Traders should comply with import procedure to avoid loss

Importers to Tanzania, have been advised by the government to comply with import procedures particularly the Pre-shipment Verification of Conformity to Standards (PVoC) to avoid losses due to penalties and destruction of products.

An inspector with the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Grangay Masala made the remarks in Dar es Salaam over the weekend after destroying a consignment of imported substandard goods worth over 6m /- from China.

“Importers failing to verify the quality of their products at the PVoC centers will have to face penalties and their imports will be destroyed if they do not meet the standards in quality,” he said.

He said importers will be fined 15 percent of the value of the imported cargo for failing to verify the quality of the products by the TBS agents before entering into the country.

Furthermore, importers may incur huge losses when the said products are destroyed for failing to meet the required quality standards. Importers have to pay also for the cost of destroying the products.

Mr. Masala mentioned the low quality imported goods destroyed over the weekend as earth rods, spoons, frying pans and pad locks from China. For example, the earth rods which are supposed to contain 99 percent of copper were without it by over 90 percent.

He said the poor quality earth rods have been the cause for fault currents in most houses.

He said the substandard goods were impounded early this month at the Dar es Salaam port after the TBS officials tested and verified that they did not meet the required quality standards.

He said TBS will continue to provide public education to ensure that traders adhere to quality standards.