The Sri Lanka Tea Board plans to issue its own internationally recognized quality certification for factories and exporters, to enable them to meet stringent standards in key markets such as Japan and the EU at a much lower cost. H.D. Hemaratna, Director General of the Sri Lanka Tea Board, told The Public Ledger the certification would be issued jointly by the Tea Board and the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI).SLSI will get accreditation from foreign standards institutions to issue internationally recognized certification. "The costs of issuing certification would be much lower than foreign certification like the SGS," Mr. Hemaratna said. "It is a voluntary scheme and we might perhaps introduce a subsidy later on by making use of the cess funds (collected from a tax on exports)."The certification will include ISO 22000 and ISO 9000 and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). Standards like HACCP are now mandatory in certain markets such as the EU and Japan. Exporters, factory owners, tea packers and warehouses having to renew the certification and those seeking it and will soon be able to get it from the SLTB and SLSI, whose charges will be much lower than that of foreign institutions. About 60 Sri Lankan, tea factories have got HACCP certification from foreign institutions with the cost being subsidized under an Asian Development Bank-funded project, which has now ended. Exporters said they are aware that other importing countries could insist on tough food safety certification in future. The scheme will also cover the requirements of maximum residue levels of pesticides in tea.
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