Trade CS Peter Munya suspends two Chinese firms for failure to inspect imported goods

Trade cabinet secretary Peter Munya suspends two Chinese firms for failing to inspect imported goods entering the country.[ Photo: Courtesy]

Trade Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya has suspended two Chinese firms for failure to inspect imported goods to Kenya.

China Certification and Inspections Group Company (CCIC) and Société Générale de Surveillance SA (SGS) from Switzerland were put on hold and fined on the premise that they failed to assess the standards of imported goods.

CS Peter Munya said yesterday, ‘’In the face of significant non-performance, the government has suspended activities of the two companies, the bans take place immediately and have been instituted to enable the affected companies put in place corrective measures.’’

CCIC and SGS have been accused of violating legal notice by Kenya Bureau of Standards for failing to perform its main function of certifying goods entering the country by determining whether they are safe or not.

They were also blamed for not inspecting containers which are alleged to facilitate entry of substandard and banned goods saying that the fine for such offences runs into millions of shillings.

CS Munya believed that the government was reviewing the law of imposing criminal sanctions for any contracted company that allows entry of illicit goods into the country.

CCIC and SGS firms examine goods in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand before being dispatched to Kenya.

KeBS had given permits to Cotecna Inspection SA, Bureau Veritas, Intertek International Limited and the two accused companies to inspect all goods entering the country under Pre-Export Verification on Conformity grounds.

This suspension comes about as the government struggles to reduce inflow of illegal goods into the country. In April the government cautioned firms importing illicit goods saying tough measures will be taken against them.

In 2005, the government created a guideline of inspecting cargos before entering the country by Kenya Bureau of standards through issuing them with certificates of inspection to show that they have conformed.