Dr. Mary Gordon Muortat, the Executive Director of the Bureau of Standards - Credit | Michael Daniel/Eye Radio | May 11, 2022

The National Bureau of Standards has authorized four companies to carry out pre-export verification and conformity of goods and products shipping into South Sudan.

The contracted foreign companies will ensure that imports into South Sudan meet the requirements of the technical regulations and applicable standards stipulated by SSNBS.

They include Baltic Control, Alberk QA Technic, CIS Commodity Inspection Services and SGS for Pre-export Verification and Conformity.

Dr. Mary Gordon Muorat, who is the Executive Director of the Bureau of Standards says, this is to prevent importation of non-compliant goods into South Sudan.

The expenses of laboratory examination will be upon the factories producing goods and not the traders.

She urged the traders to take advantage of this feature to avoid buying non-specification merchandise.

“Specifications and standards contracted by four companies. These companies have a quality certificate whose mission is to help you find goods that meet the specifications,” Mary told Eye Radio.

“These companies are international companies and they have 10 standards of quality while we have 4. These four companies act as a mediator between the merchants and the factory, where their role is to check and ensure the authenticity and quality of the product,

“Dealing with these companies allows you to guarantee that your goods will enter the country. There is a misconception among merchants, they think that this certificate is issued by money, and this is not true, but rather it is paid by the factory to the company.”

The National Bureau of Standards last week warned that the country was feeding on substandard food due to inability to examine imported goods.

This was also admitted by the chamber of commerce which attributes the import of average commodities to lack of direct access to the international market.

In November 2021 the Drug and Food Control Authority called on the government to urgently establish a laboratory for testing imported pharmaceutical and food items.

South Sudan entirely relies on Kenya and Uganda for most of its imports.