The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has destroyed 413 metric tonnes of substandard goods worth Shs3.5 billion as it intensifies the fight against substandard products.
The goods destroyed included electronics, cosmetics, steel products, iron sheets, food stuffs, toilet papers, agro-inputs, cooking oil, second hand tyres, beers, paints, and cereals, among others.
The destruction of goods follows country wide seizures carried out by the UNBS Market Surveillance and Imports Inspectors in the course of the last financial year 2017/18.
Also, as its continued effort to fight locally manufactured substandard products, UNBS has come up with new regulations which require that all products covered by compulsory standards will have to be certified by UNBS before they are allowed on the market.
UNBS has also decentralised its services to regional offices in Mbale, Gulu, and Mbarara to serve the eastern, northern, and western regions respectively, to bring certification and market surveillance services closer to people and to continue fighting substandard products on the market.
The new regulations and decentralisation of UNBS services are part of the multi-pronged approach the Bureau has put in place to deal with the presence of substandard products on the market. Such initiatives will go a long way in improving the quality of products on the market.
The decentralisation will further promote production of good quality products by Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) at regional level thereby complementing the government’s industrialisation efforts while protecting consumers and the environment from dangerous substandard products.
Fighting substandard products requires a concerted effort involving UNBS working together with manufacturers, traders, consumers, and other government agencies.
