More than three years after the General Law for the Prevention and Comprehensive Handling of Environmental Waste was published, on November 30, 2006 theRegulations to such law were finally published in the Official Journal of the Federation. In conformity with said law, those producers,importers, exporters and distributors of products that are converted into hazardous waste, or companies that generate hazardous waste,consistent with corresponding official Mexican regulations (norms), are obligated to create and implement management plans for suchwaste. The Regulations govern the methods by which such management plans may work, the manner of creating the plans and theirregistration electronically with the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). The regulations established newrules for identifying hazardous waste and establish which materials may be utilized in a productive process that is susceptible to beingconsidered as hazardous waste. As such, material will not be characterized until such time as the materials are not reintroduced to theproductive process and are thrown away. In addition, the rules classify the type of hazardous waste generators, from “microgenerators” (400kg of hazardous waste per year or less) up to “large generators” (10 or more tons of hazardous waste generated per year) and the process forregistering said hazardous waste generators before the SEMARNAT.
