Member Article

A Ruling setting forth the Guidelines to Analyze and Verify Consumer Information and Advertising Material was published in the 

Federal Official Gazette on July 24, 2012 to become effective on August 23, 2012.

The purpose of the Ruling is to establish the criteria and guidelines to be followed by the Federal Consumer Protection Agency 

(“Profeco”) to analyze and verify consumer information and advertising material, in order to protect consumers from deceitful 

or abusive practices.

Profeco will verify that the consumer information and advertising material to be disseminated throughout the country, 

regardless of their origin, should comply with the Federal Consumer Protection Law, its regulations, these guidelines and all 

other applicable rules.

Also, it is provided that, in order to determine whether the advertising material is deceitful or abusive, Profeco should analyze 

the entire content of the material, without separating its components, including words and numbers (either written or spoken), 

visual and musical presentations and sound effects. In addition, Profeco may consider, among other elements, the nature of the 

goods, products, or services, the media to be used, the intended audience and the time context.

Finally, the guidelines provide various scenarios for Profeco to verify and monitor whether the advertising material and 

information should meet legal principles, such as truthfulness, accuracy and demonstrability, and give protection to vulnerable 

segments of the population (such as minors, senior citizens, the sick, the disabled, and indigenous peoples).

The lawyers of the Consumer Protection area of our firm would be pleased to provide any further information on this respect.