UNBS waives inspection surcharge fees on newly tagged commodities for three months
The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has waived Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) surcharge fees on newly tagged commodities for three months.
John Paul Musimami, the acting executive director at UNBS said this is due to the formulation and development of a number of standards since the bureau has expanded its scope of commodities it regulates.
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He said there has been an increase in the number of import commodities tagged for their intervention on the Uganda Electronic Single Window (eSW) and the development has affected a number of importers who were unaware that their import commodities are regulated by the bureau.
“These importers have engaged UNBS concerning their consignments, which are currently stuck in the bonds and those already in transit, which did not undergo the UNBS inspection in the countries of export and are hence liable to PVoC surcharge fees, which they can hardly meet due to financial constraints, ”he said in a statement.
In consideration of the challenge, Musimami said the bureau is providing an exemption period of three months against PVoC requirements
He said this will base on some terms which include; the commodities being newly targeted for inspection and importers with affected consignments shall be required to personally approach the bureau head office with an official request addressed to the manager, imports inspection department
To qualify for this exemption, Musimami said the importer shall have to sign a commitment with the bureau that all his/her future consignments covered by compulsory Uganda standards shall comply with all UNBS requirements on expiry of the waiver period of March 13, 2022.
"The importer shall have to pre-declare all affected consignments including those in transit. The pre-declaration must be accompanied by the bill of lading/ airway bill and the commercial invoice," he said.
