TBS, FCC launch awareness campaign on counterfeits

Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) and the Fair Competition Commission (FCC) have jointly launched an awareness and standardization campaign on counterfeit products that’s aimed at educating the general public on the functionalities of the two government institutions.

The two months-long campaign will cover the central, north, southern highlands, lake and southern zones, to be conducted from bases located in the metropolises of Dodoma, Arusha, Mbeya, Mwanza and Mtwara.

A press release issued on Thursday, April 19, by the FCC Senior Communications Officer, Frank Mdimi, states that the commission’s officers will work in close collaboration with TBS officers during the campaign. This is with a view to reaching the general public at large through community radio broadcasts, press conferences and meetings with business communities.

“There has been an outcry from the public regarding the influx of substandard and counterfeit products in Tanzania which needs to be fully addressed by the responsible institutions,” reads the statement in part.

For her part, the TBS senior communications officer, Ms Roida Andusamile, said consumers generally have little knowledge on how TBS and FCC play their central role in providing Tanzanians with protection against counterfeit and substandard products. Hence the paramount need for such a campaign.

While the Commission was established by parliamentary Act No 8 of 2003, TBS was originally established by parliamentary Act No 3 of 1975. It was then re-established by Act No 2 of 2009 to strengthen it.

Both institutions are under the ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment – and are mandated to facilitate trade through fair competition and quality products.

To that end, both strive to protect consumers by ensuring as far as it is humanly and statutorily possible that counterfeit and substandard products do not enter the Tanzanian market.