IRAM has notified that Argentina's National Directorate of Technical Regulations has issued new Instruction 1/2024, supplementing certain aspects and provisions of Resolution 237/2024 issued by the Secretariat of Industry and Commerce.

Key points of the resolution

1. A general conformity assessment framework is established. The general framework is universally applicable and will serve as the basis for implementing new technical regulations across different products and sectors. It sets out the basic principles that products and processes subject to conformity assessment must follow.

2. Previous regulations are revoked. Several earlier resolutions are revoked and replaced by the new technical regulation, including requirements for mandatory marking with the Secretariat of Commerce mark (S-Mark), the government no longer recognising local technical bodies such as test laboratories and certification bodies, provisions on transfer and extension of certificates, the entry of goods without right of use into the special test sample regime, and customs intervention.

3. Declaration of conformity. Once the regulation is in force, local manufacturers and importers must issue a declaration of conformity and follow the conformity assessment procedures required to sell their products in Argentina.

4. Specific requirements of the technical regulation. The mark becomes mandatory on 28 March 2025 and must be affixed to the product or its primary packaging. Products certified before the new conformity mark takes effect may continue to use the previous S-Mark.

The QR code must be generated, maintained and applied by the local manufacturer or importer and must reference the corresponding documents, such as the sworn declaration of conformity and the product certification where applicable.