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26th
June 2007
Public called into war against
counterfeit, sub-standard products
THE Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS)
has called upon the general public to
participate in the fight against
sub-standard and counterfeit products in
the local market.
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In a discussion in ITV’s Kipima Joto
program on Friday, June 22, TBS Acting
Director Charles Ekelege said each
Tanzania citizen has a responsibility of ensuring
that the local market is free from sub-standard and
counterfeit products
"This is not a solely TBS issue, but an
issue concerning all consumers and the
public in general. If we unite, we will
soon ensure that our local market is
free from sub-standard and counterfeit
products," said Mr. Ekelege.
He said TBS, as a statutory national
standards body, is primarily concerned
with sub-standard products, adding that
the issue of counterfeit products is
specifically dealt with by other
government bodies such as the Fair
Competition Commission (FCC).
He said in its efforts to curb the entry
of sub-standard products in the local
market, TBS conducts surprise market
surveillances out of which people found
selling sub-standard products are dealt
with accordingly.
"Normally, our way of dealing with
sub-standard products is by telling the
public through the media that a
particular product is sub-standard so
that they avoid it," said Mr. Ekelege.
He said another step is the opening of
offices at border points and certifying
products in their original countries to
make sure that all products abide by
respective Tanzania or international
specifications before they enter the
local market.
"We don’t prefer destroying sub-standard
products in our country because that may
result in pollution. We will make sure
that such products never enter the local
market," said Mr. Ekelege, adding that
this will be the ultimate solution of
sub-standard products flooding the
Tanzanian market.
Responding on a question on whether
automobile tyres are monitored for
compliance with standards to curb
accidents, Mr. Ekelege said most
accidents are caused by over-speeding
and not sub-standard tyres.
Others on the panel were FCC
Director-General Godfrey Mkocha and
Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA)
Director General Margaret
Ndomondo-Sigonda.
On his part, Mr. Mkocha said counterfeit
business is a criminal issue. He said
there is already in place a special
government task-force composed of FCC,
TBS, TFDA, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA)
and the Police Force, to coordinate the
fight against counterfeit products.
On her part, Ms. Ndomondo-Sigonda said
the problem of counterfeit products is
not national but international and urged
all Tanzanians to play their part in the
war against the products.
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