State to address cargo clearance at ports, boundaries, says TBS
The governemnet has started taking measures to adress unnnecessary delays of consignments clearing at the entry pints- ports and boundaries.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday the Director General of Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Dr Athuman Ngenya, said they convened a seminar with two government institutions to discuss on how to clear goods on time.
The institutions which took part in the seminar were Tanzania Shipping Agency Corporation (Tasac) and Government Procurement Services Agency (GPSA).
Dr Ngenya said the seminar was convened due to the complaints raised last year during a meeting which involved some government institutions.
He said it was reported that there had been a delay by some government institutions which were tasked to clear goods at ports or boundaries hence increase storage charges for the customers.
“We have convened this seminar to discuss on how to reduce delay time, give us your recommendations,” he said.
He said TBS would continue to provide similar seminars to other stakeholders who are dealing with clearance of goods at ports and boundaries.
Speaking some official from TASAC and GPSA thanked the Standards watchdog for organizing the seminar.
They said they are ready to cooperate with TBS to clear goods at the ports on time in order to minimize or alleviate complaints.
Presenting a paper on conformity assessment schemes, the TBS quality assurance officer Athuman Kissumo urged government officials dealing with clearing goods to make sure that they follow all procedures in executing their duties.
He said they should make sure that all importers do test their products with relevant authorities before they import them to Tanzania.
At the moment, TBS has appointed four agents to test quality of products in abroad.
He noted that the new product conformity assessment programme was introduced to control certain categories of imported consumer goods.
The objective of the PVoC is to ensure that all imports of regulated products comply with the approved Tanzanian technical regulations prior to shipment.
The one day seminar for government officials dealing with clearing goods attracted more than 40 participants from Dar es Salaam.
