UNBS enhances Uganda’s export competitiveness through standardization.
In 1989, the government promulgated the UNBS Act, Cap. 210, to enhance the competitiveness of local industries, promote fair trade, protect the health and safety of consumers, including the prevention of trade in substandard goods, and coordinate the provision of standards, metrology, conformity assessment, and accreditation services in Uganda.
For over 35 years, UNBS has helped thousands of companies with a range of services, including certification, import inspection, testing, calibration, standards development, promotion, and market surveillance.
About UNBS.
UNBS is a parastatal under the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives established under Cap. 327 of the Laws of Uganda, as amended.
UNBS is mandated to coordinate the elaboration of standards and is a member of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and a contact point for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
It is governed by the National Standards Council and headed by the Executive Director, Eng. James N. Kasigwa, who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of UNBS.
The work of preparing Ugandan standards is carried out through technical committees., which include engineering and construction standards, food, agriculture, and forestry standards, chemicals and consumer products, services, and business management.
UNBS mandate
UNBS’ mandate is to formulate, promote, and enforce national standards to enhance the competitiveness of Ugandan products, promote fair trade, and protect consumers.
In fulfilling its functions as stated in the UNBS Act (Cap 327), UNBS is obliged to promote harmonisation of standards with other trading countries, assist the government, industry, or other persons in adopting and practical application of standards, encourage and undertake educational work, seek membership in international standardisation organisations, and develop and seek recognition of the bureau by any other country.
Core values:
In its drive for service excellence, UNBS is guided by the core values of professionalism, integrity, and customer-centricity, with timely addressing of customer complaints being its forte. Teamwork and innovation to cope with changes in the global and business environments sum up their core values.
UNBS’ mission is to provide standards, measurements, and conformity assessment services for improved quality of life, and its vision is to provide safe, quality goods and services for all. Their motto is “Quality Everywhere.”
Milestones:
- The demand for UNBS certification services has increased. Over 4500 products have valid product certification permits from over 2000 enterprises, and over 58 companies have valid systems certification permits, with 128 companies on the Systems Certification Scheme.
- UNBS has granted free certification to over 500 MSMEs, producing over 700 products across all sectors.
- UNBS has brought services closer to the people by decentralising its Food Safety Laboratory Testing Services to the northern, western, and eastern regions.
- UNBS is set to decentralise operations in a move aimed at reducing the cost of doing business for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in order to achieve the government target of growing the economy tenfold from USD 49.5 billion as of FY 2023/2024 to $500 billion in the next 15 years.
- UNBS has reduced the cost of product certification, offers free training and advisory services to MSMEs, and automated its services to serve better.
- It has also automated services to serve the populace better, and simplified standards into easy-to-use guidelines translated into local languages for easier comprehension at the grass roots.
- It has adopted international standards and harmonised standards within the East African Community and African Continental Free Trade Area to promote Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU) as well as open access to regional, continental, and international markets.
Challenges:
Lack of capacity, including understaffing due to inadequate funding, has been blamed for UNBS’s failures to efficiently perform its roles, mainly the prevention of substandard and counterfeit goods on the Ugandan market.
Eng. Kasigwa says the standards body has the potential to generate highly needed non-tax revenue (NTR) for the government but lacks adequate support.
Facts you need to know about UNBS certification marks
- Certification is the third-party attestation that a commodity or a service has demonstrated the fulfilment of set practices.
- Often times, UNBS certification marks, notably the product certification mark, are used interchangeably with the UNBS logo. However, their appearance and logo differ.
- The UNBS verification mark is only granted by the Executive Director through a permit and is valid for one year for product certification and three years for system certification.
- To apply for a product certification mark, manufacturers should have an e-mail address, a tax identification number, a process flow chart, and be legally registered with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB).
- A company is only allowed to claim certification and use the UNBS certification mark after they have obtained a permit signed by the Executive Director.
- All product certification permits are issued electronically as e-permits through the Certification Information Management System (CIMS), while system certificates are issued in hard copy.
- Forging or illegal use of the UNBS Quality Mark attracts a penalty of between 10 million and 50 million shillings, imprisonment of 2–5 years, or both.
- Manufacturing without UNBS quality Mark attracts a penalty of between 10 million and 50 million shillings, imprisonment of 2–5 years, or both.