The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has launched a major crackdown on businesses engaging in illegal practices, including selling underweight products, tampering with expiration dates, and using fake quality marks.

While addressing journalists at police headquarters in Naguru on Monday, July 15, 2024, Sylvia Kirabo, the Head of Marketing and Public Relations at UNBS, revealed that the agency has identified illegal practices in the business community where products are tampered with during transportation and repackaged to deceive consumers, including cement, tea leaves, and sugar, among others.

UNBS has also found products without the required quality mark, which attests to the product’s safety and authenticity, adding that some manufacturers have been found using the UNBS quality mark on products manufactured on unauthorized premises, a violation of the UNBS Act.

Kirabo emphasized that UNBS is committed to ensuring consumer protection and fair trade practices. She noted that investigations are ongoing and culprits have been taken to court, with some already facing charges in the Standards and Utilities Court.

“We have a special court that handles issues of quality, standards, and utilities, and these people are already being interrogated and reported. Some of them have gotten police bond,” Kirabo said.

She assured the public that UNBS would take appropriate action against any business found engaging in unethical practices.

UNBS has urged consumers to report any suspicious activities to the agency, assuring them that the right decision will be made.

“First, we shall visit the premises to verify the condemned products and ensure that they are indeed underweight, expired, or lack the required quality mark,” Kirabo added.