SAZ to clamp down on dubious imports

The country has witnessed an influx of substandard goods coming in from other countries and undermining the competitiveness of locally manufactured products.

SAZ director-general Mrs Eve Gadzikwa last week said her organisation was lobbying for  enactment of a national quality standards regulatory authority that would give SAZ delegated authority to undertake certain test on all imports on a compulsory basis.
“A regulatory authority would make it compulsory for these products to be tested before getting onto the market,” she said.
She said a draft Bill had already been put in place and was being reviewed by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

She said the Bill would then be reviewed by the Attorney-General before being approved by Cabinet.
Mrs Gadzikwa noted that the regulator would reference some of the organisation’s standards in their laws so that the testing of these products becomes compulsory.

“Since we are creating the standards we cannot be the regulator as there would be conflict of interest.  So we will continue producing the relevant      standards for water, food, manufactured and electrical goods and providing the testing facilities, but it would then be up to the regulator to reference those standards in their laws to make testing compulsory,” she said.

She said this was in line with safeguarding the interests of the community that has been shortchanged in the past by some dealers who bring in cheap quality products.
“The Consumer Protection Act is almost complete, if not complete already, so we are saying in line with this need to safeguard the community, goods that are                                                                                                                        coming into the country have to be subjected to the same stringent quality measures which are our own local products are being subjected to,” said Mrs Gadzikwa.

She said there was need to level the playing field because products that were being exported were certified and of good quality.
She added that there were 300 certified products locally and more than 120 companies that had been certified to international standards.

“So we are saying there is need for co-ordination to deal with imports in the same way we zeal with exports and we need to put some order in           that area to ensure the community is safe from  these substandard products being consumed,” she said.