CBCA roll out stopped

Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
THE government has halted the implementation of imported product(s) inspection under the Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) pending further consultations with stakeholders.

The new inspection regime roll out was due on Saturday (May 16) before business associations challenged the move seeking a review of some of its terms.

Businesses says the whole arrangement, in its present format, has far reaching consequences on their operations and the economy at large.

Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha confirmed the new position on the issue yesterday.

“We’ve not yet implemented the CBCA pending consultations. We wouldn’t know of the exact date it’ll be implemented as that is dependent on the consultations,” he told Chronicle Business.

The government recently engaged Bureau Veritas (BV), a French company, to provide inspection services under CBCA starting May 16.

This was aimed at curbing hazardous and substandard imported products.

The government had given companies with products already at sea up to September 14 to conclude their deals before the application of new regulations.

Inspection fees would range from 0,50 percent to 0,70 percent of the free on board (FOB) value of the consignment to be inspected while the minimum amount has been pegged at $350 with the maximum at $7,500.

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has argued that the scope of CBCA should be reviewed urgently to accommodate business interests.

CZI pointed out that while it was right to apply quality testing on specific finished products, the programme also covered raw materials and it was too broad and the charges were excessive.

The Association for Businesses in Zimbabwe highlighted that the CBCA programme was “unilaterally imposed on virtually every importer in Zimbabwe” by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in direct opposition to the principle of reducing costs of doing business.

The association said businesses were not against the importation of quality products into the country and would not want the country to become a dumping ground for substandard products, but the imposition of pre-shipment inspections on correctly registered, legitimate duty and tax-paying importers, brings with it a raft of challenges and as yet, unanswered questions.

Abuz said the entire Zimbabwean business community and ultimately every citizen was directly; or at best, indirectly affected by this imposition.

Against this background, the association said questions were being asked of the imposing authorities, with a number of points requiring to be emphasised, while others required in-depth explanations.

Instead, it said the CBCA would add costs to an already over-burdened consumer.

It has also been argued that the decline in the manufacturing industry has over the years led to many companies subsidising their income by importing goods deemed necessary for their survival.

Thus, if the projected inspection programme was imposed in its current format, it would be disastrous to industry resulting in further job losses.

Businesses have also cited a lack of thorough consultation with businesses and raised questions on transparency by BV, sought clarity on time allocations for inspections, implications of inspection fees on the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority operations, legality of the move and its conformity with Sadc and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa agreements.