Mexico

Mexico became a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on February 27, 2005.

Smoke Free Places

Smoking is prohibited in indoor workplaces, public places, and on means of public transport. Designated smoking areas, where permitted, must be located in open air spaces.

Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship

The law bans tobacco advertising and promotion, including product display at points of sale. All forms of tobacco sponsorship are prohibited.

Tobacco Packaging and Labeling

Rotating pictorial and text health warnings are required to cover at least 30 percent of the front, 100 percent of the back, and 100 percent of one side of smoked tobacco products packages. For smokeless tobacco products, a text warning is required and it must cover 100 percent of one side face. The law also prohibits misleading tobacco product packaging and labeling.  

Cigarette Contents and Disclosures

The law does not grant the authority to regulate the contents of tobacco products. The law requires that manufacturers and importers disclose to government authorities and the public information on the contents and emissions of their products.

Sales Restrictions

The law prohibits the sale of tobacco products via vending machines, the internet, and in primary and secondary schools, as well as the sale of single cigarettes and small packets of cigarettes. The sale of tobacco products is prohibited to persons under the age of 18.

E-Cigarettes

The law prohibits the trade, sale, distribution, display, promotion, and production of any object that resembles tobacco but is not tobacco, which includes e-cigarettes. However, there have been several amparo lawsuits, a form of injunctive relief, brought by individual retailers challenging the provision of the law banning e-cigarettes. In some of these cases, the court has sided with the retailers, permitting only those retailers who were parties to those cases to sell e-cigarettes. In an en banc decision, the full Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico found the interpretation of Art. 16(VI) banning e-cigarettes unconstitutional; however, this ruling does not automatically toss out the ban on e-cigarettes under Art. 16(VI). Instead, if a retailer wants to sell e-cigarettes, he/she must bring a court case to declare the unconstitutionality of the ban in his/her specific case. Thus, for now, e-cigarettes remain prohibited.

Roadmap to Tobacco Control Legislation

The General Law on Tobacco Control is the principal law governing tobacco control in Mexico. The law covers many aspects of tobacco control, including: definitions of key terms; smoke-free policies; tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; packaging and labeling; and enforcement. The Regulations of the General Law on Tobacco Control were passed in 2009 and regulate the General Law on the subjects of health licensing; packaging and labeling; advertising, promotion and sponsorship; smoke-free places; and enforcement authorities and sanctions, among others. Both the law and the regulations were amended in 2022.

In December 2009, the Secretary of Health issued an agreement making public the provisions for the formulation, approval, application, utilization, and incorporation of legends, images, pictograms, health messages, and information which must appear on all tobacco product packages and all their outside packaging and labeling. Notwithstanding FCTC Article 5.3 requiring Parties to protect their public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry, these obligatory provisions resulted from an agreement between the Ministry of Health and the tobacco industry, and were issued pursuant to the Secretary’s authority under the General Law on Tobacco Control and the Regulations of the General Law on Tobacco Control. The Ministry of Health has issued several subsequent agreements containing updated sets of health warnings to appear on smoked and smokeless tobacco product packaging.

Review Status

This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff in consultation with in-country lawyers or tobacco control experts.