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The government is working on a raft of measures to curb the importation of counterfeit and sub-standard products, a senior official said yesterday. Florence Makombe, Director of Standards and Quality Assurance in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, said at a meeting in Beitbridge that with effect from May 16 specified products will require a transitional certificate of Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA).
She said the products will be inspected and certified by Bureau Veritas, an international testing, inspecting and certification company they had engaged to enforce the importation of goods and products which meet internationally acceptable standards in terms of quality and valuation.
Makombe said the company was engaged following overwhelming complaints from consumers and industry on the proliferation of counterfeit and substandard products on the local market.
“We’ve identified several sensitive products that would require certification by Bureau Veritas prior to their importation. With effect from the 16th of May those exporting products from various countries to Zimbabwe must comply with the new system,” she said.
Makombe said the new system had a four-month window period which will see the goods being imported into Zimbabwe accompanied by a transnational certificate from Bureau Veritas.
The certificate, she said, will come with a few recommendations which the manufacturers of these products should review within four months.
Makombe said some of the specified products are food and agriculture items, building products, timber and timber products, petroleum and fuels, packaging materials, electrical/electronic, body care and health, automotive and transportation, clothing and textiles, engineering equipment and toys.
“We’re giving manufacturers of these products four months to review the quality to meet internationally acceptable products. As from September 16 we won’t allow the importation of products that fail to meet the acceptable standards,” she said.
“We’ve been carrying out wide consultations with multi-stakeholders including Zimra, Standards Association of Zimbabwe, Consumer Council of Zimbabwe and they’re supportive of the new initiative”.
Makombe said with the assistance of Zimra they had come up with tariff codes for the specific products which will be forwarded to various manufacturers and exporters to Zimbabwe.
The director said the ministry was working on the formulation of a law that will see the creation of the Zimbabwe Quality Regulatory Authority.
She said Cabinet had already approved the setting up of such an authority which will promote fair practice and curb the proliferation of substandard items in the country.
“We’ve started carrying out awareness campaigns to update all interested parties on the new operations and implementation of the regulations. We’ll be visiting most countries which formed the bulk of the country’s trading partners such as India, China, South Africa, Zambia and those in Europe,” Makombe said.
Bureau Veritas’ Africa Regional Manager, Gwendal Euzen said the organisation would use its global network to inspect and certify goods and products being imported to Zimbabwe for the next four years.
He said the conformity certificates will be electronically based and shipment based.
“All certified products will be marked in English and these certificates should be obtained by the exporter to Zimbabwe.
“We will conduct physical examinations on all the products to see if they conform to requisite standards,” he said.
Online Reporter