Overview

Uganda’s regulatory framework is predominantly government-driven, although the government often consults with stakeholders.  Standards are drafted and enforced by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), which is supervised by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives.  Uganda is a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the African Regional Organization for Standardization, the East African Standards Committee, COMESA, the FAO/World Health Organization Codex Alimentarius Commission on International Food Standards, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).  Local standards are developed through the Uganda Industrial Research Institute.  Priority areas for standards with potentially large procurement opportunities are food and agriculture, mechanical and building engineering, metallurgy, energy management, and ICT.

Standards

The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) is charged with developing and checking standards.  UNBS develops some of the standards, but in some cases adopts those developed by others.  UNBS is a member of ISO, Codex Alimentarius, the International Organization of Legal Metrology, and Afrinet.  Uganda applies European Union directives and standards, with some modifications.  Importers/exporters should contact the UNBS for specific information on standards.

Testing, inspection, and certification

Test certificates from foreign labs are accepted if the lab is UNBS-accredited.  Proposed and final technical regulations and laws are published in the Uganda Gazette (hard copies of which may be purchased at select bookstores in Kampala).  For further details, please contact the Uganda National Bureau of Standards.

Publication of Technical Regulations

The UNBS website provides technical regulations

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.