The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has suspended operations of 48 companies indefinitely for failing to comply with the standard quality mark. (News source: The Guardian) According to the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) the firms with businesses across the country failed to renew their licences as required by the law. The bureau vowed to take more actions against any company that would be found misusing its quality mark. The TBS corporate affairs officer Roida Andusamile, said the agency will not tolerate firms which violate the licence requirements. Among the products banned to use TBS mark include Milk Marie biscuits, sunflower seed oil (Sunshine) , sunflower seed oil, sanitary towel (regular & ultra), plastic carrier bags and pineapple wine (Kilimanjaro).Others include Shia drinking water, yoghurt (pineapple, vanilla and strawberry), concrete roofing tiles (Mbezi), liquid detergent, Jam mixed fruit, fruit juice (pineapple), Maji Uruguru, Uzima drinking water, Foam mattresses, Maize flour and Jamii laundry soap. She said the law requires the companies to have their quality certificates renewed annually, failure to which will subject the fault firms to have their operations suspended. The firms that will continue with the manufacturing of expired quality certificates risk stern legal measures, she warned. “TBS will continue its crackdown on companies that fail or violate the requirement of their licences,” she cautioned, adding that fines ranging from 50m/- to 100m/- will be charged. The standard quality defaulters are also liable to two years imprisonment upon conviction. She clarified that foreign firms falling under the list are not obliged to have the TBS standard mark of quality,but instead should use the Pre-Shipment Verification of Conformity (PVoC) facility before their products are cleared into the domestic market. Two months ago the government issued a strong warning to some local and foreign investors who have not tested the quality of their products with relevant authority to do so or face legal action.It also alerted consumers to stop buying products whose quality cannot be guaranteed anymore. Meanwhile, TBS has closed down three bread factories in Dodoma Region for failure to adhere to laid down rules and regulations.The closed factories are Kizota, Mnasi and Capital.The factory owners were urged to apply for the standard mark licence and follow all the rules stipulated in production.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 18:33:05 +0000