Traders want pre-import inspection policy scrapped
Drugs are some of the counterfeited and faked items.
What you need to know:
Traders say the Pre-import Verification of Conformity to Standards programme is likely to negatively impact on their business in terms of cost.
Kampala
Traders have said they are opposed to a policy that subjects all imports to be inspected at the point of origin.
This comes Just weeks after the government lifted a suspension on the Pre-import Verification of Conformity to Standards programme (PIVoC) that makes it mandatory for all imports to be inspected before they are shipped into the country.
Traders under their umbrella organisation - Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) argue the programme will increase the cost of doing business as well as promoting corruption.
Traders, majority of whom are net importers, instead want the Uganda National Bureau of Standards to develop capacity to inspect goods at border points and not from the country of origin.
“We are opposed to this move because we want UNBS to develop capacity to deal with this matter,” Mr Isa Ssekitto, the Kacita spokesperson said in an interview. According to Mr Everest Kayndo, the Kacita chairman, the programme will require pay for inspection as well as certification and sealing containers.
However, Mr Ben Manyindo, the UNBS executive director, said the policy is only seeking to curb the influx of substandard and counterfeit goods into Uganda. “Importers do not understand this policy well. However, we shall keep talking to them because this is a good policy, which if well implemented will see a reduction in counterfeit goods,” he said.
The policy, which had been suspended, had been instituted to mainly curb the entry of substandard goods that threatens Uganda’s trade.
Ms Amelia Kyambadde, the Trade sinister, said the increased entry of substandard imports had forced her to put up a case before the government to lift the suspension that had been put on the programme by the then Trade minister, Mr Kahinda Otafire.
Mr Otafire at the time argued that the programme though good had been bedeviled with claims of corruption and fraud. The programme was banned in 2010 after a section of the business community complained of the increased cost of doing business.
