Kenya Bureau of Standards has suspended one of the main inspection agents, China Certification and Inspection Group (CCIC) limited following a government review on performance to counter illicit trade.
CCIC has been a Kebs’ appointed agent since 2015, mandated to carry out inspection of inspection of imported products at the country of origin.
The inspection is done in line with the Pre-export Verification of Conformity to Standards (PVoC) program that ensures goods comply with the approved specifications before issued with certificate of conformity (CoC).
Trade and Industry CS Peter Munya said the inspection agent covering China mainland or Zone 2 breached its contract, letting substandard goods into the country.
“Kenya cannot continue being a dumping ground for these goods. We need to protect our industries,” Munya said.
SGS (Zone 4) was also suspended of its activities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
PS Betty Maina said the companies have been given between 40-50 days to pay a levy 10 times the cost of inspection charged on to importers.
“We detected failure in handling the imported goods. They did not seal the cargo, leaving a room for additional goods,” she said.
Munya directed joint verification of high risk goods by all agencies. The agencies are also to utilize the Kenya national electronic single window to quicken clearance.
He gave a 14 day waiver of storage charges for all cleared goods issued from September 29 where if goods not collected, would auctioned or destroyed.
“Suspending these companies is a way of outlying violations and have all other agents put in corrective measures. We are not putting an importation restriction as even local industries have to confirm in production of standard goods,” Treasury CS Henry Rotich said.
