Government bans importation of substandard ‘Tiger’ batteries

The government has imposed a ban on importation of substandard batteries dubbed tiger head in the country for failure to adhere to the standard requirements hence threaten health of consumers and economy.

A statement issued by the Tanzania Bureau of Standard (TBS) over the weekend said the ban was introduced last week after identifying many manufacturers who were given standard certificate use it without following procedures.

The standard certification regulations of 2009 prohibit any one to use the TBS quality mark in products without having a licence which has been provided according to the international specified standards prepared by the Bureau.

According to the statement, the standards batch certification Act of imports, 2009 forbids any one to import into the Tanzanian market products which do not meet standards or batch which was not provided with quality certificates.

“We want to inform the public particularly importers of batteries dubbed tiger head that the producers have failed to meet standard requirement”, the statement noted.

The statement said the batteries will have to verify its standards before being shipped into the country under pre-shipment verification to conformity standards system (PVoC) and not other wise.

TBS signed contracts with three companies -- Bureau Veritas of France, Societe Generale De Surveillance (SGS) of Switzerland and Intertek Government and Trade Services of the UK who officially started inspection work on behalf of TBS in February last year.

However, the Bureau acting Director General Joseph Masikitiko was recently quoted as saying they are preparing a list of overseas manufacturers whose products are regularly imported and have a negative impact on the economy. We will visit them, verify their products and certify them,” he said.

Some of the products the bureau plans to start verifying their manufacturers are batteries and motorcycles popularly knows as ‘bodaboda’ that are increasingly imported and widely used to transport people both in urban and rural areas.

He revealed that they have come up with a number of new strategies tailored to curb importation of fake and substandard products. It will now verify and certify manufacturers of the products instead of dealing with importers and suppliers.

Still in its infancy stage, the plan aims at ensuring that manufacturers are held accountable whenever their suppliers are found in possession of fake or substandard brands of the