Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) has announced the decision to implement a series of anti-dumping measures to arrest the number of dumping cases in the country.

RBS is a watchdog that controls the quality and standards of products to suit those required internationally.  One highlight of the measures is the establishment of the institute’s presence at each border post.

According to Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, the Director General of RBS, staff will inspect products from the neighboring countries. RBS plans to introduce pre-shipping inspection on products that come from outside the East African Community (EAC).

Officials said it would procure a company to inspect products from their countries of origin.

Bagabe said, "we must realize the opportunities of preventing the entry sub-standard or expired products into the country and avoid the accompanying tough challenges of re-exporting or burning them.”

Bagabe was referring to the options taken when products are identified as counterfeits; they are re-exported or burnt if they are safe to the environment.

The other strategy to maintain anti-dumping measures on some imports is to intensify publications (brochures, magazines pamphlets) radio and TV live talk shows and continuous training to traders and processors.

Rwandan enterprises are urged to sharpen their regional and global competitiveness, improve their ability to innovate, and learn the WTO rules as well as related international practices, given the enterprises’ increasing integration with the EAC economic community.

WTO is an acronym that means World Trade Organization.
"Traders and processors should make use of the network that connects Rwanda to WTO with all information about trade and treaties in their favour,” he suggested.

A list of about 60 products was rejected by inspection services because they were sub standard, banned and expired and most of them being imported from the region.

According to RBS the goods are mainly food stuff, cosmetics, secondhand clothes, human medicines, fertilizers, seeds and construction materials. It’s reported that substandard iron sheets are on the market with above 32gauge

Major challenges highlighted include goods that don’t use official entries, RRA incentive of not taxing goods that are worth less than Rwf1 million which go directly to the market.

"It is challenging to recover products that are already on the market, some don’t have dates of manufacture and expiry and others are not labeled,” he said.

Bagabe expressed his worry about the limited budget to intensify the campaign citing an example of two hour live TV and radio talk show that costs above Rwf3m.

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