Bahamas Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in bahamas, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Standards for Trade
Last published date:

Non- Tariff Barriers to Trade 

Overview

The Bahamas has enacted basic laws for standards, and the Bureau of Standards and Quality (BBSQ) governs standards for goods and services, particularly metrology (weights and balances). The BBSQ cooperates with other ministries on quality standards, such as sanitary and phytosanitary standards with the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources and the Bahamas Health and Food Safety Agency (BAHFSA). This has not been a hindrance to trade with the United States and U.S. products are widely accepted.  

Standards and Technical Regulations 

The BBSQ administers the Processed Foods, Weights, and Measures Acts, which affect all products entering The Bahamas.  Importers and distributors must ensure that goods sold in The Bahamas are properly labeled in English and comply with local labeling standards.  

Testing, inspection, and certification

There are limited labs in the country and currently no national testing organization. These services are often contracted to U.S. agencies, and to a lesser extent from Caribbean and South American agencies.

Meat products

The meat certification program requires that all meat animals (e.g., cows, pigs, sheep, and goats) are slaughtered at the government abattoir and are subject to compliance inspections and basic standards. 
Fisheries:  Bahamian fisheries exporters are required to be certified in Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), and most fisheries exports are processed according to international standards, including new requirements for traceability.

Accreditation/International standards

Generally, if a product satisfies the Caribbean Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) or has U.S. accreditation, it is accepted in The Bahamas as the BBSQ has limited capacity to test or accredit findings. The government proposes that any future system to ensure competence of certification programs will be conducted in accordance with regional and/or international standards.

Publication of technical regulations

National Gazette:  Government information, including laws and official announcements, are published in the Official Gazette of The Bahamas.
Secretary to the Cabinet 
Cabinet Office
P.O. Box N-7147 
Nassau, The Bahamas 
Tel. (242) 322-2805-8 or 322-410 or 356-2710

Contact Information:
Bahamas Bureau of Standards and Quality (BBSQ)
P.O. Box N- 4843
The Source River Centre
1000 Bacardi Road N.P.
The Bahamas
Tel: +1 (242) 362-1748 - 55
Email: info@bbsq.com or tbtenquirypoint@bbsq.com

Notify United States:   

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 is a versatile tool that can be used 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.
  • Receive customized e-mail alerts when new notifications are distributed.
  • Find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees. 

Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates an 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 Enquiry Point. Refer to the comment guidance at https://www.nist.gov/notifyus/commenting 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.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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