More players for goods conformity: Govt
THE Government will next year allow more players to take part in the Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) programme aimed at barring the importation of substandard products into the country, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza said after the expiry of the French company, Bureau Veritas’ contract next year the ministry would open up the verification of products’ conformity in the country of export prior to shipment of the consignment to a number of players.
“At the expiry date of the contract with Bureau Veritas in 2020 the Ministry of Industry and Commerce plans to bring in more service providers. To this end a tender process is soon to be finalised. This will see the introduction of more service providers giving importers the chance to choose the service to conduct preexport verification of conformity of standards and will result in reduced processing time,” she said.
Bureau Veritas was awarded a fouryear contract in 2015 to carry out a CBCA programme as an interim measure pending enactment of the Standards Bill, which, if passed into law, will see the establishment of a Quality Standards Regulatory Authority.
The CBCA programme was introduced to curb the influx of sub-standard, harmful and potentially dangerous products in an effort to protect consumers and the environment.
The CBCA programme also protects the local industry from unfair competition posed by cheaper sub-standard and counterfeit products which may result in their products being uncompetitive thereby leading to substantial losses of business and profits.
It is sanctioned under the provisions of the World Trade Organisations Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement, Pre-shipment Inspection Agreement and the Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary Agreement.
Dr Nzenza said most countries throughout the world were conducting pre-export verification of conformity to standards schemes on general goods thus the need for the country to join the bandwagon so as to guard against being a dumping ground for sub-standard products.
“In Eastern and Southern Africa most countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique and Malawi are conducting pre-export verification of conformity to standards schemes on general goods and pre-shipment inspection of new and used motor vehicles. Zambia intends to start the programme beginning of 2020. These programmes are similar to the CBCA programme which was implemented in Zimbabwe in the year 2015. If Zimbabwe does not implement the CBCA programme, the country would be left vulnerable to the dumping of sub-standard dangerous and harmful products which would have been denied market at access in the neighbouring countries where similar programmes are already implemented,” she said.
Dr Nzenza said since the introduction of the CBCA programme there has been an increase of regulated products entering the country.
“When the CBCA programme was started in 2015 only 12 percent of products in the tariff handbook were covered. Therefore, the programme left out of 885 of tariff lines, which may be potentially sub-standard. In addition, there is a need to tighten the points of entry so that all regulated products are subjected to scrutiny. However, under the current review of the CBCA programme regulated products will be increased to about 275 of the tariff lines. It is expected that the next review may result in increased regulated products,” she said.
Dr Nzenza further stated that the levels of compliance have been on the increase since the introduction of the CBCA programme.
“The CBCA programme since inception has resulted in improved compliance of regulated products from a level of 32 percent at inception in 2015 to 94 percent at the end of 2019. This means that more and more regulated products that undergo conformity assessments are meeting the relevant standards,” he said.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries vice-president Mr Joseph Gunda said only finished products should be included on the list of the CBCA, and all raw materials should be removed, as this was hampering business operations.
He further called for the inclusion of more service providers so as to end the monopoly that was enjoyed by Bureau Veritas.
Mr Gunda said the CBCA programme has a number of shortcomings, adding that the cost of carrying out the exercise were covered by local companies with the exclusion of foreign suppliers.
“The delays caused by inspection are significant and as a result, additional buffer stocks have to be held. Any inventory increase has to be funded, which is a cost to the company and to the country,” he said.
Mr Gunda further stated that the introduction of the programme has heightened the quantities of sub-standard goods being smuggled into the country as unscrupulous individuals sought ways of subverting the exercise.
“Informal importers do not require compliance, so any products that are covered by the programme will become more expensive in the formal market, while the informal market is unaffected. Yet another incentive for informal business over formal business and a further reduction in tax revenue. The more difficult you make the formal importation of goods, the more scope for corruption at the border, or even with the inspecting organisation. There are vast quantities of non-compliant products available all around, how is this possible if there is no corruption at the points of entry?” he said.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Matabeleland Chamber president, Mr Godwin Muhoni questioned the validity and effectiveness of the CBCA programme saying:
“So far nothing has been done by the company (Bureau Veritas) on the ground. They are just exploiting people’s hard-earned cash. The major challenge has been that being a French company it depends on foreign currency hence these days foreign currency is hard to come by,” said Mr Muhoni.