Overview

INNOQ (National Institute for Normalization and Standards), in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, is the entity responsible for overall standards issues in the country.

Standards

Mozambique is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is required under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to report to the WTO all proposed technical regulations that could affect trade with other Member countries.

Testing, Inspection, and Certification

INNOQ is a member of the International Standards Organization (ISO) and can issue ISO 9001 certificates. INNOQ is judicially and administratively an autonomous body that has been operating under the Ministry of Industry and Trade since 2000, and acts as the recognized central body responsible for defining and implementing quality policy and for coordinating all standardization and quality activities at national level. INNOQ will accept foreign laboratory tests if they comply with Mozambican standards.

Publication of Technical Regulations

The Boletim da República is the national gazette for the publication and dissemination of laws, provisions, and other acts of publication. Draft bills are usually made available for public comments through the business associations or relevant sectors or in public meetings.  Changes to laws and regulations are published in the National Gazette.  Public comments are usually limited to input from a few private sector organizations, such as CTA.  There have been complaints of short comment periods and that comments are not properly reflected in the National Gazette.  The government is considering a law that would make public consultation on future legislation mandatory.

Contact Information  

Mozambique is covered by the Standards Attaché in South Africa:

Mike Bromley

Commercial Officer | Standards Attaché

U.S. Commercial Service - U.S. Consulate Johannesburg, South Africa

Office: +27 11 290 3227

Michael.Bromley@Trade.gov

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.