Overview
The Republic of the Congo follows CEMAC general standards. As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), it is required to adhere to the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).
Standards
The Republic of the Congo’s standards of trade duplicate French standards, which are sometimes not well adapted to the local market.
Testing, Inspection and Certification
There are no prescribed testing, inspection or certification requirements. Each company should research its testing, inspection and certification requirements.
Publication of Technical Regulations
The government publishes new or revised regulations in Republic of the Congo’s Official Journal. The Official Journal is available for download at the website of the Secretary General of the Government who maintains the Official Journal online at http://www.sgg.cg. Unfortunately, the general public or specific group including U.S. entities do not generally get the opportunity to comment on final regulations. The country does not maintain an annual regulatory agenda per post knowledge. There are no new regulations that will impact U.S. products per post knowledge.
Contact Information
Standards Attaché -South Africa
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Attaché: Michael Bromley
Contact: Michael.Bromley@trade.gov
Use ePing to review proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.
The ePing SPS&TBT platform (https://epingalert.org/), or “ePing”, provides access to notifications made by World Trade Organization (WTO) Members under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), distributed by the WTO from January 16, 1995 to present. ePing is available to all stakeholders free of charge and does not require registration unless the user wishes to receive customized e-mail alerts. Use it to browse notifications on past as well as new draft and updated product regulations, food safety and animal and plant health standards and regulations, find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees, locate information on SPS/TBT Enquiry Points and notification authorities, and to follow and review current and past notifications concerning regulatory actions on products, packaging, labeling, food safety and animal and plant health measures in markets of interest.
Notify U.S., operated and maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2003 to distribute and provide access to notifications (and associated draft texts) made under the WTO TBT Agreement for US stakeholders, has reached its end of life. Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates a national TBT (and an SPS) Enquiry Point. National TBT Enquiry Points are authorized to accept comments and official communications from other national TBT Enquiry Points, which are NOT part of the WTO or the WTO Secretariat. All comment submissions from U.S. stakeholders, including businesses, trade associations, U.S domiciled standards development organizations and conformity assessment bodies, consumers, or U.S. government agencies on notifications to the WTO TBT Committee should be sent directly to the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point. Refer to the comment guidance at https://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/guidance/guidance.cfm for further information. This guidance is provided to assist U.S. stakeholders in the preparation and submission of comments in response to notifications of proposed foreign technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.