Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining this webinar on New Regulation for Plumbing Products — Mexico.

My name is Cody Lee.

I’m the New Accounts Manager at CSA Group.

A few housekeeping items, please note that this webinar is being recorded and a recording link will be shared with all registrants.

If you have any questions for the speakers, please post them in the chat window and we’ll address them towards the end of the session.

If we are unable to address all of your questions, we’ll make sure to reach out to you post-webinar to answer them.

With that, I’d like to introduce the speakers.

First, Jose Luis Hernandez is a Director of Global Market Access (GMA).

He has 25+ years of progressive experience in standards development, GMA, and conformity assessment and energy efficiency, electrical safety, and climate change in environmental areas.

Jose Luis has a diploma in mechanical engineering with a major in energy.

Our second speaker is Isaac Emmanuel Garcia.

He is an engineer for certification and accreditation, LATAM, GMA.

He has 12+ years of progressive experience and conformity assessment for laboratory tests in electrical safety, luminaires, plumbing, energy efficiency, and cables.

Isaac has a diploma in electrical engineering with a major in illuminating systems and luminaires and holds a master’s degree in integrated management quality systems ISO 9000, ISO 14000, and ISO 45000.

He is also an ISO 17025 technical expert and auditor for the Mexican accreditation entity EMA.

In his spare time, he is a professor at the Mexican Polytechnic Institute, IPN.

With that being said, over to you Jose, Luis.

Thank you, Cody, and welcome everyone to this webinar.

Just so that we have enough bandwidth, I’m going to turn off now my camera, but I thought it was important for you to put a face to our names, so I’m just going to turn off the camera now.

Okay, so as I was saying, thank you everyone for joining this webinar on the new regulations for plumbing products for Mexico.

I think most of you are familiar with Mexico, a very important market for everyone in North America.

And many of you may know that a new regulation, a new NOMA standard was published last year.

A standard or a regulation, a NOMA standard that is changing many of the things that we knew, and that basically the main objective of this standard from a government perspective is to increase the quality of the products coming to Mexico.

Mexico, as many other parts of the world, is being impacted by climate change and there is a lot of water scarcity in Mexico.

So, the government took the initiative and the leadership to develop a new NOM, a standard or regulation for plumbing products in order to increase the quality of the products in the market as well as a safe water consumption.

So, as you will see in the next 40, 45 minutes, we will be walking you through the main aspects of the standard.

We will start with a very quick introduction to NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021,

then we will dive into the technical part of the presentation, that is, we’re going to be covering the requirements for water closets, urinals, and valves and flappers, which are the products covered by these NOM standard or NOM regulation.

Very important, yes, this standard is based on ASME and CSA standards.

However, there are some differences, and those differences might be minor in terms of number, but the changes and the requirements that we need to comply can be significant.

So, my colleague, Isaac Garcia, will be presenting some slides that will help you to understand the differences between NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021 and the North American requirements.

and as you will see there are specific requirements that we need to be aware of.

Yes, I can tell you that in principle a product complying with ASME or with CSA standards will meet in principle NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

However, there are some specific requirements or test methods that need to be conducted.

So, we will be covering that in the technical part of the presentation, which is under Chapter 5, 6, and 7, as well as Chapter 8, which is Flushometers.

Then, we will be covering the marking requirements, and then the conformity assessment procedure, where we will give you an idea of what are the certification requirements and some of the things that you need to consider when certifying your products for Mexico.

And finally, we will have, at the end, we expect about 10, 15 minutes for Q&A.

So, with that, why don’t we dive right into the subject?

And here, as you can see, we have a timeline of NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

First, it is important to mention that this standard supersedes three previous NOM standards.

The first one is N0M-009, which was for water closets.

The second one, and now the requirements for water closets, are covered under chapter number 5.

We are also, this standard is also replacing NOM-010-CONAGUA.

That was for fill valves, flush valves, and flappers.

Now, these requirements are covered under chapter number 7.

And NOM-005-CONAGUA-1996, which covers pressure meters, and now it is covered on their chapter number 8.

So, these three NOM standards now are covered under NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

And as I said, or as I explained, as I was going over the agenda, the requirements have been, you know, improved, so to speak, or these requirements are more stringent than before.

Also, it is important to mention that urinals, which were not currently covered, or previously were not covered under any NOM standard, now they are covered by NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021, and they, the specific requirements for this type of product is covered under chapter number 6.

So, this is a quick snapshot of NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021. Okay.

Some important dates to remember, and you will see here that as of two days ago, on May 27, (2024), which was on Monday, and yesterday, (May 28, 2024), basically, all products that were previously certified in accordance with those standards that we discussed in the previous slide that had been replaced by NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021, all those products now need to comply with NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

This NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021 was published on March 31st, 2023, came into force some months later, also this standard has some transition period.

So now, flushometers, water closets, fill valves, flush valves, and flappers that were previously certified in accordance with any of those three NOM standards that you can see on the screen. Now, all of them are starting today.

They have to comply, or actually yesterday, they need to comply with the new NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

So, this is very important for you to bear in mind.

If you have any of these products intended for the Mexican market and they were certified in accordance with any of those three NOM standards, now all of them have to be retested and recertified in accordance with NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

What is the bibliography of what standards were considered when developing these new NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021?

As you can see there, these standards that we are very familiar in North America, standards to which CSA has accreditations, and we can test for the American and for the Canadian market.

And these standards were basically the basis for developing NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

However, as I explained before, this doesn’t mean that these standards were direct adoptions.

No, there are specific requirements, particularly when it comes down to testing procedures that need to be taken into consideration.

Again, very likely a product compliant with these standards will meet the requirements in Mexico.

However, the certification body has to make sure that the product is tested in accordance with the Mexican requirements, and in doing that, it meets the specific requirements enacted by CONGUA, which as many of us know, CONAGUA is the Mexican regulator for plumbing in Mexico.

So, NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021, you may be asking yourselves, we have already discussed what products are covered.

What is the scope of NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021?

Well, this standard establishes the minimum specifications that plumbing appliances and their accessories shall comply with to help ensure the hydraulic operation, tightness, and efficient use of water.

Again, very similar to the requirements in North America.

As with any other standard and regulation, there are products that are exempted, and with NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021, these are the exceptions.

Covers, seats, and any parts that do not intervene in the hydraulic operation of the water closets and urinals are not covered.

So very, very straightforward.

Also, outhouses and latrines, water closets for land and marine vehicles, waterless training closets are not covered by these NOM standards, as well as bidets.

So, these products are not covered on the NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

But now, let’s dive into some of the technical requirements or some of the technical aspects that you need to consider for the different products covered under NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

And I’m going to turn things over to my colleague, Isaac Garcia.

So just give me one sec, Isaac.

Okay, Isaac, I think now you can share.

Okay.

So, I’m just sharing now.

You see my screen?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you, Jose Luis, for your quick introduction.

And as I already mentioned, we want to discuss now about the specific requirements for all products that are covered under this NOM standard.

As you may know, this NOM is divided in four main sections that covers the water closets, urinals, flush valves and flappers, and finally the flushometers.

Now we want to discuss the main changes and the minimum requirements for the water closets.

What are the differences between the NOM and the ASME or CSA standard. So, why don’t we start with the water closets? Just give me one sec.

Okay, this chapter of the NOM standard is divided into three main sections.

The first are the dimension requirements.

Then there are structural requirements and also for the water consumption and hydraulic requirements. The first of all are the dimensional requirements.

The water closets need to comply with pretty much 12 specific requirements.

Mostly are the dimensions, the thickness, for example, the diameter of the trap or the rough-in specification.

So, what are the functional safety purpose of these requirements?

As you may know, they need to cover all the standard size and dimension and size, for example, the rough-in details of the water closets or the physical and mechanical performance indicators of the ceramic products.

For example, the thickness shall be at least six millimeters.

The overall structural performance, you know, when the final user needs to co-locate the water closets into the bathroom or do install or replace some specific sections, the limit is on the size of the location of the holes, for sure.

And finally, to afford easy access of the cleaning bowl of the fixtures and the area around the fixture.

So mostly are dimensional requirements and structural.

Then this NOM standard requires the construction and hydraulic requirements.

Mostly are seven construction requirements, pretty much for the structural requirements of the water closets.

And then there are six requirements for the hydraulic, mostly are for water consumption, the water absorption test, or the surface wash test. What are the functional of safety purpose of this for sure?

Mainly is for the prevention of the water leaks into the water closet.

For sure, the quality of the fixtures, you know, there is a test where you need to have a surface examination for the permitted effects that no more than five (bubbles, specks, and spots) in this specific area (in one pottery square, a total of 10).

To prevent concealing trap seal or unventilated spaces, you know, for the other control, to prevent the siphonage of the contents on the bowl back into the tank, that’s pretty much for the water consumption.

To prevent the walls are not thoroughly washed at each discharge, you know, if there is not well washed, you need to perform at one or more flush into the water closet.

For sure, the main purpose of this is water conservation, so there are specific limits into the water closets.

And finally, to establish the flush per discharge limits.

These are all the requirements that are needed to comply with the water closets. Most of all, all the water closets included under this NOM shall comply with this.

And there is a specific marking indicating the state of the NOM.

If you want to mark your water closet as a high-efficiency water closet, there are specific requirements that you need to cover.

The first, and as I mentioned, is to comply with all the applicable clauses of the NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

Then, the maximum limits of the discharge and the apparatus shall be no more than five liters for water closets, and for sure the total flow shall be equal or less than 3.8 liters and the maximum limit is 4.8 liters for water closets.

Then another requirement is they need to comply with the waste extraction test.

As you know, in ASME this test is mandatory.

For NOM, it is only mandatory if you want to mark your closet as a high-efficiency apparatus.

So, the final requirement to mark your high-efficiency water closet is for sure the water volume flush when you perform the aftermarket adjustability of the original equipment.

So, these are the four requirements if you want to mark your water closet as high efficiency.

Now we want to discuss the main changes or the main differences between NOM and ASME. The first is the components.

As you know, contrary to the CSA or the ASME requirements, there are specific sections where the ASME standard indicates that all the spuds require to comply with the dimension specified in that standard.

In the case of NOM, the only requirement is to comply with the manufacturer specifications, mostly for design.

Then PFDs, which are the pressurized flushing devices.

The ASME indicates that they need to be certified or comply with the CSA, ASME, or ASSE.

For NOM, we specify the requirements under clause 7 or 8, depending on the kind of product.

So that means that we need to comply with the NOM, not the ASME requirements.

Then the plastic water closets in the NOM standard are specified at least five requirements that they need to comply, and the compliance with the CSA or IAMPO is not allowed for NOM.

And then the dual-flush water closets shall comply with the clause 7 of the NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021-0, and it is not sufficient to comply with the ASME standard.

So that means that the component certification with ASME, ASSE, CSA, IAMPO, or whatever, for NOM, it’s not a right way to demonstrate the compliance with that (NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021).

This is because in the NOM standard, and mostly for all the Mexican market NOMs, we test the product as final end product.

No matter if the component is previously certified or not, we need to comply with partial testing, or some specific test indicated under NOM.

We will discuss what are these requirements.

So, for the component certifications, we need to comply with the field valves, flush valves, flappers, or flushometers.

It requires one certification and could be both options — where the products fittings are included into the product or as a spare part provided separately.

That means that we can have one full certificate for all the products or we can have one single certificate for each spare part.

So, this is mainly for testing differences, we have one critical [difference of] the static pressures for all the tests.

In the ASME standard, there are specifications from the manufacturer on operating pressures.

Mostly are for static pressure shall be no more than 550 kPa.

And for some specific apparatus, the minimum [static pressure] for NOM shall be 25 kPa for gravity-fluid tank water closets, 144 kPa for pressurized equipment, 244 flushometer activated toilets, or 310 kPa for the direct flush toilets.

And then static pressures greater than 550 kPa are not allowed, are considered unsafe, and are not covered by this NOM standard.

So, here on the screen, you can see that the NOM standard indicates the minimum static pressure as 25 kPa.

So, for ASME, it’s 140 kPa, and as you can see, for NOM, it’s almost six times less than the requirement for NOM.

These differences can affect some specific testing regarding the hydraulic performance, the water consumption, the water discharge, and the time of supply of the apparatus.

So, when you manufacture this type of apparatus, you need to comply with the minimum requirements for NOM.

So, these are the main test differences for the apparatus.

In general terms, for the gravity-flush tanks, you need to confirm that the water discharge or the water consumption. So, you have to comply with this minimum specific test pressure, okay.

Then another test difference is the water consumption limits.

You know, since the water closest consumes more water than any appliance or device in our houses, mostly [water closets are responsible for] 30% of the water consumption for all our houses.

The NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021 holds a great potential for the water conservation throughout the Mexican market.

So, that’s why the regulator specified different limits, and the maximum limits for the discharge and the water consumptions are indicated on the screen.

We have five classifications for water closets.

The first classification is a single-flush, high-efficiency water closet that is the four liters, and for NOM, the maximum consumption of water shall be less than 3.9 liters.

In ASME, this requirement or this type of product is not included, so this is a new one for the Mexico market.

Then the NOM and ASME requirements are the same with the five-liter single-flush high-efficiency water closets, so the maximum limits are almost the same.

Same requirement for the six-liter, single-flush low consumption.

This is the minimum requirement for all the water closets that need to comply with Mexican regulations.

So, that doesn’t mean that there is not another the apparatus that can consume more than six liters.

And finally, the classification for dual-flush valves or the water closets are the same.

And for the reduced flush for dual-flush water closets for NOM, the maximum limit is 4.8 liters, and this requirement is not specified in ASME. So, as you can see there are two different classifications regarding ASME.

Another testing deviation, as I mentioned, is the waste restriction test.

For ASME requirement, this is mandatory for all the products.

For NOM, it’s only mandatory for those products that to be marked as high efficiency and also there are significant differences between the ASME requirement and the NOM.

They are mainly for the miso soybean paste and the test requirements.

The composition of the miso paste is different in NOM, pretty much quite similar as ASME requirements, but the main change in this specific test is that for NOM, we’re required to test uncased without the condom that the miso paste is included.

For ASME, may be either (cased or uncased), but most of the ASME certified products require (the miso paste) to be cased (during testing).

For NOM, at this stage of the standard, it’s not allowed to use it cased.

Doesn’t mean that we need to test without the case, and probably would be the worst scenario according to the specification of NOM, and there are specific static pressure for the test.

For ASME, it’s 350 kPa, and for NOM, it’s 140 kPa.

So, the case and the static pressure are the main differences for this kind of products.

However, this only requirement is for the high-efficiency water closets. That’s all about the water closet differences.

Now we want to discuss the urinals’ part.

As you may know, there was no known certification for urinals. This apparatus is new for the regulations.

So, here are some specific requirements, which are divided into dimensional requirements, the structural requirements, and the hydraulic performance.

There are pretty much no more than 10 tests.

The dimensional part is covered by the dimensions, the spuds, the thickness, the structural requirements and for water absorption test, the dyeing test. And what are the functional or safety purpose of these tests?

Standardize the dimensions and size of these products.

The physical and mechanical performance indicators of the ceramic products, you know, for example the water absorption of the vitro China or non-vitro China.

The water leaks, for sure, and in the urinals part, the urine odor, or the blowback control.

For urinals, we have, in fact, specific requirements for non-water consumption urinals.

These are also covered under this NOM standard. And there are two additional requirements (connection to the drainage system and tightness test of removable trap), because as you may know, the hydraulic performance of the urinals is only applicable for those that have water consumption.

For the non-water-consuming urinals, these requirements are not mandatory.

So, the regulator established two different criteria.

The first is the connection to the drainage system, and the tightness test of the removal trap for the cartridge for this type of products.

These two requirements are applicable also in the dimensional part and the structural part.

So, there shall be no pressure loss at any time during the test in the connection drain and the tightness test.

And we have also as in the water close section, also in the urinals part, the high-efficiency urinals.

Pretty much they shall comply with two criteria.

The criteria are the urinals shall comply with the applicable clauses of the NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021. For example, the dimensional part, the structural parts, the performance, and the total flush volume shall be zero for the non-water-consuming urinals.

That means that if we have a non-water-consuming urinal, automatically it can be marked as high-efficiency.

And then, the discharge of water for the water-consuming urinals shall be less than one liter.

Okay, so these are the two specific requirements to mark this product as high efficiency.

And we want to discuss now what are the NOM and the ASME differences for this product.

As in the water closets section, the main difference is the components section.

The spuds or the non-water-consuming urinals shall comply with the CSA, ASME, or IAMP requirements.

For NOM, the spuds shall comply with the manufacturer specifications, mostly for the dimensional part, and the non-water-consuming urinals shall comply with these specific clauses of the NOM (clauses 6.2 to 6.3.6 and 6.6), the dimensional part, the structural part, and the two previously tested before the dimensions and water consuming, and for the ASME requirement there are a specific standard to comply with the non-urinals.

So, that means that in the case of non-water-consuming urinals, they require to comply with the NOM.

Also, the spuds are the specification dimensions, so to comply with the applicable testing indicated in NOM and not the ASME requirements.

What are the testing differences in the urinals part?

For sure, the trap seal determination.

According to NOME, this full trap seal shall be specified by the manufacturer and this information shall be marked in the user’s manuals or on the label.

For NOM, the minimum requirement of the trap seal depth is 51 millimeters. So, for NOM, it’s up to the manufacturer to determine this.

The other testing differences is the surface wash test for NOM. The total length for the incline segments remaining into the flushing surface shall be no more than 51 millimeters, and individual segments shall be no longer than 13 millimeters, and for ASME, the surface after each flow shall be not more than 25 millimeters.

So as these products are new for specification in NOM, the regulator does not have the same requirements as ASME, just to try to include these types of requirements for the urinals market.

Then, we can probably, in the next version of the NOM standard, we can adjust to the ASME requirements.

So, as you can see, the NOM specific requirements are pretty much easier than the ASME. Then, the water consumption, for sure.

The test differences between the NOM and the ASME is the classification.

For NOM, we have the water consumption liter per flush type, one liter or less.

So, this is not included in the ASME requirements for NOM.

We have the specification, the no more than one liter per flush, and this is for high-efficiency urinal.

Then, the 1.9-liter is also included into the ASME, and it’s also included into the NOM.

And the other main classification is the three liters marked urinal.

For NOM, the water consumption per discharge shall be less than three liters and for ASME, this specific marked urinal, the water consumed shall be less than 3.8 liters. So, the three liter marked urinals according to NOM are different for ASME.

And the other main test difference is for the non-water urinals, as according to ASME, shall comply with the specific requirements, the part A112.19.19.

And for NOM, the specific test criteria are included into clause 6 of the NOM, the 6.6.

And there are only two tests that the products have to comply.

The diameter of the connections of the drain line system shall be 24 mm, and for ASME is 38 mm. So, for NOM, it is quite less than the ASME requirements. And for the trap seal test, for NOM, we only require performing the test five times.

For ASME, this removal of the cartridge shall be 50 times, for NOM is only 5 times. The air-pressure test is 1.45 psi for NOM, while it is 4.5 psi (for ASME), so it’s almost less than the quarter of the ASME requirement.

So, this is the only test differences between the ASME and NOM. So, the urinals have to comply with the NOM requirements.

Then we want to discuss about the fill valves, flush valves and the flappers included into the chapter seven.

For the fill, flush valves and flappers, there are pretty much three specific requirements.

The dimensions, both dimensions are only based on the thread designation in the case of fill valves and the torque.

For flush valves, they are almost the same, but there are only two classifications — the two inches or the three inches and this shall be according to the manufacturer specifications, and the torque section shall be no more than five newton meters.

These are the two requirements for dimensions for the fill and flush valves, and for flappers, as there are no specifications for the dimensions, shall comply with the manufacturer indications, [which are likely to be] the two inches or three inches flappers.

So, the dimensions shall be according to the specific manufacturer.

And then for the structural and hydraulic performance of the fill and flush valves, there are only six requirements, mostly at the thickness test.

That doesn’t mean that the static pressure of the product shall be 550 kPa, that’s the maximum pressure allowed for NOM. The time of supply, this is one of the most critical parts into the NOM standard because the static pressure shall be 25 kPa.

As you probably may remember for ASME, the minimum static pressure is 140 kPa.

So, this time of supply may affect the NOM performance because it’s six times lower than the ASME requirements and the (fill) time is three minutes.

So, this is one of the critical parts because of the static pressure included in NOM.

Then another requirement is the life cycle test. For NOM, we only require 10 thousand times.

In ASME requirements, the minimum cycle test is 100,000 cycle tests.

So, for NOM, the requirement is only 10 percent of ASME. And the corrosion of the fill valve, if this product has metallic parts other than copper, plastic, or stainless steel, it shall comply with the corrosion test.

And finally, if this fill valve has the anti-siphon construction, it shall comply with the anti-siphon test indicated under NOM.

Then, the flush valves need to comply with almost the same type of tests (as the fill valves).

The overfill test at this specific static pressure or the corrosion test is almost the same.

The tightness test is quite different to the ASME requirements.

For ASME, it’s almost 14 days.

In the tightness test for NOM, it’s only included two days of testing for water leach.

The chemical resistant test is three days, and ASME probably could be 30 days, as it depends on the product.

And the life cycle is almost the same.

[For NOM], only 10,000 times of the cycles for open-closed operation.

And for ASME, it’s 100,000 times.

We want to discuss now the components and compliance differences.

As you probably know, according to ASME requirements, we’re trying to comply with this ASME-specific test (clause 7.10 and 7.11 of ASME A112.19.2). For NOM, all the requirements are included in clause 7 that we are now discussing.

The anti-siphon test, the static pressure is quite less than the ASME requirement.

So, this is because there are new tests for NOM.

And the flush valve, on the dual flush valves, are to comply with the ASME (requirements).

However, as for NOM, they need to comply with the specific requirements indicated in clause 7, and as you may see there are only six or seven requirements, and we can estimate mostly are different.

So, there is no matter if the product is certified, they need to comply with the NIM and shall be certified into the NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

The flapper certification is quite different, as the flappers only need to comply with the dimension and the trap seal.

When there is a universal flapper that probably needs to be for aftermarket replacement, they need to comply with at least two different flappers for five different brands that need to be used.

For example, if this universal flapper can cover all those models for water closets, we need to test and certify at least five different brands that are intended to use this universal flapper.

So, the number of pieces shall be 10 (flappers), and they need to comply with all the specific requirements indicated in chapter seven.

Finally, we want to discuss about the flushometers.

The flushometers have pretty much the same requirements as the fluid valves — they have to comply with dimensional, structural, and mechanical (requirements).

As the discharge is one of the most to be included into the water closes or urinals, the classification and designation of the flushometers are quite similar to the urinals and water closes.

That means that the designation for four, five, six liters or dual shall be the same for water closets, or if there is a flushometer for urinal, they need to comply with the classification for one, two, or three liters.

The torque test is one of the critical [aspects for] mechanical testing.

For visual inspection, the most critical point is that it shall have no visible external elements that may vary the flush or the flow rate or the discharge of the flushometers.

These are not allowed to adjust this type of product and the life cycle shall be 100,000 times.

For ASME requirements, the minimum is 400,000 times. And the static pressure minimum for NOM is 175 kPa.

For the hydraulic performance, the static pressure shall be 580 kPa.

They need to comply with at least three minutes without the leakage.

The water consumption is needed to cover the same requirements as the NOM standard and the closing operation of these products at this minimum static pressure (240 kPa).

And finally, the corrosion of the products with the ASME requirements is no corrosion observed after the salt mist test.

And that’s all of the requirements for testing, and differences between ASME and NOM.

Now I’m going to turn back the mic to Jose Luis so they can explain to us the marking requirements. Thank you, Isaac.

Okay, so let me just very quickly advance the slides here.

So, I think Isaac has already covered some of the marking requirements that we need to consider when certifying or selling these products in Mexico.

And we have created this table that I’m currently projecting and that I think everyone will be getting a copy of the presentation.

We have all the marking requirements that the product needs to comply with, basically not very different to some of the requirements that the marking requirements for other markets, such as the United States or Canada.

We need to include the trademark or logo of the product.

As you can see there, we have the different types of products covered under NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021, those four types of products that Isaac already covered (water closets / urinals, fill valves / flush valves, flushometers, and flappers).

We have whether the marking has to be permanent, whether it has to go on a label, or whether it has to go on a package.

So, you can see the table there.

So basically, the trademark or logo of the product has to go on every single product. It has to be permanent, and it has to go on a label or on the package.

For the legend or logo of country of origin, well, basically, depending on the product, it will go on the label or will go on the package.

Also, we need to include the model or type of product, as well as the code for the product type, and you can see where that marking has to go to.

Also, we need to include the lot number or manufacturing date.

It’s only for water closets and urinals, and it has to be permanent.

Very important, the official logo, the NOM certification, and I would like to take this opportunity to address one of the common questions that we receive when we are certifying products for markets other than Canada and the U.S.

Sometimes we have customers coming to us and telling us we need this specific certification mark for Mexico, and they may use, you know, a certification mark of a specific certification body.

It is important to note that for Mexico, the only certification mark that is required is the NOM certification mark.

This means that the CSA mark for Mexico, our NOM mark for plumbing products, as well as any other of our competitors is valid and accepted in Mexico.

So, I’d like to highlight one more time that for Mexico the certification mark that we need is NOM, and CSA Group is currently in [able] to provide testing and certification services for Mexico.

Also, it requires the name or company name or the manufacturer or importer.

This can go on the label or on the package depending on the type of product, as well as the address of the manufacturer or importer.

Very important, Isaac already covered the water consumption requirements for high-efficient products, and this requirement is required for water-closet, urinals, and flushometers.

And as you can see, the information has to go on the label or on the package, as well the product quality grade for water closet urinals, working pressure range, when it is a pressure assisted water closet, and type of actuator.

So, as you can see these are the marking requirements that the different products cover under NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021 have to comply with.

But now, let’s take about five minutes to go very quickly over the conformity assessment procedure.

As I already indicated before, CSA Group is accredited and approved as a certification body for plumbing products for Mexico.

In other words, we are able to provide testing services, either in our lab in Cleveland or our lab in Guangzhou to test in accordance with NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

And because we are also a certification body accredited and approved by the Mexican government, we can issue our own NOM certificates and our own NOM mark for Mexico.

This is another value to our North American certification and testing services, because now you have the possibility of testing your products for the three North American markets: Canada, the USA, and Mexico.

And as you already know, there are some similarities and also some differences for the products.

However, working with one organization such as CSA Group that is accredited for the three markets in North America, we can basically create a testing process in which when we are testing the product, we are testing it both for Canada and the US, as well as for Mexico.

So, we have a certification procedure that not only CSA Group but the other certification bodies need to follow.

This is a document published by the regulator CONAGUA.

And the first requirement is the validity of the test reports.

Test reports used for certification purposes for Mexico for plumbing products have to have a validity of no more than 90 days, 90 calendar days.

So, this is very important because sometimes we have customers that have a test report that is 95 or 120 days, and for certification purposes, those test reports are not valid.

They have to be, as I just indicated, no more than 90 calendar days old.

Also, we have different weather consumption designations, and also, Isaac covered this under his presentation.

I’m projecting here the two different slides that or the two different requirements that we need to consider.

Table 12 for volume discharge per flush and table 14 for high-efficiency appliances.

So, water consumption again is one of the main requirements for this NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

The Mexican government is interested in saving water particularly because of the drought and the water scarcity problems that they are facing down there.

Also, as with any other regulation or standard, family grouping is allowed.

I’m not gonna go into every detail of every different type of product covered in the NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021, but as you can see on this slide, family grouping is allowed.

And basically, the product has to be, you know, very much the same, has to come from the same country of origin, should have the same internal operating device in the case of a flushometer, or has the same raw materials for any finishing and actuator for the water closes and urinals. For the valves, it has to have the same operating device. For flappers, [they need] the same actuator, and the same manufacturing material.

So, in this slide basically what we are sharing with you is, first, family grouping is allowed, and these are the requirements that you need to comply when you are grouping products into families.

We have four certification schemes in NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

With CSA Group, we have these three certification schemes, which are the ones that we believe are more attractive to our customers.

The first certification scheme is a single certification with testing, and the validity of that certificate is one year, which is basically we take samples, samples are tested.

If the sample passes, you will get a test report and you will get a certificate.

It is important to mention that there will be some surveillance, and this surveillance will take place in month number six.

And it will the surveillance will have to be applied to every single certificate.

The second certification scheme that we have is with quality control system.

We will be assessing your quality control system.

This certification scheme has a two-year validity and in terms of the surveillance there will be a documental follow-up on month number 12 to the quality control system.

So, you don’t have ISO 9001, you can only have to have a quality control system which CSA Group will be assessing.

And for the documental surveillance, also some testing will be required, but as this validity of a certificate is two years, the testing, the follow-up testing will be conducted on month number 18.

And the last certification scheme that we have at CSA Group is certification scheme number three, which is with quality system management system.

The importance of this or the advantage of this certification scheme is that it’s undefined validity.

So, in other words, the certificate will not expire.

There will be some documental follow-ups to the quality management system, as you can see there, every 12 months.

And also there will be some testing that will need to be conducted on each certificate every 18, 30, 42 months, 54 months, you can see there the requirements.

Some considerations that we need to keep in mind is first, the initial certification requirements inspection and sampling at the point of sale, warehouse, factory, or where the product is located, and these inspections and the taking of samples and inspections shall be conducted by the certification body.

So, this is one of the advantages of the service we are providing now.

Since our lab in Cleveland or in Guangzhou, as well as our offices are accredited and approved as testing lab and certification bodies, if you are manufacturing your products anywhere in the U.S., or you are manufacturing of products in Asia, these two offices have the capability and the approval to go and do the inspection and take samples.

There will be some follow-up and renewal inspections and these are allowed to be remotely.

And for product surveillance sampling for scheme number one, the certificates can be issued to the manufacturer, the importer or similar may be grouped by type of certificate.

So, in other words, you know, we are able to put all the products within one certificate. Other things to consider are a number of samples.

You can see on the table there that for initial certification for water closets, urinals, flushometers, field valves, and flush valves, for initial certification we need three samples.

We have already discussed the follow-up inspections which need to be taking place and for renewal of these products only one sample is required for testing.

For flappers, for initial certification, we need two pieces. Six pieces in total selected randomly considering all certifying models for follow-up inspections. For renewals, we need two pieces of product.

Other considerations, as you can see at the top of the slide, these water closets are provided with the same fill and flush valve with which they were initially tested.

So, we discussed that components are treated differently than with ASME or CSA Group, and the same product that was tested with should be provided, the same valve and the same components should be used when the product is certified.

The requirements for obtaining certification for NOM, you can see that those on the slide, they are very much similar to what you would require for any other type of certification. You need to provide an application form.

You need to sign the certification contract for certification services. Every product needs to be tested and a test report provided.

The requirement for a declaration where the manufacturer or the applicant needs to declare that the product that is presenting is new and representative of the product that is intended to certify.

You will need to provide your Tax ID register, your company’s Act of Incorporation. Of course, you will need to provide technical information and other requirements that are – technical information or requirements that are important for certification.

And in the case of Mexico, you need to provide the HS code.

In Mexico, HS codes are closely related to the regulations that they don’t need to comply with, so you will need to provide the HS codes.

And of course, the information such as guarantees, manuals of the product, instructions of assembly need to be provided in Spanish.

And in the case where, you know, you are assessing or where you are going with indefinite validity of the certificate, you need to provide, you know, your report or your certificate for ISO 9001.

So, this is all the information we have, the information that we wanted to share with you.

As you can see, the NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021is based on ASME and CSA standards.

However, there are differences that need to be considered, and CSA Group is, one more time, accredited and approved by the Mexican government to provide now NOM certification for Mexico.

And if you have any questions, if you have any inquiries, if there’s something that maybe you would like to further discuss with us in terms of the requirements from Mexico, I know that my colleague Swati put my contact information as well as Cody and Isaac’s.

So, please feel free to reach out to us with any questions or any inquiries or any potential product that you may have.

But this is all that we have for now and I think now we can have some time for Q&A.

So, I’m turning now things over to my colleague Cody.

Yeah, thank you, Jose Luis, and thank you, Isaac.

We’re going to open up the next 10 to 15 minutes here for questions.

If you could, if you have any (questions), please put them into the chat box there and as they come up I will read them off accordingly.

Okay, we have a few here.

I’m going to start with what is the validity of the CONAGUA certificates one year, two year, three year, and indefinite depending on the certification scheme?

Yes, so that’s a question that we receive quite often from some of our customers asking about the validity of the certificates.

If you refer to the CONAGUA certification procedure, you can see that we have four different certification schemes.

Every one of these certification schemes have different validities, which are basically one-year, two-year, three-year, and indefinite, depending, again, on the specific requirements.

As we discussed during the presentation, CSA Group is only providing scheme number one, scheme number two, and scheme number three, which is basically scheme number one, again, is with testing samples, and is a one-year validity.

We have two-year validity, which also includes all of these certification schemes include testing of samples.

The difference is that scheme number two includes an assessment of the quality management system, which can be done by CSA Group, versus scheme number three that requires an ISO 9001 certificate or assessment.

So, these are the three different certification schemes that we have at CSA Group. But again, if you refer to the NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021 certification procedure, you can see that there are actually four.

So, the only one that we don’t have at CSA Group is basically the three-year validity.

Thank you, Jose Luis.

The next question here, are shower heads covered under NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021?

That’s an interesting question, but a good question.

NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021 doesn’t cover shower heads.

This product is covered under NOM-008-CONAGUA from 1998.

In fact, we had a meeting with the Mexican regulator with CONAGUA a couple of months ago because we wanted to understand what they were envisioning for this NOM-008-CONAGUA-1998 for shower heads.

Basically, what they said is, well, the standard is a very old standard, and we want to take a very similar approach to the one that we are taking from NOM-002-CONAGUA-2021.

In other words, they want to be more aggressive, they want to save more water and have more efficient water consumption shower heads, and what we were told is that they are going to start working on revision of NOM-008-CONAGUA-1998 for shower heads in the very near future.

We believe based on the conversation that we had with them that this revision will start in the next few months and again this standard is going to be revamped in order to make shower heads way more efficient.

In conversations with the regulator, they believe that currently in the Mexican market, there are some showerheads that are consuming way too much water and based on the water level or the water available in Mexico, these showerheads should not be allowed.

So, they are going to be coming up again with a new standard, and I guess we will keep everyone informed of the development or the revision of NOM-008-CONAGUA-1998 for showerheads.

Thank you for that, Jose Luis. I just want to leave it open here.

If anybody has any additional questions, please put them into the chat and then I will keep an eye out for them. Okay, it doesn’t seem like any additional questions coming in.

Those were some really good questions though.

To end the webinar, as I mentioned earlier, you’ll receive a recording of this webinar in a few days.

Please feel free to share it with your team or refer to it later.

If you have any upcoming project requirements that you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and we’d be happy to help you.

I want to thank everyone for joining and I want to thank Jose Luis and Isaac for taking the time and then I hope everyone has a great day.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.