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 in Sri Lanka.  SLSI sets product standards, approves imports covered under a mandatory import-inspection scheme, and performs product testing, pre-export inspection, registration of fish and fishery products, and ISO quality management training. Sri Lanka holds membership with the International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Telecommunications Union, with plans to join the Madrid Protocol in the near future.

Standards

There are about 2,000 Sri Lankan standards relating to manufactured products, agricultural commodities, industrial raw materials, and production processes.  These standards are primarily voluntary, as only 32 (mainly on 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 environment-management systems, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) assurance for food-safety standards, and Good Management Practice Certificate (GMP), 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 Institute (SLSI).

A mandatory SLSI import inspection scheme applies to 122 items identified on the basis of national health and safety requirements which were published in Gazette No. 2064/34 (http://www.documents.gov.lk/en/exgazette.php) on March 29, 2018 under the Imports and Exports Control Act No.1 of 1969.  The scheme guarantees the quality of these imported items against the relevant Sri Lankan standards.  SLSI accepts certificates issued by labs accredited by the national accreditation body of the exporting country.  SLSI also accepts quality certificates issued by the national standards body of the exporting country or certificates issued by registered manufacturers.  All these consignments are subject to random checking.  Products without certificates are sampled and tested. Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) operates an accreditation scheme for testing laboratories in Sri Lanka.  SLSI accreditation is voluntary and accredits laboratories for conformity to ISO/IEC 17025 general requirements for competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Information on product certification can be found at the Sri Lankan Standards Institution website (https://www.slsi.lk/index.php?lang=en).     

The Sri Lanka Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (SLAB) (https://www.slab.lk/), is the national accreditation authority for Sri Lanka established under Act 32 of 2005.  SLAB is a member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC), the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (APLAC) and the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC).  The Board is responsible for accrediting testing labs, medical labs, and inspection and certification bodies involved in conformity assessment.  A list of accredited institutions is available at the above website.

Publication of Technical Regulations

The Sri Lanka Standards Institute publishes all their regulations on their website.  The site also includes proposed regulations for public comment with adequate time for public to respond.  

Contact Information

Sri Lanka Standards Institution

17 Victoria Place,

Elvitigala Mawatha, Colombo 08.

Tel:  94 11 2671567-72

Fax:  94 11 2671579

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), 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.

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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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