The Mozambican government, through the Ministry of Industry and Trade, has decided, together with the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), the country’s largest employers’ organisation, to extend the start of implementation of the Conformity Assessment Programme (PAC in Portuguese) to 1 November.
The decision comes after a meeting held last Friday, 13 October, between a government team led by the Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno, and the president of the CTA, Agostinho Vuma, representing the business community.
According to a statement released by the employers’ organisation, the meeting approved the list of products to be inspected in the first phase, with the National Institute for Standardisation and Quality (INNOQ) meeting with companies and importers of alcoholic beverages to jointly analyse the nature of imports and find ways of carrying out the inspection without economic agents incurring higher than normal costs.
The MIC, for its part, will coordinate with the Ministry of Economy and Finance to ensure that the fee charged under the PAC does not increase the customs duties to be paid by the importer.
“Once all these points are aligned, the conditions will be in place so that, as of 1 November 2023, it will be compulsory to present a Certificate of Conformity when importing the products on the first phase list,” said the note, stressing that the CTA will have to conduct a final consultation on the list of first phase products within the next seven working days from the date of this meeting.
In the meantime, the MIC will define the criteria for monitoring the implementation of the PAC and will evaluate its impact on a quarterly basis.
