Flagpoles for businesses in Mexico: the national flag and logo flags

In front of factories, car dealerships, hotels and corporate offices, sets of flagpoles with the national flag and logo flags are part of the landscape in Mexico. For a business, the Law on the National Arms, Flag and Anthem sets clear limits on the use of the flag, and municipal sign regulations can cover corporate flags. This guide brings the rules together.

The national flag at a business

Under article 32, individuals may display the national flag at their workplaces, provided they show the respect due to the national symbol, and in any size. Businesses, as institutions in the sense of article 1 Bis, may also render honours to the flag with the solemnity the law describes (article 11).

The limit is in article 32 Bis: neither individuals nor institutions may use the national flag to promote their image, goods or services. The law allows the flag to be displayed at the workplace; using it to advertise a product or a service is what it prohibits.

Inscriptions on the flag

Under article 7, an institution may inscribe its name or corporate name on the national flag with the authorisation of the Ministry of the Interior, provided this contributes to the respect for the symbol, does not cover the coat of arms and the copy follows article 3. Inscribing an institution’s name without that authorisation is an infringement, and doing so to promote its image, goods or services is a serious infringement (articles 56 and 56 Ter). Sanctions reach a fine of up to ten thousand times the Unit of Measurement and Update, plus an additional fine for each day the infringement continues (article 56 Quintus).

Private schools and hospitals

Article 15 includes among the places where the national flag is raised the buildings of institutions providing education and medical services, not only public ones. There the flag stays raised every day of the year (article 16) and flies at full or half-mast on the days in article 18. Schools, public or private, also have a flag for civic ceremonies (article 21) and render honours every Monday (article 15). The guide to flag days lists the calendar.

Logo flags as signs

A flag with a company’s logo, visible from the street, may be considered a sign under municipal regulations. The Sign Regulation of General Escobedo, Nuevo León, for example, considers a sign any means of making known the trade name, corporate name or logo of a person or company (article 2), and counts its bases and supporting structures as part of the sign (article 3). Its article 5 prohibits the use in signs of the national symbols, the colours of the national flag and the coat of arms of the state or municipality. Each municipality has its own regulation, and the urban development office can answer questions about how it applies.

Lighting flags and signs also has local rules: in Ensenada, the light pollution regulation prohibits lighting signs from the base. The guide to flag lighting covers this point.

Sets of flagpoles

When a business flies the national flag together with corporate or foreign flags, article 24 of the law serves as a reference: at ceremonies, the national flag takes the place of honour and receives honours first. For sets of several poles, Astabanderas de México offers fast-delivery poles that it describes as suited to projects requiring multiple flagpoles, and lists industrial parks, housing developments and shopping centres among its projects. Banderas Universal makes corporate and institutional flags with logos in any size. The guide to flag protocol covers the order, and the guide to flagpole installation the permits.