Public should join in fight against substandard products

In Summary

UNBS further encourages the public to report any instances where goods that do not conform have been issued a Certificate of Conformity.

Reference is made to the opinion in the Daily Monitor of November 24 titled, “Why inspected imports are turning to be fake”. The article pointed out a number of issues among them are; that some importers with the PVoC certificates issued by the companies contracted by UNBS sell substandard products, that the cost of getting one’s products to be inspected hence acquiring the PVoC certificate is expensive, etc.
For the benefit of stakeholders who do not know, Pre export verification of Conformity (PVoC) is a service that was introduced by the government purposely to curb the high rate of substandard products that had flooded the Ugandan market.

Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) contracted three inspection firms to carry out the inspection for general goods (SGS, Bureau Veritas and Intertek) and it also contracted three other inspection firms to inspect vehicles imported into the country (EAA, JEVIC and Jabal Kilimanjaro).
The article hinted on consolidated cargo. Consolidated cargo is indeed very challenging to inspect under the PVoC scheme. This is because ideally every product requires a test report which will bring the conformity assessment price to a value that cannot be afforded by the trader that used the consolidated cargo module.

As mitigation, UNBS applies a risk analysis on such shipments and tests those products in such shipment that are classified as high risk and high risk goods are those that pose a big threat to the health and safety of Ugandan consumers. Samples from such a consignment are picked by UNBS inspectors at various border points submitted to the UNBS laboratories where they undergo tests for various parameters and tests are done basing on a standard of that particular product. The rest of the items that are not very high risk are assessed according to predetermined checklists and may also undergo final tests.

No exporter or supplier markets their goods with a PVoC certificate because the inspection process begins with the need expressed by the importer. So when the importer requires so many pairs of shoes, then the supplier organises for inspection and not the other way round. While it may be true that countries do not mind what they export, Uganda in this case protects its products and citizens by controlling what comes into the country. Because of the lack of capacity, Uganda sought to place the onus of conformity assessment on the exporter/manufacturer and thus contracted three reputable inspection firms to carry out this conformity assessment according to our standards and also under UNBS close monitoring.

The PVoC inspection region does not grant Certificate of Conformity (CoC) at the seller’s doorstep as implied by the article but takes into account the manufacturer as well and where the manufacturer cannot be traced, the product is tested by a third party who is an internally accredited laboratory. I would like to inform the public that if a PVoC service provider is found to have issued a fake Certificate of Conformity to a trader, his/her contract to carry out inspection on behalf of UNBS is immediately suspended.

The opinion hinted on the issue of cost of inspection, I would like to inform the public that UNBS in collaboration with other government bodies such as PSFU, Chamber of Commerce and traders under the umbrella body of Kacita had a number of meetings before the programme kicked off on issues to do with the costs of inspections and all parties agreed on the current costs of inspection.
The method used by National Drug Authority is good, but applicable to their line of products.

UNBS on the other hand regulates a very big range of products – limiting the exportation of these products to be done by the manufacturers may limit the scope of products that eventually end up in Uganda and will also eliminate the small trader from the chain – the one who cannot access the manufacturer.
UNBS further encourages the public to report any instances where goods that do not conform have been issued a Certificate of Conformity. Together, let us fight substandard products out of this country.
Ms Kamusiime is the public relations officer, UNBS.