The Ministry of Commerce and Industry adopted technical standard DGNTI 402-2026 through Resolution No. 108 of September 28, 2026, published in Official Gazette No. 30626 of October 5, 2026. The standard sets the sampling, testing and analysis methods for paddy rice and fortified white milled rice (Oryza sativa).

Its first point sets the purpose of the standard: to unify the analysis procedures for determining the quality characteristics of both types of rice, in order to guarantee their quality and safety and to support the control and verification actions of the competent authorities; the document is obtained at the Regulatory Information Center of the General Directorate of Standards and Industrial Technology. The second point repeals Resolution No. 105 of June 25, 2024, which had made public the previous version (DGNTI 402-2023), so that this update replaces the methods in force. The standard was developed after a 60-day national public consultation, from April 28 to June 27, 2026, in which no comments were received, and was approved by the technical committee on July 10, 2026. Its legal basis is Title II of Law 23 of July 15, 1997, which designates the General Directorate of Standards and Industrial Technology as the national standardization body.

The measure reaches the entire rice chain, that is producers, mills, importers and laboratories, which apply these methods to certify the quality of the grain, and the authorities that oversee the market. The analysis methods complement the technical specification regulations that the Ministry itself approved in July 2026 (DGNTI 74-2026 for paddy rice and DGNTI 75-2026 for fortified white milled rice): they define how the sample is taken and how compliance with those specifications is measured, including the fortified rice linked to nutrition programs. For the sector, a single testing method reduces discretion in controls and gives predictability to quality certification.

The effect is not immediate. The third point defers entry into force to the six months following enactment in the Official Gazette, so the standard would apply from April 2027; until then the methods of the 2023 version continue to apply. Nexo Capital will follow the entry into force of technical standard DGNTI 402-2026.