HARARE: The business community is pinning its hopes on the Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) programme saying that it would curb smuggling and influx of cheap goods into the country and pave way for local products to be competitive.
CBCA is a government initiative to curb the continuous influx of sub-standard products in the country which is expected to begin on Monday next week.
Local industries have been negatively affected by the smuggling and importation of cheap products into the country and have called for protectionist policies, like an increase in duty or even a total ban of imports.
In an interview with NewsDay, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president Davison Norupiri said the business community was in support of the CBCA initiative and hopefully would work well especially for the finished goods as this would be a way to safe guard the Zimbabwe industry.
He said the industry was glad that government has exempted raw materials from the list of goods which are expected to be on the CBCA programme.
“This initiative is going to be effective for the finished products coming into the country simply because we have been receiving products which are sub-standard and the industry was very worried.
“This initiative is going to save the country from losing money through smuggling of goods into the country which mostly end up being sold by vendors,” he said.
Norupiri said the new process itself will be cumbersome to the extent that people would incur more cost with some likely being passed on to the consumer. This, he said, would act as a deterrent measure that some will have to consider buying local products than import.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Busisa Moyo said the CBCA programme was positive mainly on finished goods but the industry was also concerned about the raw materials.
“The supply industry should be worried about the quality of goods, for example textiles were being labelled 100% cotton yet its polyester. But with CBCA we are able to import like products and so long as raw materials are not there we are fully in support of this,” Moyo said.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said the implementation of the CBCA programme will commence on July 27, 2015 and intends to substantially reduce hazardous and sub-standard imported products and improve customs duty collection.
“Within this CBCA programme, products intended to be exported to Zimbabwe will be inspected prior to shipment in the country of export. Upon satisfactory verification, a CBCA certificate will be issued for consignment.
“The business community is urged to inform their suppliers of the new implementation date of the CBCA programme. As from July 27 2015, any consignment will have to be verified prior to being shipped to Zimbabwe,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry also said all inspected goods will be issued a transitional certificate and goods will not be rejected into the country even if they fail to meet the required standards but the importers and exporters will be informed about the non-conformity on their goods and the transitional period will end on October 31, 2015.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats), there is an increase in imports as exports continue to decline compared to the same period last year.
ZimStats said the country was spending more than $1 million importing cigarettes, newsprint and toilet paper.
