The equipment must be adapted to run as specified by European electrical and metric standards. Consumer product labels, generally, must be in French for a product to be of interest to importers and consumers. Manufactured food products must be labeled in French and must have an expiration date. Health officials will often interpret the date of manufacture as an expiration date, if one does not appear on the label, and deny entry to the product. Therefore, it is best to include both dates.
Standards usually follow the French or European norm.
Bonded warehouse facilities are available in Abidjan. To utilize a bonded warehouse, the exporter must engage a local importer. The exporter ships to the bonded warehouse which then accepts payment from the importer for the product as the importer withdraws it from the warehouse. The bonded warehouse system allows the importer to avoid the cost of opening a letter of credit and of paying high local interest rates. However, the exporter must take into account in his pricing the cost of financing the goods while they are in the bonded warehouse.