Mexico's Regulatory Reset: What the IFT-to-CRT Transition Means for Your Product Approvals July 2026

If you certify wireless or electronic products for the Mexican market, there's a new regulator you'll want to know by name. In 2025 Mexico enacted a new Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law that dissolved the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT) — the agency that had issued type approvals, or homologación, for years — and replaced it with a two-tier structure. Broad policy now sits with the Agencia de Transformación Digital y Telecomunicaciones (ATDT), while the technical work of type approvals, spectrum management, and enforcement sits with the Comisión Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones (CRT), which operates under the ATDT. The IFT formally ceased operations on October 17, 2025, and the CRT has taken over its responsibilities.

For manufacturers, the encouraging news is that this is, at least for now, more a change of nameplate than a change of the rules. Homologation remains mandatory for devices that use radio frequencies or connect to public telecommunications networks, and it continues to run under the same framework that existed before. Certificates issued under the IFT remain valid through their normal expiration dates, applications that were already in progress were transferred to the CRT rather than cancelled, and the established technical standards — including the IFT-011, IFT-012 (SAR), IFT-016, and IFT-017 dispositions — remain in force. Products still reference the familiar "IFT" certificate number on their labels, and the Type A, Type B, and Type C homologation pathways are unchanged.

That said, a transition of this size is worth watching closely. Approval processing was briefly suspended during the handover, and the CRT has signaled that it intends to modernize Mexico's certification framework over time, so new norms or procedural updates are a real possibility down the road. Separately, 2026 has brought tighter customs enforcement around proper NOM labeling on imported devices, with more serious consequences for non-compliant shipments than in past years. Planning your Mexican market entry now, with the current rules, is the safest approach — while staying alert for CRT updates.

Navigating a regulator mid-transition is exactly the kind of thing CSIA handles every day. If you're planning to bring a product to Mexico and want to be sure you're on the right path, contact CSIA at 503-489-8006 or quotes@csiassoc.com for a free consultation and quote.