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

Standards Organizations

The BSJ is the main standards development organization in Jamaica. Standards are authorized by the Standards Council following representations from national organizations or from committees and staff of the BSJ.  Final draft standards are sent to the responsible Ministry for approval, before being made available for public comment. A final document is then prepared, and the Standards Council sends the document to the Minister for approval. The declaration of standard is published and made available for sale. Standards are revised every five years, while the Catalogue of Jamaican Standards is updated bi-annually. It includes a listing of all standards as well as those and awaiting publication. The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET), private companies, and government agencies and ministries also have a limited role in standards development. A separate entity, the National Compliance and Regulatory Agency (NCRA), was created in 2018 to enforce standards.

Conformity Assessment

The BSJ is responsible for issuing licenses to use the Bureau’s Certification Mark (Mark of Conformity). A few laboratories carry out tests in areas like food analysis, chemistry, metallurgy, microbiology, building materials, furniture, packaging, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and weights and measures.

Testing, Inspection and Certification

The National Certification Mark issued by the BSJ is a mark of quality awarded to products, processes, and practices, which conform to relevant standards. The BSJ encourages consumers to purchase products bearing this mark, as it guarantees consistent product quality. Manufacturers applying for the BSJ’s mark must have their processes, equipment, records, raw material, quality control systems, and finished products audited.

The Product Certification offered by the BSJ is voluntary (and at a cost for the applicant). Plans are being developed for the establishment of a National Certification and a Compliance Sticker Program, which will allow local products of a suitable standard to bear a Compliance Sticker. The program also extends to compliant imported products. There is a mutual recognition agreement between the BSJ and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and Jamaica has adopted more ASTM standards than any country in the Caribbean.

Accreditation

The BSJ offers laboratory accreditation to Chemical and Microbiological Laboratories. Accreditation services may also be obtained from international agencies. Plans are in place for the development of a National Accreditation Body (separate from the BSJ) to take over this function.

The BSJ’s Technical Information Center is the only national standards library in Jamaica. It is the center of the international standards information network and serves as:

  •  The National Enquiry Point under the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).
  • Contact Point for Codex Alimentarius Commission in Jamaica.
  • Local Agent for International Organization for Standardization (ISO), British Standards Institution (BSI), and American National Standards Institution (ANSI).
  • The Bureau has membership in the following regional and international organizations:

   - International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC).
   - Caribbean Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ).
   - Inter-American Metrology System (SIM).
   - Pan-American Standards Commission (COPANT) (an ISO Commission).
   - Caribbean Metrology Sub-Region (CARIMET) International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC).

The Bureau cooperates with several  regional and international standards and metrology institutions such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), National Center for Metrology-Mexico (CENAM), Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME), National Office of Standards-Cuba (NC), Columbian Institute of Certification and Technical Standards (ICONTEC), Barbados National Standards Institute (BNSI), Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS), and the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS).

The Hazardous Substance Regulatory Authority (HSRA) was established in 2013 to administer the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act and ensuing regulations. HRSA regulates the possession, acquisition, production, manufacture, processing, transfer, development, handling, storage, import, export, or disposal of natural and artificial radioactive material, nuclear material, ionizing radiation apparatus and devices emitting ionizing radiation.

Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to notify the WTO of proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that could affect trade. Notify U.S. (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 the selected country(ies) 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 Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, is the national accreditation body. The agency facilitates trade between Jamaica and its trading partners by ensuring Jamaica’s Conformity Assessment System conforms to international standards and the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. JANAAC is a member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Corporation (ILAC) and the Inter-American Accreditation Corporation (IAAC).

Test certificates from foreign laboratories are accepted if they are ILAC mutual recognition agreement (MRA) signatories. U.S. testing laboratories can also operate in Jamaica and provide testing once there is compliance with domestic regulatory requirements and the laboratories are ILAC MRA signatories.

Publication of Technical Regulations

Proposed technical regulations are available for public comment and a 30-day period is allowed before publication. Any entity, including U.S. companies, can comment on proposals before they are published. The BSJ has a Technical Information Center, which has information on standards being developed. Final technical regulations are published in the Jamaica Gazette Supplement - Proclamations, Rules, and Regulations.

Product labeling is one of the more important, if not controversial matters handled by the BSJ. The Catalogue of Jamaican Standards lists requirements for over 30 different commodities. The list is wide and varied and includes items such as footwear, precious metals, household appliances, panty hose, thread, animal feeds, toys, furniture, and various packaged goods.

Labeling requirements are contained in a series of mandatory standards for the Labeling of Commodities (JS 1: Part 1 through to JS 1: Part 30). Adherence to these requirements is closely monitored by the BSJ. Monitoring entails verification of labels against the specifications outlined in the labeling standard.

The BSJ administers a voluntary Label Registration Program to improve the compliance of compulsory standards (technical regulations). The program is intended to prevent labeling violations at ports of entry and in the domestic market. This registration program is voluntary and can assist the speedy processing of goods through Customs (using a database) for importers who have their labels registered with the BSJ.

The steps required for this process are the:

1.            Completion of the Label Registration Form

2.            Submission of the form along with the labels of the products to be registered (preferably online) to the Bureau of Standards

3.            Payment using either the e-commerce facility or the other means available and showing proof of payment

4.            Assessment and report on the label


Labels in conformance with the standards will be approved and a registration number is then assigned, and the label added to the compliant list.

In the event of labeling non-conformance, applicants will receive a report indicating areas of non-conformity and recommendations for corrections. The applicant will be required to implement the recommendations prior to re-submission. The new registration can then be utilized to process imports at Jamaica Customs. Routine verification is conducted by BSJ Inspectors/Officers to identify continued compliance and if breaches are identified, registration can be withdrawn, and the distributor advised to re-register the label(s).

Contact Information[GM1] [DB2] [DB3]  

Members countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to notify to the WTO of proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that could affect trade. Notify U.S. 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 the selected country(ies) 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.

Bureau of Standards Jamaica
6 Winchester Road, P.O Box 113
Kingston 10
Tel: (876) 632-4275 or (876) 618-1534; Fax: (876) 929-4736
Email: info@bsj.org.jm

 

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.

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

×

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.

Privacy Program | Information Quality Guidelines | Accessibility