LACK of communication and harmonisation of standards amongst the five East Africa countries has been sighted as one of the major hindrances to trade development in the region.
This brought about mistrust and at certain occasion hindered market access and rejection of some commodities to enter certain countries in the region.
However this will cease to be after the simultaneous instigation of the East African Community Web Portal, (www.eac-quality.net) which will be accessed by all the standards bodies in these countries to harmonise standards.
Speaking at the launch in Kampala last week, the standards development manager at Uganda National Bureau of Standards, Mr Patrick Ssekitoleko said; “Uganda has had many free markets but they are not as free as they seem to be, standards tend to hinder market access.”
He said the German government funded the Shs12 billion project through the National Metrology Institute of Germany.
Source: The Monitor
