Mexico reshaped its telecom regulation in 2025. The former Federal Telecommunications Institute, known as IFT, stopped operating on 17 October 2025, and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, or CRT, took over its functions the same day, reporting to the Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency. Homologation applications were suspended for five working days during the handover. Old certificates continue to be recognised until they expire, and unfinished applications moved across to CRT. The sector still says "IFT certification" out of habit, but the issuing body is now CRT.
The name changed and the numbers did not. Certificate numbers keep the IFT prefix, and the 2021 Type Approval Guidelines continue to apply.
Mexico does not hand you a list of certified products to work from. The test runs the other way: if a product uses radio frequency transmission, or has to connect to the public telecommunications network, it falls into the mandatory scope. A phone needs approval. So does a washing machine with Wi-Fi - appliances are not a telecom matter, but the wireless module inside one is.
In practice it is three steps. First, does it transmit? If it does, then which route applies. Once the route is settled, line it up against the technical specification. Purely receiving products that do not transmit stay outside the system. Get this question wrong and both the quote and the schedule go with it.
Short-range and local wireless covers Bluetooth headsets, speakers, keyboards and mice, remote controls, ZigBee and NFC modules, Wi-Fi routers and ultra-wideband devices.
Cellular and communications terminals take in 4G and 5G phones and tablets, IoT terminals, automotive communications modules and IP phones that connect to the public telecom network.
Automotive electronics means body control modules with RF transmission, tyre pressure monitoring sensors, head units, telematics units, keyless entry and wireless charging modules. A body control module with no RF transmission is not in this group.
Appliances, medical devices and wearables follow the same test rather than the industry label: connected appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and robot vacuum cleaners; medical devices such as Bluetooth oximeters, blood pressure monitors and infusion pumps; smart watches, smart glasses and trackers.
Where an established technical specification exists to work against, testing follows the current requirements and is done at an accredited laboratory in Mexico.
Where there is no applicable specification, the product goes to technical expert review, producing a memorandum that is submitted to CRT for assessment.
IFT-016-2024 came into force on 4 November 2025 and covers specifications and test methods for low-power devices, including general low-power transmitters, wireless microphones and hearing aids. The 2.4 GHz band is in its list of applicable frequencies, with an exception: frequency hopping and digital modulation devices operating in the 902-928, 2400-2483.5 and 5725-5850 MHz bands remain under IFT-008-2015.
IFT-017-2023 came into force on 7 November 2025 and covers the 5150-5250, 5250-5350, 5470-5600, 5650-5725, 5725-5850 and 5925-6425 MHz bands. The 5725-5850 MHz stretch is the one that trips people up: digital modulation devices, and hybrid devices that also carry frequency hopping, are assessed as a whole under IFT-017-2023, with hopping disabled during testing. Only standalone frequency hopping devices continue under IFT-008-2015.
Both apply to new applications only. Certificates issued earlier stay valid until they expire and are renewed under the original rules, provided the product genuinely sits in the bands the specification covers.
IFT-008-2015 and NOM-208 are not one document. The two numbers are often written as "IFT-008-2015 (NOM-208)", but they are two different things: NOM-208-SCFI-2016 is issued by the economy ministry and IFT-008-2015 by the telecom regulator, and the former's technical requirements reference the latter directly. Both sit on the RF side and have nothing to do with electrical safety.
Telecom approval and electrical safety go their separate ways. CRT's RF approval does no safety testing of its own. Electrical safety is another branch of the NOM system, covering things like NOM-001 and NOM-003, certified through the economy ministry. RF NOM, safety NOM and CRT approval are three separate systems, and merging them into one schedule is what makes sample counts come out wrong.
An adapter does not automatically trigger a safety NOM. Whether one is needed depends on the supply method, the product category and the voltage, and classification is a matter for the certification body. A purely battery-powered product inside an exempt scope may not need one even with an external adapter in the box.
The holder has to be a Mexican entity with an RFC tax number, usually an importer or distributor, while an overseas manufacturer remains the manufacturer. The manual is in Spanish and carries the two statutory statements about not causing harmful interference and accepting any interference received.
On labelling, CRT is the regulator now, but marking still follows the original IFT rules and the numbers keep the IFT prefix, so the two need reading separately. The mandatory date for the new mark has been pushed to 1 July 2027; until then the original format stays in use and existing products do not need relabelling. On Mexican files, the way to tell whether a product falls in mandatory scope is to walk the functions against the regulation one by one - that is how BlueAsia approaches it.
Contact: King Email: king.guo@cblueasia.comAddress: Building C, Hongjingda Industrial Park, No. 107 Beihuan Road, Shiyan Street, Bao'an District, Shenzhen, China BlueAsia delivers more than service!
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