Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS)

Exporters have been urged to acquire goods certification services from the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) to ease penetration into the regional and global markets.

The remarks were made by the Acting TBS Director General, David Ndibalema, in Dar es Salaam at the weekend while the opening of the meeting for exporters.

“TBS use internationally recognised laboratories to provide certification services to goods destined for exports,” he said, stressing that this is the unique opportunity for exporters to certify their goods and penetrate wide markets.

He added, “Through the meeting, we informed exporters of the various services offered by TBS including goods certification to help them avoid challenges while entering the global markets,”

On his part, the TBS Quality Control Officer Baraka Mbajije said some goods from Tanzania were denied entrance into the global markets for lacking TBS

For example, some years ago fish products from Tanzania were denied entering the European market for lack of TBS certification.

It is from this backdrop that TBS came up with this initiative to help exporters meet the global standards and get competitive prices.

Mr Mbajije added that the government has been making concerted efforts to find new markets and thus it was important for exporters to ensure that their goods meet the required standards of the international markets.

During the meeting, “We stressed on the need for exporters to discuss first with their customers on the quality standards for which the goods are required to have before entering their country,”

TBS is an institution with a mandate to oversee the quality of goods produced in the country and those imported and in that manner, importers; distributors should make sure that imported goods and those produced within the country reach required quality standards.

For the local business community, TBS has continually provided awareness to business people throughout the country to make sure their goods meet the required quality standards in order to penetrate wider markets.

The registration of premises and food and cosmetics products started last year after TBS took over from the former Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA’s) role.

Acquiring quality standard marks for business people is free because the government is paying all the costs as an incentive to promote small scale businesses to grow and contribute to economic growth.