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Evaluation New Work Item Proposal (NWIP) to develop a set of regional standards for the cocoa industry

09 September 2021
Evaluation New Work Item Proposal (NWIP) to develop a set of regional standards for the cocoa industry

The SSB was recently asked by the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) to evaluate the New Work Item Proposal for the development of a set of regional standards for the cocoa industry.

This concerns the development of the following standards:

  1. Part 1: Cocoa beans – Sampling
  2. Part 2: Cocoa beans – Specification and quality requirements
  3. Part 3: Cocoa – Specific requirements for fine or flavor cocoa
  4. Part 4: Sustainable and traceable cocoa

Before a decision is made to develop the above regional standards, support is first sought within all CARICOM member states. After this, a Regional Technical Commission (RTC) will be set up to examine the content of the regional standards.

As the Standards Bureau in Suriname, we would like to draw up an evaluation that is as widely supported as possible on this issue. We therefore, offer you as a stakeholder or prominent interested party a copy of the aforementioned new work proposal, with the request to evaluate it. After coordination with stakeholders within your respective organization (s), you can notify us of your findings. The composite result of all findings is sent to the secretariat of CROSQ after integral processing. If you wish to be part of the RTC, you can indicate this on the evaluation form.

As you further know, after the final approval of these standards by the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), the standards will be regionally adopted by CROSQ and are also expected to be adopted by the SSB as National Standards.

We therefore, urge you to contribute to these standards through your vote, so that we are able to be heard by CROSQ and convey our vision and positions. We look forward to receiving the completed evaluation form very soon, but no later than Friday 15 October 2021. The evaluation form can be found online via the link below:

https://forms.gle/qqR27VPYdvdeKfgL7

If you have any questions, you can contact Mr. Tanwir Hassankhan (Head of Standards Development) on tel. +597 499928 or by email: standards@ssb.sr .

Attached documents:

  1. NWIP for the development of the four standards
  2. Outline Cocoa Sustainability Parts 1 – 4
  3. Outline Cocoa Quality NWIP Document
  4. Outline Cocoa Sampling NWIP Document