Kebs has also suspended the standardization mark permits of the affected products effective immediately until such a time when corrective actions have been undertaken and confirmed.
“It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to ensure continued product compliance to set standards.,” Kebs managing director Lt Col (Rtd.) Bernard Njiraini said in a statement on Friday.
“Processing, manufacturing, stocking and or offering for sale of substandard goods or products that do not comply with set standards is prohibited by the Laws of Kenya under the Standards Act Chapter 496,” he said.
Kebs monitors the effectiveness of quality controls measures for products sold in the country through factory inspections, product certifications, market surveillance activities at the factory and market to ensure that the public is protected from harmful products.
As part of the product certification scheme, Kebs certifies and issues a Standardization Mark (SM) permit or Diamond Mark of Quality once the product complies with the relevant Kenya Standard.
Imports are also issued with a Unique Consignment Reference (UCR) number.
“Please note that any person who contravenes any of the provisions of subsections of the Standards Act, Cap 496, and Laws of Kenya mentioned above or fails to comply with any conditions in a permit, shall be guilty of an offence,” Njiraini said.
“We encourage the general public to “Wajibika Na Kebs” and be on the lookout for products suspected to be substandard,” he added.
Wajibika Na Kebs is a program that allows the public to report cases about substandard products.
To Wajibika, one can verify whether the S Mark permit on a product is valid by sending the code underneath the S Mark to 20023 (SM#Code) to get product validity status details.
If the details are different, a customer is required to report to Kebs Toll Free 1545 during official working hours.
