A consultative workshop on draft regulations that will govern the certification, inspection and testing of goods within the EAC Common Market, took place yesterday in Kampala as part of a campaign recently launched by the EAC Secretariat.

The Secretariat held a consultative workshop that will run in all the five EAC partner states to discuss the draft regulations that will govern certification, inspection and testing of goods within the Common Market.

The one-day workshop was organised in collaboration with the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and Uganda Private Sector Foundation (UPSF).

"Our aim is to eliminate all Non Tariff Barriers,” Willy Musinguzi, the Principle Standards Officer at the EAC secretariat told The New Times.

The presentations on regulations that were raised by participants will be given to the legal personnel for interpretation.

The regulations will facilitate the acceptance of products that are subject to such mandatory standards and that have been inspected, tested and accepted in one partner state by all member states without further inspection.

According to Tery Kahuma, the Executive Director UNBS, the regulations are expected to be in force once there is a common approach in assessing quality and safety of goods manufactured and traded throughout the region.

"This will help us control the threat of counterfeit products in EAC because, for example, what will be disapproved in Uganda will not be accepted in other states,” said Simon Lokodo, Uganda’s Minister of State for Industry and Technology.

According to Musinguzi, similar consultative workshops have already taken place in Kenya and they are expected to proceed to Rwanda next week.

Ends