones de entrenamiento de los ARM sobre equipos de telecomunicación”: http://www.economia.gob.mx/comunidad-negocios/comercio-exterior/tlc-acuerdos/tlcan.
Warning: Some of the presentations from Mexico included proposals that are not yet finalized. As such, this information is subject to change.
For Further Information
For questions about the application process, contact mra@nist.gov.
Additional Resources
Current List of Recognized CABS for Mexico (None Yet)