Overview

Although no specific law exists to regulate imports and exports, decrees issued by the Office of the Government and Ministry of Industry and Commerce provide guidance regarding imports and exports.  For example, the Decree on Import and Export of Goods No. 114/GoL and Decree on Import Licensing Procedures No. 180/PM, issued by Prime Minister Office.

Standards

Laos currently has no independent standards organizations.  In 2011, the Department of Standards and Metrology was established as an independent department alongside the Department of Intellectual Property under the Ministry of Science and Technology.  However, MOIC currently supervises these departments as Ministry of Science and Technology was dissolved.  In 2014, Laos passed the Law on Standards and USAID’s LUNA Lao II project seeks to assist the Lao in implementing regulations for the law.

Testing, inspection and certification

Conformity Assessment

The Department of Standards and Metrology would lead any conformity assessment.

Product Certification

The Department of Standards and Metrology would lead any product certification.

Accreditation

Regulations in the area of accreditation are under revision.

Publication of Technical Regulations

Laos currently does not publish technical regulations with regularity, although the Electronic Official Gazette, designed to publish all proposed and enacted legislation, is a potential model for publishing such information in the future.

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.

Contact Information

Department of Standards and Metrology:  Department of Intellectual Property.