South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
Dr. Kuorwel Kuai Kuorwel, Chairperson of SSNBS, left and William Anyuon Kuol, Minister of Trade and Industry, right, during a press conference held in Juba on Saturday [Photo: Awan Achiek]
By Awan Achiek
The South Sudan National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS) on Saturday burnt 5,000 expired and substandard assorted goods seized last year during an inspection campaign around Juba.
The goods were confiscated during an inspection campaign carried out by the Quality Assurance Department in December 2023.
The campaign aimed to remove expired, damaged, counterfeits and substandard goods from the market.
The inspection exercise targeted factories, supermarkets, shops, stores, slaughterhouses and other businesses.
Dr. Kuorwel Kuai Kuorwel, Chairperson of SSNBS said that the confiscated items that were destroyed on Saturday include beverages, food items, lubricants, engine oil and others.
“During the campaign, the team was able to collect more than 5,000 expired and substandard commercial items from different locations in Juba,” Kuorwel told journalists during press conference held in Juba.
Kuorwel warned the business community against selling expired goods, adding that offence is punishable under section 27, subsection 1 (a) of the SSNBS Act, 2012.
William Anyuon Kuol, the Minister of Trade and Industry warned traders against compromising the quality of products.
“What I mean by substandard goods are the goods that traders whether foreigners or national decided to import them into the South Sudan when they didn’t meet the standard. They compromise the quality of that particular item,” Kuol said.
Kuol said that traders are still selling food and building materials that expired since 2020 and 2021 respectively.
He added that they will conduct similar inspection of goods in ten states to clamp down on the sale of expired goods.
“This campaign will continue here in Juba city and we have already notified all the governors of ten states that this exercise is now going to take place all over the towns,” Kuol said.
The minister said that legal action will be taken against those involved in this illegal business.
“For this particular time, we will not give penalties, what we will do is we will take these people to the court because we have the National Bureau of Standards Act 20212, this act gives us powers to exercise our duties so that we will take this people to court,” Kuol said.
The South Sudan National Bureau of Standards was established in 2012 and is responsible for implementing standards, testing, inspection, market surveillance, certification, accreditation and other technical regulations.
