Conformity Assessment 

Ethiopia Conformity Assessment Enterprise (ECAE) was established in February 2011 as a federal public enterprise, governed by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology.  ECAE is the major conformity assessment organization in the country providing inspection, laboratory testing, and certification services to the public and to industry. 

Testing, Inspection, and Certification

Imports that are required to have product certification i.e., a Certificate of Analysis, include foodstuffs, construction materials, chemicals, textiles, and pharmaceuticals.  ECAE is working on requirements to certify additional products in areas where there is strong consumer interest and a competitive market environment. 

Accreditation 

Ethiopian National Accreditation Office (ENAO) was established in 2011 to accredit, by formal third-party recognition, the competence of Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) to perform specific activities, such as tests, calibrations, certifications, or inspections.  Through the ENAO, the first Ethiopian Management Systems Certification Body has been accredited by the German Association for Accreditation based on the ISO 9001 standard in areas of agriculture and fishing; food, beverage, and tobacco products; textile products; leather products; chemical products and fibers; rubber and plastic products; concrete, cement, lime, plaster, and other construction products; and educational products.  ENAO also provides accreditation service to laboratory certified bodies and inspection bodies, both domestic and foreign. 

Publication of Technical Regulations 

Proposed technical regulations are regularly published by the ESA.  Final regulations are published in the national gazette, the Negarite Gazetta, after they are entered into force. 

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.