Mexico: Mexican Official Standard On Carbon Dioxide Emissions From New Lightweight Vehicles

On June 21, Mexico's Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources published in the Official Gazette of the Federation the Mexican Official Standard "NOM-163-SEMARNAT-ENER-SCFI-2013, Carbon Dioxide emissions from light-weight vehicles' exhaust pipelines and their equivalence in terms of fuel economy, applicable to new automotive vehicles with a gross weight of up to 3,857 kilograms" (the "Standard").

The Standard is binding to trading companies of new lightweight vehicles (those with a gross weight not exceeding 3,857 kilograms) commercialized in Mexico (except when those companies commercialize up to 500 units per model/year). It aims to establish the parameters and methodologies for the calculation of both observed and desired corporate averages regarding CO₂ emissions expressed in grams of CO₂ per kilometer (g CO₂/km), and their equivalence in terms of fuel economy expressed in kilometers per liter (km/l), based on new lightweight vehicles from model years 2014 through 2016 that use gasoline or diesel as fuel.

In accordance with the above, the Standard establishes compliance values and parameters with target emissions for the period 2012 to 2016, which gradually reduce in an annual basis.

The Standard also includes specific credit schemes for trading companies that commercialize new lightweight vehicles with high-efficiency fuel economy technologies, as well as the creation of a Target Goals Alternative Program that includes a 25 percent reduction of target CO₂ emissions during the 2014–2016 evaluation period for a maximum of 7,500 units. This Program applies only to those companies that, by year 2012, have registered annual sales ranging from 501 to 2,500 units.

Likewise, the Standard forecasts the procedure to undertake before Mexican authorities and private certification organizations in order to obtain a certificate of compliance with the parameters included in the Standard.

The Standard will enter into force 60 days from its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation, on August 20.

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