Imported goods: Verifications process in question

Standards and Quality Agency, ANOR, has secured contracts with two international companies to inspect, verify, test and certify products locally made. The arrangement with Société Générale des Surveillance, SGS, and Intertek seeks to enable local companies to continuously improve, transforming their services and value chain by increasing performance, managing risks, better meeting stakeholder requirements and managing sustainability.

The terms of the arrangement, which was signed recently, were presented during the opening of the third edition of the National Quality Week at the Bonanjo CPDM Party House April 21.

During the ceremony presided at by the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Gwaboubou Ernest, who represented the Prime Minister, the General Manager of ANOR, Charles Booto à Ngon, said SGS and Intertek are represented in all countries where goods in Cameroon are imported from and all countries where Cameroonian goods are exported to.

This makes it easier for the goods to be checked, tested, verified and certified if they conform with Cameroon’s standard and quality specifications before importation. Also, locally made products will be checked and certified before they leave the country to other parts of the world.

“We will verify the quality and norm and then issue our result to both the person who needs the certification and to ANOR, which issues the original certificate,” explains Bessiom Moise Yakam, Governments and Institutions Services, SGS Ivory Coast. Verification follows three routes: Route ‘A’ is a process carried out on products that are to be shipped to Cameroon for the first time or a high risk or sensitive product.

Documentary checks, physical inspections, sampling and testing in laboratories are carried out before the decision to issue or not certificate is taken. Route ‘B’ is carried out on the exporters who exports frequently to Cameroon, who has their products already registered in Cameroon.

As concerns Route ‘C’, which is for licensed products, it is mainly for producers. We go to their factory and audit the manufacturing process. From time to time we get back to the factory to again check the manufacturing process to ensure that production regularly conforms to standard and quality specifications.