Sierra Leone begins enforcing legal limits on lead in paint
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The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) of Sierra Leone began enforcing the Lead Paint Regulations 2025 following a one-year moratorium period. These rules establish a legal limit of 90 parts per million (ppm) for total lead content in all paint manufactured, imported, or sold within the country.
Parliament passed the legislation in March 2025.
This move makes Sierra Leone one of the first Anglophone African countries to adopt national lead paint controls that align with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regulation C/REG.13/07/23. The agency aims to protect public health, especially for children, because lead exposure can cause permanent brain damage and lower intelligence quotients. The new rules followed a 2024 study by the EPA and the Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP).
That study found that nearly one in four paint samples tested in Freetown contained hazardous levels of lead. To ensure compliance, 18 EPA staff members completed a training program in July 2026 to learn how to use X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysers, which detect lead in paint within seconds. A July 2026 market survey showed that all 23 paint brands sampled had lead levels below the 90 ppm limit.
The EPA will continue to monitor products through regular inspections alongside the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau, the Customs Department, the National Revenue Authority, the Sierra Leone Police, and the Ministries of Trade and Industry and Transport and Aviation.
