Gridlock feared after regulator’s CEO resigns

THE CEO of the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), Asogan Moodley, has resigned, raising doubts about whether the regulator can meet its obligations.

The NRCS approves the technical specifications of products imported and sold in the country.

It is responsible for issuing letters of authority that allow a product to be imported or traded on the local market. But the issuing of the letters, which usually takes up to 120 working days, has been delayed, frustrating businesses, which say it creates a bottleneck.

Moodley, who is understood to have recently issued a directive to his staff instructing them to speed up the issuing of the letters, is believed to have resigned because of frustration at the lack of co-operation from the Department of Trade and Industry in processing the letters of authority.

Moodley could not be reached for comment on Sunday, but the Department of Trade and Industry confirmed that it had received his resignation.

A source said: “Under pressure for the last 18 months from industry, trade and technical associations, Moodley had issued a directive two weeks ago, calling upon NRCS staff to get all hands on deck to assist with [letters of authority] backlog issuance.”

The source said “insubordinate staff” and leaders of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union refused to co-operate. “They then complained to [the department], who asked Moodley to withdraw his directive, which he refused to do.”

The source said: “Moodley apparently explained internally that the [department] was supporting the union and wasn’t supporting NRCS, as a result of which he had no choice but to resign, as he couldn’t do his job.”

The result of that were “thousands of [letters of authority] representing billions worth of goods, waiting for approval, which may never be issued.”

Department of Trade and Industry spokesman Sidwell Medupe said on Sunday that the department was processing Moodley’s resignation. “We have already put in place mechanisms to ensure that we meet all our commitments with respect to letters of authority,” Medupe said.

Earlier in September Moodley said the regulator was developing a risk-based approach to the issuance of the letters of authority and noted that it had been flooded by applications for the letters.

Under the new approach, the risk of an application would be assessed on the type of product, the company making the submission and the product’s country of origin. With Linda Ensor