Standards and certification

Most standards are voluntary, but a few are legally binding in Suriname: the label on prepackaged goods, the requirements for bakeries, poultry, eggs and poultry feed, and from late 2027 also for tourist accommodation, guides and travel agencies. The Suriname Standards Bureau (SSB) sets standards, checks labels, issues barcodes and guides companies towards ISO certification. Scales and other measuring instruments are verified by EZOTI's Assay and Weights and Measures Service (Waarborg en IJkwezen).

On this page (14)

• The Suriname Standards Bureau
• Voluntary standards and mandatory regulations
• Mandatory technical regulations
• SSB services and fees
• CARICOM standards: CROSQ and your vote
• ISO certification
• Step by step to an ISO certificate
• Food safety and HACCP
• Scales and measuring instruments (metrology)
• Other programmes
• Checklist
• What if...
• Sources
• Frequently asked questions

The Suriname Standards Bureau

SSB was set up by the Suriname Standards Bureau Act (S.B. 2006 no. 30, amended by S.B. 2012 no. 42) and opened on 15 October 2007. It works under the Standards Act (S.B. 2004 no. 121), which took effect on 2 April 2012. The bureau is funded through EZOTI's budget and is a correspondent member of the international standards body ISO. Under the law and its own description, SSB is:

• the national institute for standards and technical regulations;
• the national institute for certifying goods and practices;
• the national institute for metrology and for laboratory accreditation (as a National Accreditation Focal Point it provides administrative support; a foreign partner body does the accreditation itself);
• the national enquiry point for the WTO rules on technical barriers to trade (TBT).

SSB is at Frederik Derbystraat 81 in Paramaribo, phone 499928 and 499929, email info@ssb.sr. SSB also investigates consumer complaints about goods (art. 4 Standards Act).

Voluntary standards and mandatory regulations

A national standard is a document with agreed specifications for a product, service or method. SSB adopts it after a sixty-day public comment round, or takes over international (ISO, IEC) and regional (CARICOM) standards. Applying such a standard is voluntary; often a customer, a government tender or a foreign buyer asks for it.

A standard becomes mandatory when the EZOTI minister, on SSB's proposal, adopts it by order as a technical regulation (art. 6 Standards Act). That can be done for health, food safety, the environment, export quality, consumer information or against misleading labelling. SSB must announce it thirty days in advance. After that (art. 10, 11 and 16):

• goods that do not comply may not be imported, sold or exported; they can be seized and destroyed at the producer's or supplier's expense;
• imported goods can be examined on arrival; they are released after a passed inspection or with an inspection certificate from a recognised body in the country of origin;
• a breach is an economic offence under the Economic Offences Act (art. 20).

Mandatory technical regulations

In October 2026 SSB's legislation page listed these eight regulations. Ask SSB whether new ones have been added before you bring a product or service to market.

Regulation	Code	Who it covers	Applies since
General requirements for labelling prepackaged goods	SSB 003:2013	Producers, importers, distributors and shops of all prepackaged goods	2014
Specification for bread and pastry producers (basic hygiene and food safety)	SSB 006:2014	Bakeries	See the order on SSB's website
Specification for poultry and poultry parts	SSB 002:2014	Poultry slaughterhouses, processors, importers, sellers	6 March 2025
Quality classification and grading of table eggs	SSB 004:2015	Layer farms, packing stations, egg sellers	6 March 2025
Specification for poultry feed and feed ingredients	SSB 009:2015	Feed manufacturers and importers	6 March 2025
Tour guides in Suriname	SSB 011:2019	All tour guides	After a two-year transition, from late December 2027
Tourist accommodation, part 1: general requirements	SSB 020:2020	All tourist accommodation; among other things bedrooms of at least 20 m²	After a two-year transition, from late December 2027
Booking agents, tour operators and travel agencies	SSB 005:2019	Booking agents, tour operators, travel agencies	After a two-year transition, from late December 2027

The three poultry regulations were adopted in October 2024 with a six-month transition. They set requirements for production and above all for the label: the ECD removes unlabelled chicken and chicken parts from the cooler. The three tourism regulations were adopted by orders of 23 December 2025 (published in May 2026, including S.B. 2026 no. 3 and no. 4), with a two-year transition. If you run a lodge, hotel or tour business, also read Starting a tourism business. For poultry and farming: Starting an agribusiness.

What a label must show

In its label check SSB looks at, among other things: product name; name and contact details of the producer, importer or distributor; net content in the correct unit; ingredients; best-before or expiry date; storage instructions; and origin. EZOTI asks that product information be preferably in Dutch or English. An imported product with only a Chinese, Portuguese or Spanish label needs a sticker with the required details. Price rules for shops are covered separately in Price rules for shops.

SSB services and fees

Fees as charged by SSB since 15 February 2024 and listed on its website in October 2026. Most services are requested through an online form on ssb.sr.

Service	Fee	What you get
Label check	SRD 500 per label	Assessment report within 5 working days of payment; if approved, an SSB label number. Rejected? Six weeks to resubmit an amended label free of charge.
GS1 barcode	SRD 500 per barcode	Barcode number and barcode within 3 working days of label approval and payment; one per product and pack size
Certificate of Free Sale	SRD 650 per shipment	Statement that a product made in Suriname may be sold freely here, often requested by foreign authorities; within 10 working days
National ISO Register	SRD 800 a year	Public listing of your valid ISO certificate
Standards knowledge training (ISO 9001, ISO 22000, food safety, risk analysis)	SRD 4,500 per person	Training, mostly online; you buy the standard itself separately
Quality manager in practice (food or non-food)	SRD 9,500 per person	Course of about ten weeks; the 9 November 2026 to 22 January 2027 edition was open in October 2026
Buying standards	Per standard, see the catalogue	National and adopted standards, on paper or digital

For internal use you can make a barcode yourself with our Barcode generator, but for sale through supermarkets and for export you need an official GS1 number. The Certificate of Free Sale is one of the export documents; the rest is in Exporting from Suriname.

CARICOM standards: CROSQ and your vote

Regional standards for CARICOM are drafted by the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ). SSB sends drafts to Surinamese companies and trade associations for comment and later for a vote. The combined Surinamese response goes to CROSQ. After approval by the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) a standard is adopted regionally, and SSB then usually adopts it as a national standard. If you do not respond now, you later get a standard drafted without your input.

Draft	Subject	Round at SSB
FDCRS 80 and 81	Hazardous substances: terminology, and classification and labelling	Vote March 2025
FDCRS 82 and 83	Cocoa bean quality: sampling and specifications	Vote May and June 2026
FDCRS 87 and FDCRCP 12	Sustainability standard for cocoa products and chocolate; good agricultural practice for cocoa	Vote until 21 October 2026
FDCRS 88 and FDCRCP 13	Sustainability standard for coconut and coconut products; good agricultural practice for coconut	Vote until 21 October 2026
CREEBC, first revision	Energy-efficient buildings (building code)	Comments March 2026, vote until 21 October 2026
PRPs, hygiene and HACCP	Regional food safety standards under development	National mirror committee installed on 21 July 2026

SSB has also recently adopted regional standards as national standards, for example seven sustainable tourism standards (from 20 December 2024: environment, energy, food safety, water, waste, sewage, pest management) and standards for bananas and pesticide labelling (from 22 May 2025). From 18 August 2026 SSB replaced ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, among others, with the latest versions; stakeholders could review them from 16 October to 4 December 2026. To take part, contact SSB (standards@ssb.sr) or go through your trade association, see Business associations. More on CARICOM trade: Trade agreements and market access.

ISO certification

An ISO certificate shows that an independent, accredited body has audited your management system. In Suriname it is mainly requested by Staatsolie and the oil and gas sector, mining companies, large foreign buyers and some tenders. The most requested standards:

Standard	About	Mainly for
ISO 9001	Quality management	Any sector; often the first step
ISO 14001	Environmental management	Manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, logistics
ISO 45001	Occupational health and safety	Construction, oil and gas, transport, maintenance; see Workplace safety
ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000	Food safety (builds on HACCP)	Food processors, catering, food exporters
ISO 27001	Information security	IT firms, call centres, financial services; see EU rules for Surinamese suppliers

SSB does not certify itself, but since November 2025 it works through a cooperation agreement with Multi Certifications Suriname N.V. (part of IFC Global), which audits under IAF and IAS accreditation. SSB also offers guidance towards certification with consultants: intake, analysis, training, implementation and assessment. You are free to choose another accredited certification body or adviser; do check that the certification body is accredited by an IAF member, otherwise large customers will not accept the certificate.

The National ISO Register

SSB keeps a public National ISO Register of Surinamese organisations with a valid ISO certificate, relaunched in November 2025. Listing costs SRD 800 a year. Buyers can quickly check whether a supplier really is certified; suppliers become easier to find, for example for Oil and gas and Tenders.

Step by step to an ISO certificate

1. Choose the standard and scope. Which customer asks for it, for which activities and sites? A smaller scope is faster and cheaper.
2. Buy the standard and train a key person, for example through an SSB training or the Quality manager in practice course.
3. Do a gap analysis: what do you already have, what is missing? Do it yourself or with an adviser.
4. Build the system: policy, objectives, risks, procedures, work instructions, records. Keep it small and practical; write down what you actually do.
5. Run it for at least a few months and keep records. The auditor wants proof that it works.
6. Do an internal audit and a management review. Fix the gaps you find.
7. Ask accredited certification bodies for quotes and compare audit days, travel costs and yearly costs.
8. Certification audit, usually in two stages (documents, then practice). If successful you get a certificate for three years.
9. Yearly surveillance audits and recertification after three years. Register in the National ISO Register.

Costs. SSB publishes its training fees (see above), but no fixed price for audits; that depends on the standard, the number of staff and sites. Always ask for a quote and budget for consultancy hours, training and your own people's time. Budgeting: Cash flow planner and ROI and payback. Support programmes that pay for or guide certification, such as a World Bank-funded EZOTI track for export-oriented SMEs in 2026, are listed in Grants and support programmes.

Food safety and HACCP

For food, several rules and agencies overlap:

• BOG (Bureau of Public Health): sets conditions on licences for food businesses, inspects processed food for export and stamps the health certificate of everyone who handles food. See Business licences.
• LVV (Agriculture ministry): Veterinary Services for meat and animal products, Plant Protection for plant exports; the Fish Inspection Institute for fish. See Exporting from Suriname and Starting an agribusiness.
• NIVS Act (S.B. 2021 no. 19): rules on food safety and the creation of a National Food Safety Institute of Suriname under LVV, based on the Codex Alimentarius. Ask LVV which tasks the institute already carries out.
• SSB: the mandatory regulations for labels, bakeries and poultry, and training in food safety, HACCP, ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000.
• ECD: removes expired products and unlabelled meat or fish from shops, see Price rules for shops.

HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is the basis of almost every food safety system: for each step you work out what can go wrong (bacteria, foreign objects, allergens), which points are critical, which limits apply (temperature, time) and how you monitor and record them. SSB adopted the 2023 Codex HACCP text as a national standard. An EU buyer or hotel chain usually asks for at least HACCP, often ISO 22000 or FSSC 22000. If you export food to Europe, read EU rules for Surinamese suppliers.

Scales and measuring instruments (metrology)

If you sell by weight or volume, you must use a verified scale or measure. This is governed by the Weights and Measures Decree (E-40), together with the Price Setting and Price Monitoring Decree. It is carried out by the Assay and Weights and Measures Service (Dienst van de Waarborg en voor het IJkwezen) of the EZOTI ministry (not by SSB, which develops the national metrology infrastructure and standards).

• All measuring instruments used in trade are inspected every year: scales, weights, measures, length measures, liquid meters and more. Inspectors visit government offices in every district over the year; you bring your scale there. Large fixed instruments such as weighbridges are inspected on site.
• Fuel pumps, bulk stations, tank boats and storage tanks are checked twice a year.
• Approved instruments get a green sticker, rejected ones a red one. You may not trade with a rejected instrument.
• Authorised officers and special police officers (BAVPs) check for unverified instruments and for the rules on prepackaged goods, and may write an official report.
• The service also assays the gold and silver content of precious metals and can repair measuring and weighing equipment for a fee. Gold sector: Gold and oil price.

Other programmes

• National Quality Awards 2026-2027: launched by SSB on 15 October 2026. Organisations have their quality management assessed and get feedback on strengths and areas to improve.
• Working groups and technical committees: SSB looks for experts from companies for committees that draft standards, such as for security companies (2025) and food safety (2026). Taking part is voluntary and gives you a say in the rules for your own sector.
• EU Digital Product Passport: in October 2026 SSB invited companies to a regional CROSQ session on the digital product passports the EU is introducing. Relevant for exporters to Europe.
• Requesting a new standard: anyone can ask SSB to develop a standard with a New Work Item Proposal (NWIP).

Checklist

• Checked whether a technical regulation applies to your product or service
• Label of every prepackaged product checked against SSB 003:2013, possibly with an SSB label check
• Imported products with a foreign label given a sticker with the required details
• GS1 barcode per product and pack size if you sell through supermarkets or export
• Poultry, eggs or feed: compliant with SSB 002:2014, 004:2015 or 009:2015
• Tourism: prepared for the regulations on accommodation, guides and travel agencies before late 2027
• Scales and measures verified this year, green sticker visible
• HACCP plan if you prepare or process food; staff with a health certificate
• ISO certification considered if customers or tenders ask for it; accredited certification body chosen
• Certificate listed in the National ISO Register
• Signed up with SSB or your trade association to vote on new standards

What if...

• ...the ECD removes my products because the label is wrong? Have the label checked by SSB, change it or add a sticker with the missing details, and agree with your supplier that it will deliver correctly labelled goods from now on.
• ...a customer demands an ISO certificate I do not have? Ask whether a plan with a target date is enough for now. A first certification usually takes months; start with a gap analysis.
• ...my scale gets a red sticker? Have it repaired or replaced and inspected again before you sell with it.
• ...I export a product and the buyer asks for a Certificate of Free Sale? Apply per shipment at SSB (SRD 650, within 10 working days), with a recent KKF extract and the recipient's details.
• ...I think a new CARICOM standard will hurt my sector? Vote against and comment through SSB during the round. After adoption it is much harder to change anything.

Sources

• Standaardenwet, S.B. 2004 no. 121
• Commencement resolution Standards Act, S.B. 2012 no. 66
• SSB: legislation and technical regulations
• Technical regulation tourist accommodation, S.B. 2026 no. 4
• Technical regulation tour guides, S.B. 2026 no. 3
• SSB: technical regulations for the poultry sector (3 October 2024)
• SSB: label check, barcode, Certificate of Free Sale
• SSB: fees from 15 February 2024
• SSB: certification and guidance towards certification
• SSB introduces three new ISO services (14 November 2025)
• SSB: National ISO Register
• SSB: training and calendar
• SSB: news 2026 (CROSQ votes, food safety mirror committee, ISO versions)
• ISO: Suriname membership (SSB)
• EZOTI: Assay and Weights and Measures Service
• Wet NIVS, S.B. 2021 no. 19
• EZOTI: working visit to SSB (18 November 2025)

Checked on 26 October 2026. Fees and regulations can change; check the current status with SSB.