Government ropes in pre-shipment inspectors
THE Ministry of Industry and Commerce has roped in three service providers to conduct pre-shipment inspections of imported goods in a bid to further curb the influx of substandard products.
In 2015, the Government appointed the French-headquartered international certification agency, Bureau Veritas, to verify and assess the conformity of goods in exporting countries to prevent hazardous and substandard products from entering Zimbabwe.
In a speech read on her behalf by the deputy director of the Department of Quality Assurance in Bulawayo, Mrs Mary Chingonzoh, during an awareness workshop on Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) in the city on Tuesday, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Mavis Sibanda, said three more service providers have been added to speed up the inspection of goods imported to Zimbabwe.
The Standard Association of Zimbabwe, Cotecna Inspection Societe Anonyme (SA) of Switzerland and EAA Company Limited of Japan are the three added service providers.
Under the CBCA programme, all products regulated by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce exported into Zimbabwe are expected to be accompanied by a CBCA certificate.
“This is a momentous occasion for Zimbabwe, as inspection of goods exported to Zimbabwe will now be speeded up, on both the pre-shipment and destination inspection fronts for selected goods imported into Zimbabwe, which include general cargo, new and used motor vehicles and vehicle spare parts and consolidated goods,” said Dr Sibanda.
“The enhanced CBCA programme came about following a successful review of the earlier programme, which was made possible with the incorporation of sentiments from the business sector, regulators, Government and quasi-Government departments,” said Dr Sibanda.
“The programme has seen three more service providers, namely Cotecna Inspection Societe Anonyme (SA) of Switzerland, EAA Company Limited of Japan and our very own Standard Association of Zimbabwe join Bureau Veritas Company on the programme.”
She said the programme is also designed to curb the influx of sub-standard imported products that are flooding the domestic market, and creating an uneven playing field for the local industries.
Since its inception, pre-shipment of vehicles were being done by Bureau Veritas. Bureau Veritas Company
Now all vehicles including new and used and all new and used spare parts will be subjected to pre-export verification by four firms.
“Vehicles and spares that arrive at the border without a certificate of conformity will be subjected to destination inspection,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary said the new CBCA programme is there to reduce potential risk brought by imported goods, which include used vehicles, which have the potential risk of radiation, which is a health hazard to humans and the environment, while faulty vehicles can cause serious accidents.
In an interview, the acting director of the Department of Quality Assurance in the ministry, Ms Riana Chibanda said since its establishment in 2015, CBCA has achieved a lot of goals in terms of curbing the influx of substandard imported goods.
“About five million sub-standard products were refused entry in Zimbabwe through our pre-export verification programme and we have expanded the CBCA programme, the product list as mentioned in our Statutory Instrument 124 of 2020 and increased service providers,” said Ms Chibanda.
“The programme is there to protect people of Zimbabwe from some products we think are harmful to health.”-The Chronicle
