By Andrew Irumba
The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) have rolled out a new procedure for clearance of imports, with an aim of reducing the bureaucracy that entails inspection and verification of goods
Under this new arrangement, which was announced on Thursday by John Musimani, the deputy executive director UNBS at their offices, importers whose goods have been inspected from the country of origin will get faster clearance for their goods to enter the country.
Musimani said that “Under the New Clearance Procedures, all goods with valid Certificates of Conformity (CoC) and Certificates of Road Worthiness (CoRW) will be cleared automatically without subjecting them to further assessment from UNBS inspectors.”
He added that “The new measures are to act as a trade facilitation that will help importers quickly bring in goods that comply with requirements of Imports Inspection and Clearance Regulation 2018.”
He also noted that the Regulation , also known as Pre-Export of Conformity (PVoC), requires that all goods to be imported into Uganda have to inspected and verified by the country of origin before being declared fit for exportation to Uganda.
The new Clearance Regulation is as a result of integrating data generated by UNBS appointed PVoC service providers from all over the world with the National Electronic Single Window (ESW) and ACYUDA World.
UNBS officials revealed that the development of an integrated system was supported by Trade Mark East Africa and means that for each customs declaration logged into the imports clearance system on arrival, the ESW will validate the CoC and CoRW data and effect immediate release, thereby reducing the delays involves in clearing of goods, which usually inconveniences importers.
