. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/N/MEX/40
25 October 2002
(02-5894)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  Spanish
NOTIFICATION
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   MEXICO
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):
2. Agency responsible:   Ministry of the Economy
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers and E-mail and Web site
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   General
Directorate of Standard s/Ministry of the Economy (DGN/SE) Enquiry Point.
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [    ], 2.10.1 [ X ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Toys - Replica firearms
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Mexican Official
Emergency Standard NOM-EM-008-SCFI-2002, Toys. Replica Firearms - Specifications,
Trade Practices and Commercial Information  (7 pages, in Spanish).
6. Description of content:
This Mexican Official Emergency Standard establishes the specifications for toy
replicas of firearms, the trade practices for such products and the commercial informationthat must be included on the product label and/or in the product marking.
This Standard applies to toy replicas of firearms with the appearance, form and
shape thereof which are marketed within the territory of the United Mexican States.
The following products are exempted from the application of this Mexican Official
Standard:
(a) Antiques which appear genuine or are scale models, traditional pistols
which fire ammunition or pistols which fire projectiles using compressedair or gas, sport pistols or pistols which may be authorized for sportsmen
and which shall be issued only through specialized stores authorized for
such purposes and shall be governed by the applicable legal provision.G/TBT/N/MEX/40
Page 2
6. Description of content:  (cont'd)
(b) Decorative, ornamental and miniature toys (including desktop models and
those for use on bracelets, chains, necklaces, etc.), provided that the barrel
is visibly covered and there is no firing mechanism and, in the case ofrevolvers, provided that the cylinder is fixed and hollow or empty in such a
way as to be clearly visible.
(c) Water pistols with a clearly visible storage tank and those the design of
which is not that of a standard weapon and which can be distinguished at a
glance as toys.
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:
The overall objective of this Standard is to  ensure that products marketed within the
national territory do not constitute a risk to human safety and thus to safeguard property rights
which are threatened by the imminent increas e in the marketing of toys which resemble
firearms and which are being used to perpetrate a range of criminal acts.
Pursuant to Article 48 of the Federal Law on Metrology and Standardization
(LFMN), an emergency is any unexpected event which affects or poses an imminent threat
to any of the legitimate objectives which are considered valid under the WTO Agreement
on Technical Barriers to Trade, the illustrative list of which can be found, in the case ofMexico, in Article 40 of the said Law.
In this respect, replica firearms are unexpectedly being used in Mexico to
perpetrate a range of unlawful acts (e.g., theft), taking advantage of the fact that thepenalties for their commission are mitigated or only correspond to attempted crime, given
that the firearms used are not real ones.
The Mexican Government, through the Ministry of the Economy, therefore decided
to issue this Emergency Standard, since the present circumstances constitute an unexpected
event which could not have been anticipated by the corresponding authorities.
The specific purpose of this Mexican Official Emergency Standard is therefore to
establish the specifications for toys which are similar to or imitations of firearms with the
appearance, form and shape thereof, as well as the commercial information that must be
included on the product label and/or in the product marking, so that a toy can be clearly
distinguished from a real firearm.
8. Relevant documents:  Diario Oficial de la Federación  (Official Journal) of
16 October 2002  (available in Spanish).
9. Proposed date of adoption:
Proposed date of entry into force: }On the day following publication in theOfficial Journal (17 October 2002)
10. Final date for comments:   Not applicable
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax
numbers and E-mail and Web site addresses, if available, of other body:
Web site:  www.economia.gob.mx/?P=85 (Standards catalogue).