Zimbabwe quality regulatory authority on cards

Published: 16 January 2014

Government is working on legislation that will give effect to the Standards Association of Zimbabwe effectively monitoring the products that enter into the country in an effort to curb the influx of cheap substandard products that have undermined the value of locally manufactured products.

SAZ has been lobbying for the enactment of a National Quality Standards Regulatory Authority that would make it compulsory for all goods coming into the country to be subjected to certain tests to determine their quality.

Director General of SAZ Eve Gadzikwa said the draft bill had been amended and would be presented to parliament soon.

"The Ministry of Industry and Commerce was making some amendments to the proposed bill which is now an agenda item and will be presented to Parliament soon. As a standards body, we are the first port of call when people face problems with substandard products that get into the country.

They want to know why we are not doing anything to curb it, so that is why we should have a regulator who will give us the authority to determine which products are suitable for the market and which ones are not," she said.

She said the bill would give the regulator authority to reference some of SAZ's standards in their laws making the testing of all imports and exports compulsory. Such testing would help to level the playing field as products that are being exported are certified and of good quality.

To augment such initiatives, Government has also embarked on a complete overhaul of the current tariff regime which will put more stringent measures on the importation of goods that are locally available.

These initiatives will bring normalcy to the industry and protect both the manufacturing sector who have been failing to compete with these imports and the consumers who have been left with little choice but to rely on them.
- bh24