Sierra Leone - Country Commercial Guide
Standards for Trade
Last published date: 2021-09-14

The Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB) is the authority in charge of standards, certification, and accreditation. It collects and disseminates information on standards and related matters, verifies weights and measures, calibrates industrial and laboratory equipment, and authorizes and validates the use of the metric system of measurement in Sierra Leone. Funded mainly by the Government, SLSB gets technical assistance and capacity-building support from international and regional organizations, including ISO and ARSO.

SLSB has five technical committees (the National Codex Committee, the Industrial Standards Board, the Metrology Committee, the Food and Agriculture Committee, and the Engineering Technical Committee) and all base their standards on those of international or regional organizations, though it will develop its guidelines in the absence of international standards for indigenous products. It follows ISO/IEC directives and the procedural manual of the Codex Alimentarius in the development of national standards. A developed standard, once submitted to Parliament and published in the Gazette, will become a technical regulation after 60 days. Currently, there are 100 standards and 33 technical regulations.

Sierra Leone has no mutual recognition agreements in place. The SLSB may inspect all imports at the borders, in collaboration with the regulatory authorities and customs. The SLSB checks the certificate of conformity and labeling requirements and may perform field tests before issuing clearance to customs for the release of the goods.