KEBS to improve pre-import, export verification of goods

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has launched an initiative to ensure that import and export of goods is carried out flawlessly in the country following the temporary absence of contractual Pre-Export Verification of Conformity to Standards (PVoC) partners.

The effort, which is based on improved import procedures, is designed to make conducting business easier by ensuring that imported items are processed as quickly as possible after they arrive at the country’s ports.

Over the years, KEBS has worked to ensure that importers operate with the least amount of disruption possible while adhering to the legal mechanisms in place to ensure that trade benefits both the general public and profit-seeking firms.

To that purpose, KEBS devised some import procedures to ensure that, even if traders adhere to Kenyan quality standards, product clearance at ports of entry is expedited as quickly as possible.

When goods arrive at Ports of Entry in the importing country (Kenya) without a certificate of conformity (CoC), as is the case under the PVoC program, a procedure known as Destination Inspection (DI) is carried out.

At the point of entry, such as the port of Mombasa or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, it entails document verification, physical inspection, and laboratory testing of products.

KEBS Managing Director Lt. Col. (rtd.) Benard Njiraini asserted that the Bureau’s sensitization comes in the wake of the Bureau’s recently released public notice notifying importers and the general public of the end of the PVOC partners’ contracts and the approved alternative of using Destination Inspection (DI), which traders have been eager to understand about its procedures.

Since 2005, KEBS has employed PVoC (Pre-Export Verification of Conformity to Standards). The process of contracting new PVoC partners has gone successfully, and all that is left is to wait for statutory deadlines before signing, which is why DI is being used in the meanwhile.

PVOC, unlike DI, is a conformity assessment program used to guarantee that products in the respective exporting countries comply with Kenyan Technical Regulations and Mandatory Standards or approved specifications. This means that things are assessed in the country where they were produced.

“PVOC program was started on 15 July 2005 by KEBS, through the publication of Legal Notice No. 78 by the Minister for Industry, Trade and Cooperatives,” said Njiraini.

However, in order to solve some of the PVOC program’s issues, such as delays in the inspection and certification of imported goods in the nation of export, which are mostly due to the increased quantity of products submitted to PVOC, the PVOC program has been expanded.

According to the KEBS managing director, KEBS is now strengthening Direct Inspection to ensure faster clearance of goods making it easier to do business in Kenya.

“Others are abdication of the importers on their role of importation of quality products, hindrance in the growth of local quality infrastructure (our testing capability and capacity will only grow if there is need for testing) as well as export of job opportunities and revenues (local inspection promotes growth in quality infrastructure thereby creating job opportunities for our people),” said Njiraini.

Goods carrying Certificates of Conformity (COCs) are given first priority in the clearing process under the DI program. However, KEBS reserves the right to conduct a re-inspection.

These KEBS processes are critical in order to establish a strong economy and a better country, as Kenya aspires to have a strong import-export platform.