UNBS poised to fight counterfeits

FAKE: Assorted substandard items that UNBS impounded recently. COURTESY PHOTO

Uganda National Bureau of Standards’ contribution to Uganda’s competitiveness in the regional market is reaffirmed by the East African Standards Committee declaration.

The five partner states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, ruled that products bearing the respective certification marks of the National Standards Bodies (NSBs) shall have unrestricted access to the regional market.

Accordingly, a notice by UNBS “informs all local manufacturers who export or intend to export to the EAC regional markets to take this opportunity of accessing markets in the partner states, by having their products certified by UNBS.”

This is a provision mandated by the East African Community (SQMT Act of 2006) Standardisation, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing.
The Act provides that any enterprise within the East African region “having products certified by any of the five bureaux, are not subjected to import regulations” such as sampling, testing, etc., in any of the East African countries. UNBS officials say this enables the goods to move very fast across the borders, thus promoting competitiveness and regional trade.

Consequently UNBS has engaged manufacturers in countries exporting to Uganda by getting their products certified. In its notice “manufactures with certified products who encounter difficulties or delays related to quality and standards while exporting to the EAC regional markets, should inform UNBS, which shall immediately liaise with the responsible standards body to solve the problem.”

UNBS further counsels the companies to train their staff in quality control, good manufacturing and hygiene practices to eliminate any risk to human health, safety and the protection of the environment. At the moment there are 189 registered certified products on the market from 56 companies and about 80 in the process of attaining certification.