Iceland - Country Commercial Guide
Standards for Trade
Last published date:

Overview

Since joining the European Economic Area (EEA) in 1994, Iceland has adopted European product standards and regulations in most areas.  Implementation of these new standards, and the accompanying requirement for use of the CE marking (an administrative marking that indicates conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards for products sold within the EEA) to certify that a product has met EU consumer safety, health, or environmental requirements, has created occasional difficulties for importers of some U.S. manufactured goods.  For more information on standards, visit the Icelandic Standards (IST) website.  Iceland is a member to the European standards organizations European Committee for Standardization (CEN), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), and European Standards Organization (ETSI), and to the international standards organizations International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).  To sell products on the EU market as well as Iceland, U.S. exporters are required to apply the CE marking.

Standards

Iceland uses European standards such as the CE marking, and international standards including ISO.  Iceland is a member to the CEN, CENELEC, ETSI, ISO, and IEC standards organizations.

Testing, Inspection and Certification

Products that comply with EU standards and certification can enter the Icelandic market.

Publication of Technical Regulations

Icelandic Standards (IST) publishes standards.  Regulations are published on Reglugerd.is.  Laws are published on the Althingi website and in the government gazette.  The public can comment on bills samradsgatt.island.is.

Icelandic Standards (IST) is the national standards body of Iceland.  It is an independent association whose role, by law, is the publication of Icelandic standards and the representation of Iceland in international and regional standards bodies. 

Contact Information

Icelandic Standards
Thorunnartun 2, 3rd floor
105 Reykjavik
Iceland
Tel: +354 520-7150
Web site:  https://www.stadlar.is/en/

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 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.

 For EU CCG:  Include reference to article with a video on CE Mark: https://www.trade.gov/ce-marking