The Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has again extended the deadline for food products registration and premise licensing, this time pushing it into early 2021.

The registration that the FDA is trying to enforce concerns processed food, beverages and food supplements, tobacco and tobacco products.

It also involves licensing of premises from where such products are being manufactured.

Initially, the regulator had set March 31, 2020 as the deadline; but as the country plunged into the Covid-19 pandemic challenges, the date was shifted to June 30 the same year, and later to December 31.

As the December 31 deadline loomed, the FDA has come out in a new communique issued on Thursday December 24, extending the registration to early 2021.

The Authority said this is the "final” deadline, and it came "after expressions or requests from some stakeholders” pointing out various reasons that were not allowing them to meet the former deadline.

According to the new deadlines; by January 31 2021, all premises or factories must have submitted their applications to the regulator for premise licensing; and by February 28 the same year, all manufacturers, producers or importers must have submitted their applications for product registration.

In the communique, the FDA issued a warning that by March 31, any premise without license and any food product not registered with Rwanda FDA shall be considered illegal and not allowed to "operate or be on Rwandan market.”

As part of the measures to ensure safety of food products on the Rwanda market, the FDA tests and evaluates the quality of both the premise of production and the product with an intention to ensure that the products meet standards to avoid health issues linked to consumption of substandard products.