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

The Suriname Standards Bureau (SSB) is responsible for developing and implementing standards and technical regulations, for certification of goods and processes, for metrology, and for accreditation of laboratories and testing facilities.  More information on the SSB can be found at the website accessed by this link:  https://www.ssb.sr/en/ 

Suriname’s standards regime consists of voluntary and mandatory standards. 

Standards

Suriname uses national and international standards.  

Suriname is a member of the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) and a member of the Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT). Suriname is also a member of ISO and an Affiliate Member of the IEC. Suriname uses national standards and standards developed by other (international/regional) standardization bodies including ISO, Codex Alimentarius, International Electro Technical Commission, CROSQ, ASTM International, COPANT, SMIIC (Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries), NEN (Nederland Normalisatie Instituut), ETSI, GLOBAL GAP, etc. Where necessary, these are adapted to meet national requirements.

Testing, Inspection and Certification

The SSB serves as the national testing organization and conformity assessment body. Product certification requirements do not burden U.S. exporters. The SSB is the Accreditation body in Suriname. Suriname is not a member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) or International Accreditation Forum (IAF). U.S. testing laboratories can operate in the market and test U.S. products to comply with domestic regulatory requirements. The testing laboratories should provide a testing certificate to the local authorities. 

Publication of Technical Regulations

The SSB publishes proposed technical regulations on its website for public comment. The average period to comment is two months.  Final regulations are published on the SSB’s website. U.S. entities can contact the SSB for comments. There is an annual regulatory agenda.  At present there are no new regulations that will impact U.S. products.

Contact Information

Suriname Standards Bureau 

Address: Frederik Derbystraat 81, Paramaribo 

Phone: (597) 49-928/499-929 

Email: info@ssb.sr 

 

Embassy standards point of contact: 

Catherine Griffith

Pol/Econ Chief 

Email: griffithcp@state.gov 

 

Standards attaché

Jeff Hamilton

Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil

Email: jeff.hamilton@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 World Trade Organization (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. This guidance is provided to assist U.S. stakeholders in the preparation and submission of comments in response to notifications of proposed foreign technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.

For EU CCG: Include reference to article with a video on CE Mark: https://www.trade.gov/ce-marking

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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.

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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.

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