Background

The development of the Mexican hazardous materials transportation regulatory process, began on April 7, 1993 with the issuance of the Regulations for Land Transport of Hazardous Materials and Wastes by then President Salinas. Prior to this, there were no regulations applicable to the transport of hazardous materials in Mexico. It is also important to mention that during this time negotiations were actively being pursued to establish the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico. The NAFTA was signed in 1994 and included a provision which required the three countries to harmonize hazardous materials standards on the basis of the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods by January 1, 2000.

The Regulations for Land Transport of Hazardous Materials and Wastes provided authority for the Secretary of Communications and Transport (SCT) to develop Official Mexican Standards (referred to as NOMs). Within the SCT, the Land Transportation Directorate was tasked with developing the NOMs for hazardous materials transportation. Mexico was elected to membership and given voting status on the United Nations Committee and Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods at the end of 1994. In close coordination with PHMSA and Transport Canada by 1996 the majority of the Official Mexican NOMs were published but not fully enforced. In total, 22 NOMs were officially developed, published and approved. Official Mexican NOMs are required to be reviewed, maintained and approved by the Mexican National Consultative Committees which are comprised of government and industry representatives. The committees meet approximately once per month to discuss issues relative to standards development, enforcement, implementation of the regulations and issuance of exemptions. All of the NOMs developed to date are based on the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods.

During discussions relative to the development of the Mexican NOMs, the US suggested that SCT adopt a multimodal approach and develop standards that address all modes of transport. Since the regulatory responsibilities for the transport of hazardous materials was placed within the Land Transportation Directorate of SCT, sea and air transportation were not initially addressed in the NOMs. The sea and air directorates in SCT were developing NOMs under their own safety legislation and were basing their transport requirements on the IMDG Code for sea transportation and the ICAO Technical Instructions for air transportation. At meetings of LTSS Group 5, these directorates indicated that they intended to publish separate NOMs for sea and air transport. During this time the Land Transport Directorate recommended that the responsibility for hazardous materials transportation should be the responsibility of a single directorate within SCT. It was not until September of last year, (1999) that finally this was approved, and the first three projects were sent for approval (i.e. revision of NOMs 003, 004 and 005). The three Mexican National Consultative Committees for Standardization of Transport for land, maritime and air transport joined efforts and made changes to the three NOMs.

The membership and participation on the Mexican National Consultative Committee which previously dealt with only land transportation was reconfigured to include air and sea transport representatives. The make-up of the Committee changed with the addition of not only the federal transportation authorities for the other modes, by including representatives from the Directorate of Civil Aviation, the Directorate of Railroad Transport and the Directorate of Merchant Marine and Ports, but also on the side of the private sector with the inclusion of large users of airline services and ocean carriers, shipping companies, etc. This Committee has regular monthly meetings to discuss and analyze proposals for amendments to the NOMs and Regulations. These 3 NOMs have been subsequently published for comment.

From September of 1999, when the changes approved by the National Committee were incorporated, three projects were sent for publication to the Mexican Federal Register in order to take account of multimodal requirements. These are:

• PROY-NOM-003-SCT/1999, which revised NOM-003-SCT2/1994 and is titled: "CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LABELS OF PACKAGES DESTINED TO TRANSPORT OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES, MATERIALS AND WASTES";


• PROY-NOM-004-SCT/1999, which revised NOM-004-SCT2/1994 and is titled: "IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM OF UNITS INTENDED FOR THE LAND TRANSPORT OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AND WASTES"; and


• PROY-NOM-005-SCT/1999, which revised NOM-005-SCT2/1994, and is titled "TRANSPORT EMERGENCY INFORMATION FOR THE TRANSPORT OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AND WASTES".

In other words, these NOMs include modifications to the original standards to incorporate regulations encompassing other modes of transportation, other than land transport.

Generally speaking, with the addition of minor sections related specifically to the other modes of transportation, which are complementary to those related to land transport, the changes are not considered to be of concern for US shippers and carriers. The amended NOMs are fairly consistent with the requirements of the UN Model Regulations. The NOMs however lack much of the details specified in the Model Regulations and the HMR. The simplicity is due basically to the fact that a NOM is considered in Mexico as a general rule and detailed requirements as specified in the HMR has still long way to go. For instance, no exceptions or very few of them are taken into account so far in the NOMs. In Mexico whenever an exception is requested, the request is handled individually and on almost a personal basis between the requesting party and the head of the hazardous materials department. Sometimes the issues are not easily resolved and must be taken to the Committee for advice and resolution, since there are ground rules within the Mexican law for non- conformity to a given NOM.

This NOM has been revised to take on a more multimodal approach. On PROY-NOM-003- SCT/1999, for instance, in section 6 of General Principles, the 6.4 paragraph dealing with additional labels, now addresses multimodal transport and primary risk and subsidiary risk labels pertaining to different modes within a multimodal transport. PHMSA has asked SCT to consider taking on the decision by the UN Committee of Experts to eliminate any difference between primary and subsidiary labels. Paragraph 6.4.1 deals with the marine pollutant marks and is harmonized with the IMDG Code and the HMR. Paragraph 6.4.3, deals with exempt quantities for air transport, and paragraphs 6.4.4; 6.4.5; 6.4.6, deal with aircraft labeling and handling marks (consistent with ICAO TI and the HMR). It is also indicates in 6.4.9 that for international cargo transported by air the text on shipping papers, package markings and labels may be in the English language, or for that matter in other languages if the proper agreements are established.

This NOM has also been revised to take on a more multimodal approach. In PROY-NOM-004- SCT/1999, changes mainly address placarding for bulk pacakgings transported aboard vessels. These amendments address shipments that are not only transported by road or railroad but that ultimately may be destined for sea transport. The amendments also address requirements for the handling and storage in ports, terminals and vessels at sea, as well as policies for entry of hazardous materials to port installations. They also include procedures to determine incompatibility between two or more wastes, characteristics of those wastes that are listed and the limits that makes wastes dangerous due to their inherent toxicity and possible damage to the environment. The NOM also establishes requisites for segregation, packing, storing, collection, transport treatment and final disposition of them, through references to other standards listed therein. In general terms this NOM is consistent with the U.N., ICAO and IMDG Code requirements.

PROY-NOM-005-SCT/1999 has always been a controversial one when dealing with the requirements for emergency response information for the transport of hazardous materials and wastes. For several years the US, Canada and Mexico have discussed the necessity for carrying an emergency information form into Mexico. The US has consistently requested that SCT adopt provisions consistent with 172.600 of the HMR which specifies the content of the emergency information as opposed to requiring a specific form or document. In 1996 the three NAFTA countries achieved the first real accomplishment in terms of agreement and cooperation by producing the first joint emergency response guide, namely the North American Emergency Response Guidebook, 1996 Edition. It was envisioned that this effort would make the Mexican emergency information form obsolete, and in fact the ERG guide page would be sufficient documentation to fulfill the emergency response information requirements for Mexico. However, in the revised NOM-005 the data sheet has been made compulsory, since it requires that both the Mexican emergency information form and the ERG accompany each shipment of hazardous materials. However, Mexico has since agreed to revise this requirement consistent with US recommendations.

In addition to amendments to these NOMs, SCT has also published revisions to NOM-028 and NOM-011.

This standard applies to limited quantities. This standard was amended to correct an error in the current NOM-011 which indicates that limited quantity packagings need to meet UN performance packaging tests. PHMSA will recommend that SCT adopt the inner packaging limits for limited quantities that were recently adopted by the UN, will be proposed in the Canadian Plain Language Amendment, and are consistent with the HMR. This will enhance harmonization of limited quantity requirements.

This standard provides criteria for classifying flammable liquids. One major change clarifies that even though a hazardous material is listed in NOM-002 the classification criteria must be used to determine if a flammable liquid is subject to the hazardous materials regulations. This was previously a point of contention which appears to be resolved as a result of this amendment. Generally, the NOM has been further harmonized with the flammable liquid classification criteria in the UN Model Regulation. However, PHMSA will comment to SCT that the viscous flammable liquid exception specified in paragraph 2.3.2.5 of the UN Model Regulation since this is not included in the HMR and because PHMSA does not support this exception for obvious safety reasons.

Translations of the revised NOMs are available from PHMSA at http://hazmat.dot.gov/nomslst.htm and the public is encouraged to comment on the NOMs. Comments will be compiled and provided to SCT at the next scheduled meeting of the Land Transportation Standards Sub-Committee’s Working Group 5 Hazardous Materials Standards Group.