Certificate of Conformity for Exports to Côte d’Ivoire

Cotecna is authorised by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and SME Promotion to issue a Certificate of Conformity for exports of regulated products to Côte d’Ivoire.

Following the decree n°2017-567, Cotecna has been mandated by the Ministry in charge of Trade to verify the conformity to applicable standards of all regulated products imported into the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.

Cotecna’s mandate consists in issuing Certificates of Conformity (COC) for goods complying with applicable requirements. The main objective of this programme is to better protect consumers and importers from substandard, counterfeit and potentially dangerous goods.

During the pilot phase of the implementation of the programme, running from February 15th 2019, the certification process will be mandatory for all goods belonging to those 13 product families referred to in the decree 2016-1152 of December 28th 2016.

In the absence of a valid COC at Customs, concerned products will be refused and the importer exposed to the relevant sanctions as proscribed by the Law.

Côte d’Ivoire Conformity Assessment Process

Cotecna’s mandate includes the physical inspection, sampling and testing of goods in fully ISO 17025 accredited laboratories. Factory audits may also be carried out to ensure production is compliant with standards (or Ivorian Regulations).

To assess the conformity of a shipment, the Verification of Conformity process will follow one of the three following ways of compliance called “Routes”, depending on the profile of the exporter:

• Route A for exporters with infrequent shipments or sensitive products.
• Route B for exporters with regular shipments with non-sensitive homogeneous products.
• Route C for manufacturers, official distributors and brand owners with regular and high-volume shipments to Côte d’Ivoire and having a Quality Management System (QMS) applied to their production/manufacturing process.

Please note that for your first shipment to Côte d’Ivoire, you will have to go systematically through Route A before being eligible for Routes B or C.