The Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) will contract more firms to carry out pre-shipment inspection of all goods destined for Rwanda, a move that will improve the exercise and ensure only quality products are imported into the country, Dr. Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, the RSB director general, has said.

RSB contracted Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), a South African company, to conduct Imports Products Conformity Assessment to Standards (IPCA) about a year ago, a monopoly that has now been broken with the hiring of more firms to carry out the exercise. IPCA is a conformity assessment process used to verify that goods imported into the country conform to the requirements of applicable standards. SGS’s contract is expiring in March, according to Bagabe.

"We are not putting any limitation on the number of companies…Our target is to have as many firms as possible to boost service delivery and ensure efficiency.”

The inspectors will be based in Asia, especially China, Europe, Australia, America,Africa and the Middle East, which are currently being served by SGS.

Bagabe noted that the logic of engaging various companies was based on the fact that "one company cannot spread its wings across the globe”. "For us to be able to provide fast services to business people, it’s imperative to contract more companies to do the job,” Bagabe told Business Times on Thursday.

This move could also create competition and lead to lower charges. Importers have in the past complained about the project, with some saying they are being charged high inspection fees, besides the bureaucracy involved in the process.

Philip Nzaire, the director quality assurance and inspection at RSB, said the process helps safeguard the health and safety of Rwandans, as well as protect the environment.

Under the scheme, importers may submit a copy of the proforma invoice to inspection’s liaison office together with contact details of the exporter while the exporting firm submits filled request of certification together with other documents.