Bureau Veritas yesterday officially opened its Zimbabwe office, and their presence in the country will ensure import and export goods meet international standards.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
The company yesterday opened its Zimbabwe office in Harare, to help companies liaise with the organisation to get compliance and conformity certificates.
Speaking to NewsDay on the sidelines of the official opening of its local offices, Bureau Veritas official, Arnaud de Lamotte said getting an international compliance certificate will help local companies trade better.
“This is a pillar of the ease of doing business programme. For example, thanks to Bureau Veritas, the certificate of conformity can be sent from the exporter, via Bureau Veritas, to the importer, which means you save a lot of time. It means, as an importer, you only pay once you know that the product that you are going to send me (Bureau Veritas) is compliant. So there is a positive on cash flow as an importer,” he said.
“This also good for national manufacturers because this is providing fairer competition. By ensuring only compliant goods are traded, this is fair to national manufacturers. Our core business is testing, inspection, certification, trade facilitation, ease of doing business and seeking protection for the consumer. We are an independent third party.” De Lamotte said Bureau Veritas was drawn to Zimbabwe after hearing reports that many were fed up with sub-standard imported goods.
“The certificate of conformity that we give indicates that the product is compliant with international standards, regional standards and sometimes, national obligation,” he said.
The Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) programme became operational on March 1 to ensure that goods brought into the country conformed to standards, while non-conforming ones were sent back to their countries of origin.
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Industry and Commerce minister Mike Bimha said 6 004 CBCA certificates have been issued, with more than half (58%) of them for chemical products, machinery, electrical equipment, and food products.
He said the other 42% were non-complaint goods that were mainly machinery and electrical equipment followed by chemical and plastics or rubber.
Importers can have goods checked by Bureau Veritas to see if they are compliant regionally and internationally before they reach the buyer.
French ambassador to Zimbabwe, Laurent Delahousse told NewsDay the coming in of Bureau Veritas showed that the “big players are ready to invest and come to Zimbabwe”.
Bureau Veritas is a conformity compliance issuing international organisation that is established in more than 140 countries in the world with 67 000 employees, and 1 400 labs and offices.
