Gov’t suspends Pre-inspection Verification,Traders call off strike

PSFU's Gideon Badagawa , Hon. Amelia Kyambadde and KACITA's Everest Kayondo at the press conference

PSFU's Gideon Badagawa , Hon. Amelia Kyambadde and KACITA's Everest Kayondo at the press conference
PSFU’s Gideon Badagawa , Hon. Amelia Kyambadde and KACITA’s Everest Kayondo at the press conference

The Ugandan trade sector is to form a joint committee to review the provisions in the Pre-inspection Verification of Conformity (PIVOC) contract.

This was the resolution of a meeting held on Friday June 28th, between the Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Hon. Amelia Kyambadde, the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, Uganda Manufacturers’ Association, Kampala Capital City Traders Association, Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and the Uganda Clearing and Forwarding Association.
The meeting was held as a result of a week-long strike by the city traders, protesting the fees to be charged in the pre-inspection of their goods.

The joint committee shall meet today June 29th, to finalize Uganda’s position on the PIVOC, ahead of a meeting for negotiations with the pre-import inspection service providers on Monday July 1st, according to a statement read by Minister Kyambadde.

The statement was issued to the press at Uganda Media Centre on Saturday morning, where the trade minister urged the city traders to call off their strike, due to the new resolutions.

Everest Kayondo, the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) chairman, who was in attendance, said the association agreed to the new arrangements for the contract to be reviewed and called on the association’s members to open their premises and resume work.

The Pre-inspection Verification of Conformity (PIVOC) is one of the rules of the World Trade Organization, and Gideon Badagawa, the head of the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), thinks that as long as the importers’ and traders’ concerns with the Ugandan PIVOC contract are ironed out, the procedure is good for the sector.

Trade minister Amelia Kyambadde said the Uganda National Bureau of Standards’ capacity shall be strengthened through upgrading inspection equipment and more human resource, to ensure that the in-country inspection and standardization of imported goods is improved.

She said that the already-signed PIVOC contract remains valid, but will only be reviewed and amendments proposed during negotiations with the pre-import inspection companies.

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3 thoughts on “Gov’t suspends Pre-inspection Verification,Traders call off strike

  1. Government should have done this early to avoid the mess the strike has caused, instead of intimidating traders that they were inciting traders! Kayihura and his team should always avoid to rash at everything! Hon.Min. Kyambadde; commands , and intimidation stopped in State House, diologue and persuation are paramount in public management!
    I salute the leader of KACITA for being firm regardless of all threats from police,politicians etc.!

    1. Hon Kyambadde you are in a wrong field, you do not know what you are doing stop your commands and threats and you must be really ashamed of yourself. This is not State House. You must resign you are hopeless.

  2. After 50 year, We need to be focussing on export promotion not arguing about what grade of products we should import.

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