Overview
With its accession to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Haiti has adopted the standards established by the Caribbean Organization of Standards and Quality (COSQ), the CARICOM body responsible for defining standards for goods and services at the regional level. Haiti has no additional special legislation on standards, testing, approval, and certification.
Standards
In addition to Haiti’s adoption of the CARICOM standards, it also uses other international standards as a reference, to include the International Standards Organization (ISO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and Codex Alimentarius for food products.
Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to notify to the WTO proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that could affect trade. Notify U.S. (www.nist.gov/notifyus) is a free, web-based e-mail registration service that captures and makes available for review and comment key information on draft regulations and conformity assessment procedures. Users receive customized e-mail alerts when new notifications are added by selected country or countries and industry sector(s) of interest and can also request full texts of regulations. This service and its associated web site are managed and operated by the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Testing, Inspection and Certification
The government’s primary goal under the proposed Haitian Standard System, which has been with the Parliament awaiting approval since 2012, is to protect consumers and to monitor the safe sale of food, chemicals, and pharmaceutical products, as well as cosmetics. Special attention will be given to exports in order to ensure that they have a positive impact abroad and improve the Haitian trade balance.
For the Haitian Standard System to move forward, it must be ratified by Parliament after a consultation process with stakeholders. Accreditation would then be accorded to all products that meet the standards set by the government per a Presidential Decree on Standards.
Publication of Technical Regulations
Le Moniteur, the national gazette published by the National Press of Haiti, contains public agency rules, decrees, and public notices. Although Le Moniteur publishes draft bills and regulations, these draft regulations are not open to comment by the private sector. The Government of Haiti publishes laws and regulations once final. Decrees are printed, published and executed at the behest of the Prime Minister and relevant Cabinet ministers. Copies of publications can be ordered by phone or through Le Moniteur’s website, https://www.pressesnationalesdhaiti.ht / (still under development).
The Government of Haiti maintains an annual regulatory agenda for the Parliament, but the agenda is seldom followed. Haiti mostly adopts international standards, and there are no recent Haitian technical regulations that impact U.S. products. A bill on quality control has been in draft status for years.
Contact Information
Directorate of Quality Control (DCQPC)
Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Ministère du Commerce et de l’Industrie)
Parc Industriel Métropolitain (SONAPI)
Port-au-Prince, Haïti
Tel: (509) 3263-5555
E-mail: dcqpc_mci@yahoo.fr
(Mr. Willy Bien-Aime, Director)
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 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.