"Sri Lankan exporters have to satisfy Indian standards whenever goods are exported to India and India has to do the same when they export to Sri Lanka," Anoma Premathilake Deputy Director Marketing of the Export Development Board (EDB) told LBO on Friday.
"We have to submit samples and further documentation that will certify our goods are up to their standards and it is mostly food products that need to conform to these standards."
Meat and biscuit products are some of the commonly traded products that face this problem, Premathilake said.
With the new agreement, India will recognise the Sri Lankan SLS standard and Sri Lanka the Indian ISI standard, when goods travel between the countries.
Mutual recognition of product certificates will cut down transaction time and red tape, officials say