Sierra Leone - Country Commercial Guide
Standards for Trade
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The Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB) is the authority in charge of standards, certification, and accreditation. It collects and disseminates information on standards and related matters, verifies weights and measures, calibrates industrial and laboratory equipment, and authorizes and validates the use of the metric system of measurement in Sierra Leone. Funded mainly by the Government, SLSB gets technical assistance and capacity-building support from international and regional organizations, including ISO and ARSO.

SLSB has five technical committees (the National Codex Committee, the Industrial Standards Board, the Metrology Committee, the Food and Agriculture Committee, and the Engineering Technical Committee) and all base their standards on those of international or regional organizations, though it will develop its guidelines in the absence of international standards for indigenous products. It follows ISO/IEC directives and the procedural manual of the Codex Alimentarius in the development of national standards. A developed standard, once submitted to Parliament and published in the Gazette, will become a technical regulation after 60 days. Currently, there are 100 standards and 33 technical regulatioStandards for Trade

Overview

The Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB) is responsible for standards, certification, and accreditation. It collects and disseminates information on standards and related matters, verifies weights and measures, calibrates industrial and laboratory equipment, and authorizes and validates the metric system of measurement in Sierra Leone. Funded primarily by the Government, SLSB receives technical assistance and capacity-building support from international and regional organizations, including ISO and ARSO. 

SLSB has five technical committees (the National Codex Committee, the Industrial Standards Board, the Metrology Committee, the Food and Agriculture Committee, and the Engineering Technical Committee) and all base their standards on those of international or regional organizations, though it will develop its guidelines in the absence of international standards for indigenous products. It follows ISO/IEC directives and the procedural manual of the Codex Alimentarius in the development of national standards. A developed standard, once submitted to Parliament and published in the Gazette, will become a technical regulation after 60 days.

Sierra Leone has no mutual recognition agreements in place. The SLSB may inspect all imports at the borders, in collaboration with the regulatory authorities and customs. The SLSB checks the certificate of conformity and labeling requirements and may perform field tests before issuing clearance to customs for the release of the goods.

Standards

For food safety standards, the Bureau adopts the Codex Alimentarius Commission for agricultural products, and for product test method standards, it adopts ISO, AOAC, CEN, and ASTM standards. The Bureau is a member of the following bodies: ISO (Corresponding Member), IEC (affiliate Member), OILM, ARSO, ARIMET, and ASTM (MOU). The Bureau complies with the WTO Agreements of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade, and Trade Facilitation.

Testing, Inspection and Certification

Food and petroleum products are tested for quality compliance upon arrival, but other products enter the country freely due to limited testing capacity.

Publication of Technical Regulations

The SLSB reviews and publishes regulations and standards through the government gazette. Inquiries and comments on regulations are directed to the SLSB secretariat and will be published and gazetted after 60 days. International entities can comment in a bilateral meeting with the National Codex Contact Point on codex matters, the National Plant Protection Focal Point on phytosanitary matters, and the National OIE Focal Point on animal health and related issues. All regulations become mandatory for compliance after 60 days.

Contact Information

  • Prof. Dr. Thomas Yormah, Director, Sierra Leone Standards Bureau
  • Amadu Jogor Bah, Deputy Director, Sierra Leone Standards Bureau

Use of ePing to Review Proposed Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Pprocedures. 

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 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 U.S. 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.ns.

Sierra Leone has no mutual recognition agreements in place. The SLSB may inspect all imports at the borders, in collaboration with the regulatory authorities and customs. The SLSB checks the certificate of conformity and labeling requirements and may perform field tests before issuing clearance to customs for the release of the goods.