In Mexico, nearly two decades the Mexican Standard for Industrial Parks was created, a voluntary standard whose objective is to evidence that industrial parks in the country comply with regulations, the feasibility of services, the design and the world-class of the infrastructure.

Since 1999 and with the validation of the Secretariat of Economy, the Mexican Association of Industrial Parks (AMPIP) actively promotes the certification of industrial real estate developments under the Mexican Standard for Industrial Parks.

In interview Claudia Ávila Connelly, executive director of AMPIP, said that “the Mexican Standard for Industrial Parks came up almost 20 years ago in response to the concerned of industrial developers members AMPIP that the Government differed the projects that comply all standards of the projects of those which does not necessarily comply the standards, because at that time the government was supporting industrial parks through Nacional Financiera with non-repayable funds as a public policy to promote jobs and strengthen the industry. It was necessary to define in a consensus basis criteria, and the most feasible option was to create a voluntary basis, because in Mexico there are two types of standards, mandatory, which are the NOM, and voluntary which are the NMX.”

Although the standard was updated in 2011, it is noteworthy that on Friday February 19th, of this year was published in the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF) the ‘Project to update the Mexican Standard for Industrial Parks NMX-R-046-SCFI -2015 for public consultation for a period of 60 days. This new version consider the advancement of technology, in telecommunications and safety matters, as well as issues related to the environment and quality of infrastructure.

“In an appendix, the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA) shared with us all regulation that a park must comply to become a clean industrial park evidencing execution practices of environmental protection, it is not a mandatory criteria but a voluntary one. And another point that changes the norm and its worth mentioning, is that the majority of the companies that settle in these industrial parks is light industry, so they are not necessarily high water consumers but they do require water services including bathrooms,” explained the executive director of AMPIP.

She mentioned that there are four versions of the Mexican Standard for Industrial Parks. “The Federal Law in Metrology and Standardization stipulates that every five years, at least, the rules should be updated because often, technology or other regulations are constantly changing and they need to be updated. Nowadays, we are in the last phase of the 2015 version, for the final version is released and be the one to operate with.”

Claudia Ávila Connelly emphasized that the spirit of the rule is to give certainty to foreign investors, especially in regulatory issues, which can be complex. “The industrial parks with a certification gives that certainty, and that is the great feature of an industrial park in Mexico, because besides the technical part of infrastructure, also they are located near major routes of foreign trade, which facilitates the access to markets and transport and therefore all the logistics”.

It is worth mentioning, that the firm CIEN Consultores, with which the AMPIP has established an alliance, is the only Verification Unit accredited by the Mexican Accreditation Entity (MAE) to make an audit for the compliance of an industrial park under the Mexican Standard for Industrial Parks. The first step to obtain the opinion of compliance is to request verification service. 

Best practices
Besides renting out a plant, companies that decide to settle in industrial parks in Mexico carry out their operations in a business-friendly environment with the community in which best practices have been implemented. To fulfill the mission of promoting the development of competitive and sustainable industrial parks, AMPIP encourages the implementation of best practices in environmental protection so that companies operate in a suitable environment that allows them to develop their business efficiently.

“A few years ago the customers that seek to rent out plants not only asked for a strategic location and a plant at a competitive lease rates per square, but also that the park had environmental protection policies, which was previously not a criterion. That forced them to think in generating evidence of compliance of policies to protect the environment,” affirmed the executive director of AMPIP.