what we do

Import Quality Monitoring

The Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency (ZCSA) administers and monitors the quality and safety of products covered under compulsory standards on the market through inspections and related activities under the Import Quality Monitoring and Domestic Quality Monitoring Departments in line with World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO TBT) Agreement guidelines and other international and regional best practices. The mandate of these inspections only extends to products that are regulated under the Compulsory Standards Act. Currently the Agency administers 60 compulsory standards. A recommendation has been made to declare an additional 47 products to be covered under this law.

About Import Quality Monitoring

The Agency has presence at the following entry points: Nakonde, Chirundu, Kazungula, Katima Mulilo, Livingstone, Victoria Falls, Mwami and Chanida borders. The Agency also has a Central Processing Centre(CPC) which monitors imports in all of the borders, including where ZCSA has no physical presence.

Schemes for Clearance of General goods

1.      Batch Import Clearance -This scheme involves batch by batch clearance of goods every time an importation is made. The consignment can also be pre-cleared (clearing the consignment before it arrives at the point of entry).

2.      Pre-Import Scheme- This scheme enables an importer to declare the goods to be imported in a period of six (6) months. Inspection is conducted twice in the six (6) months.

3.       Annual Import Quality Certification Scheme- This scheme enables an importer to declare the goods to be imported in a period of one year. Eligibility to this scheme is based on satisfactory technical findings of the last four consecutive consignments inspected, sampled and tested by the Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency. These findings should also be consistent with foreign or international standards, and the applicable standards declared under the Compulsory Standards Act.

The validity is twelve (12) months from the date of full payment or upon full importation of the declared quantity. Validity of the certificate covers products from the supplier and country of origin declared. This certificate cannot be used to cover other suppliers of the same product. The Agency conducts four (04) random inspections to ensure continued compliance with compulsory standards.

Statutory fees are payable on all the above schemes.