General Standards
Yemen is a member in the International Standardization Organization (ISO9000), World Meteorological Organization and the Arab Standards Organization. The country follows the standards and technical regulations established by these organizations.
Standards organizations
The Yemen Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control Organization (YSMO) is the only national organization specialized in standards and specifications. YSMO's objectives are to prepare standards for construction services, hall marking, as well as distribution, importing and exporting of products.
The main functions of the YSMO are the following:
- establish a national system for standardization and metrology
- support the national economy by ensuring high quality of local goods and products through appropriate standard specifications
- enhance the capabilities of exporters of industrial, agricultural products, and other locally manufactured goods and products by the provision of data, information and specifications of the countries which import these goods and products
- issue compliance, calibration and quality certificates required for all imported, exported and locally manufactured products
- provide technical advice in the fields of metrology, standardization and quality control to the manufacturers, importers and exporters.
Accreditation
As a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Yemen applies GCC standards and specifications on locally produced and imported products.
GAC accreditation provides a mean of determining, formally recognizing and promoting the competence of facilities to perform specific types of testing, inspection, calibration, and other related activities.
GAC's accreditation is based on a peer-review process made possible by about 350 experts who assist with the assessment of facilities and sit on GAC's various technical committees. To maintain accreditation, facilities must be re-assessed regularly.
The criteria for determining a facility's competence are based on the relevant international standard (e.g. ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 15189, ISO/IEC 17020, ISO/IEC 17065) and include: the qualifications, training and experience of staff; correct equipment that is properly calibrated and maintained; adequate quality assurance procedures; appropriate sampling practices, and so on.
Labelling and marking requirements
Generally, Yemen follows GCC and international standards on labeling requirements. Thus, labels must provide the following information:
- country of origin, clearly marked in English
- production and expiration dates must be clearly printed on the package.
The importation of certain products is prohibited or restricted, for example pork and pork products, coffee, alcohol, narcotics, a limited list of fresh fruits and vegetables during their local production seasons, weapons and explosives.
Food items are subject to inspection by the Ministry of Agriculture prior to Customs clearance. Approval from the Ministry of Health and Atomic Energy is required for import. If the items are shipped for commercial purposes, the following must be identified on each carton:
- product name and expiration date
- manufacturing date
- name of shipper
Contacts
Yemen Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control Organization
Website: www.ysmo.org
E-mail: info@ysmo.org
Address: Al-Zubairy Street Industrial Complex, YE-Sana'a
Tel: +967 1 40 8608/9
Fax: +967 1 402636/219980
