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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Ministry of Industry and Commerce is reviewing the Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) programme and has invited the private sector to submit its concerns regarding the initiative.

In 2015, Government appointed the French headquartered international certification agency, Bureau Veritas, to verify and assess the conformity of goods in exporting countries with the view to prevent hazardous and substandard products from entering Zimbabwe.

Under the CBCA programme, all products regulated by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce exported into Zimbabwe must be accompanied by a CBCA certificate.

Responding to questions from the floor during mining industry suppliers’ forum in Bulawayo last week, enterprise development director in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ms Florence Makombe, said: “There is actually a review of the CBCA programme ongoing at the moment and I think what basically we would want to share with everyone here is just to say we are an open-door Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

“If there are specific concerns on the CBCA programme through the chamber let’s have them sent to our ministry so that due attention is actually given to those concerns. Let us get your submissions as soon as possible.”

Ms Makombe said the CBCA programme was being championed by the department of standards within her ministry. She said in some cases her ministry has attended to requests by some companies seeking the validity of CBCA certificates to extend to a maximum of six months.

“We have in some instances agreed the validity of licences up to a maximum of six months because as a ministry we note that some of the key raw materials actually affect companies’ operations,” she said. — @okazunga