Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has urged clearing agents to help the business community comply with the Imports Inspection and Clearance processes in an effort to improve service delivery.
It is common for traders to accuse UNBS of confiscating their goods on the market even after paying the required taxes. The traders say, once taxes are paid, the goods should quality to be on the market.
However, UNBS says after tax clearance, the goods under this category are supposed to be inspected or show proof of inspection for standards before they leave the bonded wearhouse.
UNBS Executive Director, Eng. James Kasigwa told executive members of the Uganda Clearing Industry and Forwarding Association (UCIFA) at UNBS head offices in Bweyogerere that this is a compliance measure for every importer.
Through its market surveillance operations, UNBS says that some imported commodities covered by Compulsory Uganda Standards have been irregularly by-passing the UNBS inspection and clearance processes at the entry points and bonded warehouses.
They then exit without the required UNBS Imports Clearance Certificate (ICC).
A recent study by UNBS revealed that a big majority of the importers did not know about the ICC, and blamed the clearing and forwarding agents for not doing this service for their clients.
Circumvention of UNBS inspection exposes consumers and users of these products to several health and safety hazards caused by substandard commodities and is against the new UNBS value preposition of growing quality enterprises.
“Substandard goods unfairly out compete the locally produced quality products which in turn affect the achievement of the ten-fold growth strategy hinged on the export promotion, import substitution and industrialisation of Uganda,” Kasigwa noted.
William Namutale, the National Chairperson of UCIFA stressed that Clearing agents are critical players in customs clearance and UNBS should work closely with them to promote and enforce standards for imported commodities.
UCIFA is the linkage between UNBS and importers, therefore UNBS should collaborate with us as strategic partners to facilitate fair trade and increased compliance to quality and safety requirements,” he said.
Recently, UNBS switched to the advanced imports electronic portal (new e-Portal), a web-based system integrated with Asycuda World in an effort to improve efficiency of the imports inspection and clearance process.
The new E-portal can be accessed via the UNBS website and Uganda Revenue Authority (URA’s) Asycuda World or on https://eportal.unbs.go.ug.