Pakistan Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in pakistan, 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 Technology Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology sponsors and encourages public and private organizations in the standardization of products and services according to ISO standards. In this regard, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Commerce have jointly launched an incentive program for entrepreneurs to facilitate their ISO certification. This program provides an incentive grant for achieving ISO 9000/14000 certification. Further information is available at (https://www.pakistan.gov.pk/). 

Standards and Technical Regulations

The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) is the national standards body. The functions of PSQCA include the establishment and enforcement of national standards, registration of inspection agencies, and assessment of industrial raw materials and finished products for compliance with international standards. 
PSQCA has been designated as the WTO-TBT National Enquiry Point on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) of Pakistan under the TBT Agreement (Article 10.1, 10.2, and 10.3) to facilitate the activities of exporters/traders/ manufacturers in the country and importers from WTO member countries. This inquiry point is responsible for disseminating information on TBT notifications, deals with queries regarding standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment procedures. 

PSQCA favors the standard of certain trading partners and is a member of:

  •  International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Geneva, Switzerland
  • International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Geneva, Switzerland
  • International Organization for Legal Metrology (OIML) Paris, France
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between PSQCA and American Society for Testing and Material (ASTM), USA
  •  Mou signed between PSQCA and American National Standards Institute (ANSI)


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 Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) 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, including U.S. private sector firms, free of charge and is a versatile tool that can be used 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,
  • Receive customized e-mail alerts when new notifications are distributed
  • Find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees. 

 

Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates an 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 Enquiry Point. Refer to the comment guidance at https://www.nist.gov/notifyus/commenting 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.

Conformity Assessment

The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority is responsible for conformity assessments. PSQCA has membership with (IECEE) Worldwide System for Conformity Testing and Certification of Electrotechnical Equipment and Components.

This organization may be reached as follows: 
Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority
PSQCA, Complex, Plot No. St-7/A, Block-3, Scheme No. 36, Gulistan-e-Juhar,
Karachi, Pakistan 
Tel: 021-99333901

Testing, Inspection, and Certification

Product Certification

The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) is responsible for product certification, testing and inspection. For the latest information and updates, please see the PSQCA website.  
This organization may be reached as follows:  

Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority 
PSQCA, Complex, Plot No. St-7/A, Block-3, Scheme No. 36, Gulistan-e-Juhar,
Karachi, Pakistan 
Tel: 021-99333901

Accreditation

The Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), Ministry of Science and Technology, Islamabad, handles accreditation matters. Pakistan National Accreditation Council signed the Mutual Recognition Arrangement with the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC), which has put Pakistan at par with the members of these organizations, including the United States and E.U. on terms of accreditation of testing and calibration laboratories. The contact for PNAC is as follows: 

Pakistan National Accreditation Council 
Ground Floor, 1-C, Constitution Avenue, 
Opposite Prime Minister Office, G-5/2
Islamabad, Pakistan 
Tel: +92-51-9209507
Email: info@pnac.gov.pk

Publication of technical regulations

The Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) and the Ministry of Science and Technology regularly publish technical regulations governing industry standards.

Contact Information

All government ministries and departments may be accessed through the Pakistan Government Portal.

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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.

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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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