Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) has confiscated substandard products worth millions of Rwandan francs.

The Director General of RBS, Dr Mark Cyubahiro, said that the crackdown is part of the standards body’s regular practice to ascertain the quality and standards of products in the market.

The standards body confiscated substandard electrical cables which were made of aluminum instead of copper. During the inspection, RBS also impounded goods smuggled into the country.

"We found out that the cables are not compliant to Rwandan standards so they are dangerous to use in electrical installation,” he said, adding that aluminum electric wires can easily cause short circuits as they heat up easily.

He also noted that surveys were conducted among dairy processors to check the safety and quality standards. These were promising with cheese beating other dairy products in terms of quality while several maize millers were forced to close down due to poor standards and safety.

According Cyubahiro, some products may lose their standards due to poor storage, transportation and thus a need for regular assessment.

"This survey is also geared towards making sure that products which we allowed in our market are still maintaining their standards.”

The Director General also cautioned consumers to be vigilant in checking out expiry dates of most products saying that; "Experience has shown that most traders keep expired products in the market because they don’t want to lose their money.”

Olivier Rukundo of RBS who carried out a survey in Kamembe market said some goods did not have bills from sellers or declaration forms from customs, which indicates that they had been smuggled.

Cosmetics products containing hydroquinone or mercury iodide are some of the products that were confiscated.

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