ZMA TO ENSURE ACCURATE MEASUREMENTS IN ALL SECTORS

 

“The agency will continue enforcing the provisions of the Metrology Act No. 6 of 2017 through meticulous statutory compliance inspections, covering both locally produced and imported prepackaged commodities” Nkobeni

 

By Daily News Reporter

 

The Zambia Metrology Agency (ZMA) has played a crucial role in 2023, ensuring accurate measurements across various sectors and safeguarding consumer rights.

 

From maintaining national standards to inspecting pre-packaged goods, their efforts have impacted trade, agriculture, and daily life for Zambians

This is in line with their outlined strategic objectives in the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan.

 

The agency ensures that the scale used to measure the products are standardized and not fine tuned to suit the seller or the other way round. This cuts across different fields from agriculture, mining to the petroleum industry.

 

And ZMA has plans to broaden its services, which include electric meter testing, installation of electric vehicle charging points, water meter testing, and enhancements in healthcare and road safety management.

 

Speaking to the during ZMA’s media interaction in Lusaka, ZMA executive director Humphrey Nkobeni expressed appreciation for the support received from the board of directors, governmental ministries, media, and the public.

 

Addressing concerns spanning various sectors such as construction, manufacturing, petroleum, and agriculture, ZMA implements a range of enforcement measures, from guiding SMEs towards compliance to resorting to fines and prosecution as a last resort.

 

Challenges encountered by ZMA include adapting to evolving technology and securing adequate resources, yet opportunities emerge in advocating for precise measurements to strengthen fair trade practices.

 

In the petroleum sector, ZMA prioritizes improving compliance, ensuring the use of approved measuring instruments, and rectifying measurement discrepancies. Similarly, it supports the construction sector by ensuring adherence to standards in infrastructure projects.

Prompt reporting of consumer complaints facilitates enforcement actions, supported by automation to enhance operational efficiency and reduce turnaround times.

 

The agency surpassed annual targets in key areas like non-tax revenue, verifications, and inspections and over 51,700 measuring instruments were verified for accuracy, exceeding the set target.

 

And the achievements of the agency in maintaining national measurement standards, accrediting five laboratories to international standards, and providing calibration services for over 3,300 measuring instruments.

 

It will also continue to provide top-notch metrology services across the nation and the agency ensured that five (5) of its laboratories were accredited to the Quality Management System.

 

He further added that the agency will continue enforcing the provisions of the Metrology Act No. 6 of 2017 through meticulous statutory compliance inspections, covering both locally produced and imported prepackaged commodities.

 

"Through a meticulous risk-based inspection approach, comprehensive inspections were conducted on both locally produced and imported prepackaged commodities at various stages such as importation, manufacturing, or through market surveillance." He added.

 

He said locally produced pre-packaged goods achieved a 95% compliance rate, reflecting improvement from previous years, and 98.6 percent of imported pre-packaged goods and 100 percent of imported measuring instruments adhered to regulations.

 

Meanwhile, the agency also responded to consumer complaints, leading to 26 enforcement actions, including product seizures, cautions, and fines.

 

So far the agency received a combine 39 consumer complaints mainly from petroleum, manufacturing, construction, and agriculture and the complaints were coupled with the agency’s planned inspections led to 26 enforcement actions, resulting in some product seizures, cautions, and fines.