The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
THE Government has expressed satisfaction at the role being played by French company, Bureau Veritas in restricting non-conforming consignment from entering into the country through the ports of entry.
Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Mike Bimha said Bureau Veritas has been largely effective in curbing substandard products from entering the country.
“It (Bureau Veritas) has been extremely been effective. It’s just that we don’t make much noise about it but it has (been effective) and my own measure of effectiveness is that because of Bureau Veritas there are those people who used to import substandard products and because of the presence of Bureau Veritas they are now not importing,” said Dr Bimha.
He said due to the presence of Bureau Veritas some unscrupulous wholesalers that used to stock imported substandard products had since refrained from the practice.
Bureau Veritas was awarded a four-year contract last year to carry out a Consignment Based Conformity Assessment 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.
“As you know Bureau Veritas is also a temporary measure we need to come up with a regulatory authority of our own and that’s work in progress…Standard Association of Zimbabwe at the moment sets standards but they don’t enforce.
“They cannot come and arrest you because you are bringing in substandard products but this new regulation will be able to ensure enforcement,” said Dr Bimha.
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe Matabeleland regional manager Mr Comfort Muchekeza said Bureau Veritas has played a significant role in curbing the influx of imported substandard goods into the country but hinted that there was much more that needed to be done to control some leakages that are still going on.
“There is a significant decrease in the volumes of substandard products into the country since Bureau Veritas came into effect but there are a number of loopholes which Government should seek to address. One such is that of shops that have ‘runners’.
‘‘These are unscrupulous individuals that import goods from neighbouring countries in small quantities under the guise of personal use but because of their large numbers these contribute a lot to the influx of substandard products into the country,” said Mr Muchekeza.
He also said there was still laxity at the country’s ports of entry which has led to the smuggling in of goods.
“The second problem has to do with our own ports of entry, the way these are manned. We have so many undesignated entries along the borders into the country which are used to bring in smuggled products.
“For Bureau Veritas to be fully effective all these challenges have to be addressed and that way it will also go a long way in terms of revenue collection in the form of duties,” said Mr Muchekeza.
Bureau Veritas operates in 140 countries worldwide, providing pre-shipment services to countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda among others.
@DNsingo
