In short
Patricia Ejalu, the Deputy Executive Director for Technical Operations Uganda National Bureau of Standards says for long their fees have not changed yet events, developments and inflation have overtaken them.
Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) is in the process of hiking the fees it charges for standards of products and certification of processes.
Patricia Ejalu, the Deputy Executive Director for Technical Operations
Uganda National Bureau of Standards says for long their fees have not changed yet events, developments and inflation have overtaken them.
The fees were last revised 10 years ago, when UNBS was still finding its feet. Standards are documents that contain technical and other requirements that products and services have to comply with.
These requirements could include design, material, performance, manufacturing and testing requirements, including packaging and labeling.
Certification, on the other hand, refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of a process, product, a person, or an organization. This confirmation is often provided by some form of external review, assessment, or audit.
Ejalu says the rates, although realistic at the time of their setup about a decade ago, need to be increased to match the prevailing circumstances, including increase in cost of conducting tests on products. In addition, says Ejalu, the general public needs to beware that the more products one has the more the payments in fees.
//Cue in: "Two phase yes…..
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To get round it, Ejalu advises that product owners need to prioritise which products or processes to begin with. For a product to get standardized or a process to be certified it may go through different phases each attracting a fee.
The charges range from 15,000 to over 100,000 depending on the weight of the product, system or process. The products range from fresh avocado to energy products. Some of the processes include audits, monitoring and evaluation, ICT management, transportation, waste management and oil production installations, among others.
David Eboku, the Head of standards, says once a product has satisfied the requirements, it is given a subject index to help the user to locate Uganda Standards on it.
Patricia Ejalu, the Deputy Executive Director for Technical Operations
Uganda National Bureau of Standards says for long their fees have not changed yet events, developments and inflation have overtaken them.
The fees were last revised 10 years ago, when UNBS was still finding its feet. Standards are documents that contain technical and other requirements that products and services have to comply with.
These requirements could include design, material, performance, manufacturing and testing requirements, including packaging and labeling.
Certification, on the other hand, refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of a process, product, a person, or an organization. This confirmation is often provided by some form of external review, assessment, or audit.
Ejalu says the rates, although realistic at the time of their setup about a decade ago, need to be increased to match the prevailing circumstances, including increase in cost of conducting tests on products. In addition, says Ejalu, the general public needs to beware that the more products one has the more the payments in fees.
//Cue in: "Two phase yes…..
Cue out:… products//
To get round it, Ejalu advises that product owners need to prioritise which products or processes to begin with. For a product to get standardized or a process to be certified it may go through different phases each attracting a fee.
The charges range from 15,000 to over 100,000 depending on the weight of the product, system or process. The products range from fresh avocado to energy products. Some of the processes include audits, monitoring and evaluation, ICT management, transportation, waste management and oil production installations, among others.
David Eboku, the Head of standards, says once a product has satisfied the requirements, it is given a subject index to help the user to locate Uganda Standards on it.
