COSQC Established by Law 54 of 1979

1. Key takeaways

The Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control (COSQC, الجهاز المركزي للتقييس والسيطرة النوعية) was established in 1979 by Law No. 54 promulgated on 4 June 1979 — the express self-description on its official website. Its affiliation is not with the Ministry of Health: the Iraqi Ministry of Planning website lists COSQC among its “departmental formations” (تشكيلات الوزارة), placing it in the Ministry of Planning line. Chinese-language materials routinely call it “the standards bureau under the Iraqi Ministry of Health”; that description found no supporting basis in any directly accessible official channel and can be judged erroneous. Writing the affiliation wrong means companies submit device dossiers to the wrong window and pay fees to the wrong body.

• COSQC’s website states it was founded in 1979 under Law No. 54 of 4 June 1979.
• The Ministry of Planning website lists COSQC among its departmental formations (تشكيلات الوزارة).
• The “Ministry of Health subordinate” claim common in Chinese-language materials is unsupported and wrong.
• Two COSQC matters genuinely concern device companies: the Iraqi quality mark and the technical requirements for imported products.
• The 2016 fee Instruction No. 4 was signed by the Minister of Planning, corroborating the planning line — but the current affiliation is not asserted as final on this evidence alone.

2. Legal basis

Three sources are engaged: the establishment basis as stated on the COSQC website; the Ministry of Planning departmental formations list; and COSQC’s Instruction No. 4 of 2016 on service fees, whose signature block corroborates the issuing ministry.

Evidence level: rows one and two are [first-hand, verified (page level)]; row three is [first-hand, verified (official PDF, OCR reading)] at https://cosqc.gov.iq/uploads/laws/instructions/1759721890_instruction2016.pdf . Evidentiary boundary: the original text of Law No. 54 of 1979 was not obtained directly on this pass; what this article quotes is the COSQC website self-description page and the Ministry of Planning formations list. The Ministry of Justice site and official legal repositories were unreachable on this pass.

Verbatim extracts of the provisions:

• «يعتبر الجهاز المركزي للتقييس والسيطرة النوعية من الاجهزة العريقة حيث تأسس عام 1979 بموجب القانون رقم 54 الصادر في 1979/6/4» — COSQC is a long-standing body, established in 1979 under Law No. 54 promulgated on 4 June 1979.
• The Ministry of Planning formations list (تشكيلات الوزارة) includes «الجهاز المركزي للتقييس والسيطرة النوعية» — the body sits in the Ministry of Planning line.

3. Expert insights

Insight 1: institutional affiliation is not trivia; it decides which door the dossier goes to. An Iraqi device project touches two lines: the Registration Department of the Technical Affairs Directorate under the Ministry of Health handles company registration and shipment-by-shipment import licensing, while COSQC handles standards and the quality mark. Companies treating COSQC as a Ministry of Health subordinate stuff quality mark applications and system certificates into the Registration Department package, and neither side accepts them. GRZAN’s first step on taking a project is to open separate files for the receiving windows, contacts and submission methods of the two lines.

Insight 2: horizontal comparison — China likewise separates the standards line from the drug regulation line. In China, standards administration sits in the market-regulation system and device registration with the National Medical Products Administration, each with its own entry point. Iraq’s structure is comparable — COSQC on the planning line, the Registration Department on the health line. The difference is that China’s division has clear statutory boundaries, whereas Iraq’s boundary rests on administrative practice, and the publicly disclosed device-side requirements on the COSQC line are extremely sparse (see articles 28 and 29).

Insight 3: falsification check — the “standards bureau under the Iraqi Ministry of Health” in Chinese-language materials. The description finds no support in the COSQC website self-description or the Ministry of Planning formations list: the website names Law No. 54 of 1979 as the establishment basis, and the Ministry of Planning lists the body in its own line. The description mostly originates from second-hand copying; copied into bid documents and dossier checklists, it drags the submission path wrong with it.

Insight 4: only two COSQC matters genuinely concern device companies. One is the Iraqi quality mark (علامة الجودة); the other is the technical requirements for imported products (المتطلبات الفنية للمنتجات المستوردة). Both hang under the service entry of the COSQC website; the former requires a login to apply (article 29), and its fee basis is Instruction No. 4 of 2016 (article 28). Beyond these, COSQC’s statutory scope is standard-setting, metrology and inspection services — not product market-access approval.

Insight 5: the signing ministry is itself evidence, but only to that extent. The signatory of the 2016 fee Instruction No. 4 is the Minister of Planning (وزير التخطيط), dated 2016-09-20. What GRZAN can state firmly: the ministry behind this fee instruction is the Ministry of Planning, not in the Ministry of Health line — the key conclusion of this article and the point Chinese-language materials most easily get wrong. ⚠ Two limits: first, the signatory must not be used to reverse-infer COSQC’s current affiliation — different documents of one body can be signed by heads of different ministries, so the method is unreliable; second, COSQC’s current affiliation was not definitively established from official sources on this pass and no assertion is made (the website’s «في حينه» is a historical formulation). What may be written: “COSQC was established under Law No. 54 of 1979; its Instruction No. 4 of 2016 was signed by the Minister of Planning”.

4. Practical recommendations

• Build a “two-line division table”: the Registration Department line handles company registration and shipment-by-shipment import licensing; the COSQC line handles standards and the quality mark. GRZAN opens separate files per line and never shares one dossier package.
• For the quality mark or technical requirements, go directly through the COSQC website service entry (https://cosqc.gov.iq/ ), never through a Ministry of Health window.
• Wherever an institution name appears in bid documents and checklists, use the full form Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control (COSQC), and check the Ministry of Planning formations list for the current placement.
• When appointing a local agent, state in the agreement the receiving body and window for each line, so the agent cannot claim “already submitted” after delivering to the wrong door.
• Practical estimate: for COSQC processing times and fees, no official time-limit provision was found; the only verifiable amounts are those of the 2016 fee Instruction No. 4 (article 28), and everything else follows the official notice in force at receiving.

5. Verification checklist

• □ Access https://cosqc.gov.iq/laws/regulation directly and verify the establishment basis is Law No. 54 dated 1979-06-04
• □ Access the Ministry of Planning site https://mop.gov.iq/ formations page (تشكيلات الوزارة) and confirm whether COSQC appears
• □ Re-check the signature block of Instruction No. 4 of 2016 (Minister of Planning, 2016-09-20); COSQC’s current affiliation was not definitively established on this pass
• □ Search using «الجهاز المركزي للتقييس والسيطرة النوعية» and confirm the body’s full name and current affiliation formulation
• □ Check the dossier package for formulations such as “standards bureau under the Ministry of Health” and correct any that appear
• □ Record the receiving window, contact and submission method for the Registration Department line and the COSQC line separately
• □ Re-verify whether the cited official documents have been superseded (verification baseline date: 29 October 2026)

Regulatory information verified as of 29 October 2026.

How GRZAN can help. GRZAN provides medical device and IVD registration, quality system, authorised representative and local testing support for the Iraqi market. Our team prepares registration dossiers and legalisation chains, and supports post-market vigilance obligations. Business enquiries: info@grzanglobal.com