HARARE: The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) wants a company engaged by the government to enforce standards to focus more on containing the smuggling of imported goods into the country.
Last month, the government engaged Bureau Veritas to verify the quality of some of the imports at the ports of entry to protect the unsuspecting consumer from harmful products under the Consignment-Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) programme.
In a report on the programme, CZI said Zimbabwe had reached “a point where smuggling of certain finished goods has reached unprecedented proportions”.
“This is in our view a much more serious issue than the issue of sub-standard goods. The impact of smuggling is a huge loss in revenue for the government and the undermining of our industrial policy,” CZI said.
CZI recommended that the CBCA should be oriented to focus on reduction of smuggling.
“Therefore, only selected finished products must be on the scheme. In that regard, all raw materials, intermediate input, spare parts and finished products not made in Zimbabwe and deemed at low risk for smuggling should be excluded from the scheme,” CZI said.
CZI said a monitoring and implementation committee that consists of all key stakeholders with an objective evaluation of the success of the scheme in containing smuggling should be created.
The confederation also said that the CBCA programme should be geared towards the reduction of smuggling and that only selected finished products must be on the scheme.
CZI said should any Zimbabwean company need a quality check on raw materials, it could get it done at the same costs negotiated by the ministry.
According to the online website, Trading Economics, the main imports coming into the country are motor vehicles and machinery, fuel and food stuffs.
Zimbabwe imported goods worth $1,6 billion in the first quarter of the year. Total imports are estimated to reach $3,5 billion by the end of the year.
CZI said that import charges should be reviewed downwards so that they are in line with those being levied in other countries.
The organisation added that Bureau Veritas should establish an anonymous hotline where smuggling could be reported with details so that follow-ups can be made.
“Bureau Veritas should establish, as part of the service, post shipment checks both at the border and final destinations to verify that the goods shipped are in line with the goods that have finally arrived,” CZI said.
The confederations said that Bureau Veritas should check the price of goods with the actual producer of the goods and not only the supplier, origin status and conformity with rules of origin, labelling validation and HS tariff code validation, and checking that the goods are genuine and not counterfeit.
“In the debate around this scheme (CBCA), it has often been mentioned implementation has to be done properly for us to see the benefits of the scheme,” CZI said.
The government has implemented measures to try and reduce the import bill, including high duties and import permit requirements.
The Bureau Veritas certificate, CZI said, should be a “one stop” certificate and replace any other quality type certificates currently being required for importation.
CZI recommended that perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables were excluded from the preshipment inspection, but said such an inspection could be done at Beitbridge border post.
Bureau Veritas has over 1 500 laboratories and offices in 140 countries all over the world and employs over 65 000 people. In 2013 the company’s revenue surpassed $4 billion.
