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Regulatory Alert: Special Report: Mexican Chamber of Deputies Passes Waste Take-Back Bill

June 24, 2002

Mexico - Product Take-Back

The Mexican Chamber of Deputies recently passed by unanimous vote a sweeping and ambitious waste bill that could radically change the way wastes are defined and managed in Mexico and could significantly impact the electronics sector. Electric and electronic waste products in Mexico are currently regulated as municipal solid wastes or, in some limited cases, possibly as hazardous wastes. Under the new draft law, “technological” and certain packaging wastes would be specifically regulated as “special management wastes.” Producers, importers, or distributors of products that become covered wastes when discarded would have new responsibilities for ensuring their end-of-life take-back, collection and handling and disposal through implementation of waste management plans. In particular, the proposed law would target for increased regulation: mercury or nickel-cadmium batteries, fluorescent or mercury vapor lamps, and accessories (components) containing mercury, cadmium, or lead. Many of the requirements for “special management wastes” would be left to the implementation of the states and municipal governments and therefore, there are no clear, uniform objectives regarding how particular technological and packaging waste streams would be handled. At this point, it is not clear when the bill will be taken up by the Senate. Nonetheless, the proposed law may well set the stage for increased manufacturer, importer and distributor responsibility for end-of-life management of electric and electronics products in Mexico in the long term. For more information, please see
EIATRACK Special Report.