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Prince Sunduzani, Business Reporter
THE Consignment Based Conformity Assessment programme (CBCA) by Bureau Veritas has impacted positively on the economy as it has helped trim the trade deficit and curb the influx of sub-standard imports.

The CBCA was introduced in 2015 to ensure that only quality compliant goods are imported into Zimbabwe by conducting inspection, testing and certification of selected products in the country of export thereby preventing sub-standard and counterfeit products from entering the Zimbabwe market.

The programme went into full operation on March 1, 2016, after missing the mid-2015 deadline over legislation hurdles. Bureau Veritas, a global standards French firm, is responsible for verification and assessment of conformity of goods in exporting countries.

In a presentation on the progress of the programme in Bulawayo last Thursday, Bureau Veritas Zimbabwe and Botswana manager, Mr Tendai Jeremiah Malunga, said since inception the programme has had a positive impact on the country’s trade and protection of Zimbabwean consumers.

He noted the initiative has helped local manufacturers build their export capacity as it puts them in a position to produce globally compliant products.

Mr Malunga attributed some of the progress the country realised in trade balance to the CBCA programme as it realised a drop in imports and registered an increase in industry capacity utilisation in 2016.

“In 2016, the country’s import bill dropped by $1,8 billion from $8 billion in 2015 to $6,2 billion in 2016. In the year 2016 alone, industry capacity utilisation increased from 34,3 percent to 47,4 percent. Bureau Veritas rejected more than 182 000 000 products during the same year,” he said.

Mr Malunga said in 2016, more than 1800 importers had their imports verified through the CBCA programmes.

Of the processed imports, 182 000 000 products (units) were identified as problematic. The number however, dropped by 90 percent in 2017, demonstrating improved conformity by importers.

“The number of problematic consignments has been divided by five from the enforcement of the CBCA programme to the end of the year 2016,” said Mr Malunga.

“Conformity is now associated with any export to Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe is no longer seen as a dumping country. More than 20 million products were rejected and conformity has improved and quantity of problematic units dropped nine times.”

Mr Malunga added that the programme helped plug revenue leakages and improved revenue collection. He said the programme was still undergoing integration into the Zimra IT system for more straight forward application to realise its benefits.

He said the programme has also managed to identify fake invoices used to under declare the value of imports.

Prior to the CBCA conformity requirements were ignored by exporters and statistics show that more than 50 percent of imported products couldn’t be confirmed to be in Conformity to standards.

The CBA programme has helped create a fair environment in which local companies can operate as only those products that meet internationally accepted safety, health and quality standards are being imported.

@PrinceNkosy102