East African Business Week

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA -  The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) is readying itself to start conducting pre-shipment verification of conformity to standards (PVoC) of imports to screen quality of products imported into the country.
 The project is intended to curb importation of substandard and counterfeit imports into the Tanzania market to protect the local market from unscrupulous importers.
 TBS director general Charles Ekelege told the East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam that the date for commencement of the inspection will be announced before end of September.
Ekelege said the problem of counterfeit imports into Tanzania is alarming at an estimated 20 % of all imported merchandise in particular consumer commodities carrying brand names of some of the most popular products in the market.
According to a recent report of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI), Tanzania loses up to US$780m a year in Government revenue and more than 140,000 jobs because of counterfeiting.
  "We are facing high competition that needs quality products to compete," stressed the TBS chief executive officer, "Our task is to ensure that the products that reach the market are of high standards."
 He added that TBS will focus on reducing and finally removing disparity of products in Tanzania, noting that the exercise has begun by introducing a toll free hotline number 0800110827. The CTI officials such fake imports can have "serious safety consequences to consumers, hurt the economy and prevent the local manufacturing industry from growing," adding that many customers are also duped into buying counterfeits as they are virtual carbon copies of the original.
 An autonomous body corporate, Fair Competition Commission has so far destroyed counterfeit imports worth US$1.83m since May 2005 to June 2011 comprising mostly electronic consumer commodities.