The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) wants importers and local manufacturers to conform to its registration requirement for the selling of commodities monitored by the agency.
Importers and manufacturers are required to register with the GNBS on a yearly basis to be in compliance with the agency’s standards.
The 20 commodities monitored by GNBS are domestic electric appliances, weighing and measuring devices, textiles, garments, footwear, safety matches, tyres, gas stoves, fertilisers, cigarettes, PVC pipes, furniture, toys, soap powder, Christmas trees and decorative lighting outfits, safety helmets, cellular phones, water and electricity meters, and seatbelts.
The registration of both imported and locally manufactured products will facilitate the inspection of the products’ labels. This will verify that the product is in conformity with national standards.
Head of the Conformity Department and Officer in Charge of the GNBS, Candelle Walcott-Bostwick, said: “For the categories of products monitored by the GNBS for the importers, once they’re going to bring in any of those items that are on our list of products they are expected to register with the bureau annually. For the locally manufactured products they also have to register with the bureau.”
If an importer brings in any of these items without being registered by the agency, the items are placed on a ‘hold’ system which allows the importer or the dealer to be registered: “They would complete the form and after that is completed they are normally issued a certificate that should be displayed at the location, that they are a registered importer of a particular product.”
The fee for registration for the importation of these items is generally G$30,000 but the dealer (importers of cellular phones, tyre, etc) are required to pay a registration fee of G$15,000.
