Thousands of substandard electrical products, prohibited cigarettes and matches seized, destroyed by GNBS

For the year so far, the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) has seized 12,670 pieces of “poor quality” and “improperly” labelled electrical fittings and equipment and 4730 packs of illegal cigarettes from outlets across the country.

The seized items were destroyed on Tuesday aback of the GNBS, Sophia, Georgetown office.

The electrical products seized included lamp holders, wires, cables, circuit breakers, extension cords, panel boards, power outlets, plugs and strips.

They did not meet the requirements of the National Standards. Some of them were found to be without markings while others did not specify the country of origin, certification marks to prove that they were tested by an independent laboratory and directions for use.

Upon seizure, the items were placed on hold for a period of twenty-one days pending submission of test certificates and in some cases conformity of origin. Failure to submit the documents resulted in seizure of the items.

The cigarettes seized were not in compliance with the labelling requirements in accordance with tobacco control regulations. The packages do not include key details such as batch number, manufacturing date and the required ‘for sale in Guyana only’ marking.

Additionally, 1340 packs of safety matches were also found to be non-compliance with the standards.

The items are among seventeen categories of products monitored by the GNBS’s Product Compliance Department. The products were confiscated from sales outlets, ports of entry and importers during surveillance activities across the country.

In his remarks before the exercise, Head of GNBS Product Compliance Department, Quincy Troyer, said inspections are usually carried out throughout the year to ensure products sold meet the requirements of the national standard.

“These places that are found with the substandard product. We highlight these non-conformities to them and we will ask them to submit supportive documents or test certificate for the electrical products.

“Failure to submit that certificate, we will then be forced to remove the products from the business places and destroy them,” Troyer said.

He added, “And for the illegal cigarettes and safety matches, we won’t give you any grace period because it is already illegal, so we will seize it and destroy them.”

Electrical fittings and equipment’s are physically destroyed by being crushed, while matches and cigarettes are soaked in water.

The implementation of the standard for electrical fittings and equipment was implemented in 2020.

Troyer said with cooperation from stakeholders, there has been an improvement in the quality from then to now.

“So far we are seeing an improvement in the quality from 2020 to now. Stakeholders are cooperating but we will find some still coming in. Our plan is to reach out to stakeholders, sensitise them about the requirements of the standard and encourage them to come onboard with the GNBS to ensure that the product you are offering to consumer are of quality and are good products,” he said.

Importer, dealers and manufacturer of these products are required to register annually with GNBS. By doing this, he said they will be sensitised about the requirement of the standards.

“So when you go to make your purchase overseas or even locally, you are aware of the requirements of the GNBS so you make informed choices.

“And we also encourage you to supply samples prior to the importation so we can check them to ensure they are in compliance with the standard,” he explained.

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