Sri Lanka Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in Sri Lanka, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals.
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Standards for Trade
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Overview

The Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI), Sri Lanka’s member body to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), is the national standards organization. SLSI sets product standards, approves imports under the mandatory import-inspection scheme, and carries out product testing, pre-export inspections, registration of fish and fishery products, and ISO quality management training.

Sri Lanka is a member of the International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Telecommunications Union, and it has announced plans to join the Madrid Protocol.

Standards

Sri Lanka has established approximately 2,000 standards covering manufactured products, agricultural commodities, industrial raw materials, and production processes. Most standards are voluntary; only 32 standards, mainly covering building materials, household electrical items, food, and consumer products, are mandatory.

Sri Lanka has adopted ISO 9000 series standards on quality management and assurance; ISO 14000 standards on environmental management; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) assurance for food safety; Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification; ISO 18000 on occupational safety; ISO 22000 on food safety management; and ISO 27000 on information security management.

Testing, Inspection and Certification

The main conformity assessment body is the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI). A mandatory SLSI import inspection scheme applies to 122 items identified under national health and safety requirements. These were published in Gazette No. 2064/34 of March 29, 2018, under the Imports and Exports Control Act No. 1 of 1969 (http://www.documents.gov.lk/en/exgazette.php).

The scheme ensures the quality of imported items against relevant Sri Lankan standards.

SLSI accepts certificates issued by laboratories accredited by the exporting country’s national accreditation body. It also accepts certificates from the exporting country’s national standards body or from registered manufacturers. All consignments are subject to random checks, and uncertified products are sampled and tested.

SLSI operates a voluntary accreditation scheme for testing laboratories in Sri Lanka, accrediting them for conformity with ISO/IEC 17025, the international standard for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Information on product certification is available at: https://www.slsi.lk/index.php?lang=en

The Sri Lanka Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (SLAB), established under Act No. 32 of 2005, is the national accreditation authority (https://www.slab.lk/). SLAB is a member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), which merged in January 2026 to create the Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated, the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC), and the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC). SLAB accredits testing laboratories, medical laboratories, and inspection and certification bodies. A list of accredited institutions is available on its website.

Publication of Technical Regulations

The Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) publishes all regulations on its website. The site also includes proposed regulations for public comment, with adequate time for stakeholders to respond. 

Contact Information

Sri Lanka Standards Institution
17 Victoria Place,
Elvitigala Mawatha, Colombo 08.
Tel: +94 11 267 1567-72
Fax: +94 11 267 1579
E-mail:  slsi@slsi.lk
Website:  https://www.slsi.lk/index.php?lang=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 WTO Members under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). ePing is free to use and does not require registration unless users wish to receive customized e-mail alerts. The platform allows stakeholders to review draft, updated, and past product regulations; track food safety, animal and plant health standards; examine trade concerns raised in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees; find information on SPS and TBT Enquiry Points and notification authorities; and follow regulatory actions related to products, packaging, labeling, food safety, and plant and animal health in key markets.

Under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates a national TBT Enquiry Point, as well as an SPS Enquiry Point. These Enquiry Points accept comments and official communications from their counterparts in other WTO Member countries but are not part of the WTO Secretariat. All comments from U.S. stakeholders, including businesses, trade associations, U.S.-domiciled standards development organizations, conformity assessment bodies, consumers, and government agencies, on notifications to the WTO TBT Committee should be submitted directly to the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point. Guidance on how to submit comments is available at:  https://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/guidance/guidance.cfm.

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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.

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