The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) Executive Director Ben Manyindo has today said that as a measure to protect the health and safety of consumers, the bureau stopped 16 million substandard products from being imported into the country.
Dr. Manyindo, who was making a half year performance at Uganda media Centre, also said that the UNBS seized about 232 metric tonnes of substandard goods worth Shs1.7 billion from the local market.
The goods included among others, steel bars, iron sheets, assorted food stuffs, energy savers, extension cables, cosmetics, agro-inputs, sweets, cooking oil, second hand tyres, beers, paint and maize flour.
Last year UNBS developed 254 standards mainly to support the implementation of the Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU) Policy for enabling Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) to develop competitive products.
According to Dr. Manyindo, in addition to the standards developed, 467 certification permits were issued to enhance the quality and competitiveness of locally manufactured products.
“UNBS continued to focus on developing standards that contribute to the competitiveness of local industries and supporting the economic development of our country through support for growth of exports,” Dr. Manyindo said.
He said the UNBS also automated its imports clearance processes to facilitate faster clearance of goods which improved the turnaround time from 11 days to five days.
“We hope to further reduce the turnaround time by facilitating pre-arrival clearance of inspected goods with data from Pre-export Verification of Conformity (PVOC) service providers,” Dr. Manyindo said, adding that between July and December last year, under the PVOC, the UNBS inspected 4.6 billion products, with 4.2 billion products passing the test while 16 million products failed.
