The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world’s largest developer and publisher of International Standards. ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 162 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system. It is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors.

Zanzibar Bureau of Standards offers the following products:

• Standard mark licences.
• Tested product certificates.
• Laboratory test reports.
• Purchase of standards documents.

A standard can be defined as a set of technical definitions and guidelines, “how to” instructions for designers, manufacturers, and users, aiming at promoting safety, reliability, productivity and efficiency in almost every industry. Standards are a vehicle of communication for producers and users. They serve as a common language, defining quality and establishing safety criteria. They are written by experts with knowledge and expertise in a particular field who sit on various technical committees.

Standards are created by bringing together all interested parties such as manufacturers, consumers and regulators of a particular material, product, process or service. ZBS has a directorate mandated to formulate standards. Under this directorate, there are one departments and 21 standards committees.

Most standards are prepared by considering individuals, committees, professional organizations, government agencies, industry groups, public interest groups, or from a ZBS division or section.

The request is first referred to the appropriate directorate for consideration. The directorate then assigns the request to the relevant technical committee or determines that a new standards committee must be formed. Once an appropriate committee has concluded that there is enough interest and need the standard developing process is initiated

Standards are a powerful marketing tool. Compliance with Zanzibar Standards is an effective means of differentiation in a competitive marketplace. In addition, manufacturing products or supplying services that conform to appropriate standards maximizes their compatibility with those manufactured or offered by others, thereby increasing potential sales and widespread acceptance. As consumers become better informed about their choices, conformity to recognized standards becomes increasingly important.

Standards are a respected badge of quality. Certification marks are earned by businesses whose products and practices consistently prove conformity to relevant standards. These marks (such as the Zanzibar Standards Mark of Quality) are easily recognizable and act as badges of quality, safety and performance.

Standards can strengthen infrastructure. Standardization can deliver measurable benefits when applied within the infrastructure of a company itself. Effective communication along the supply chain and with legislative bodies, clients and customers is good business. Business costs and risks can be minimized, internal processes streamlined and communication improved. Standardization promotes interoperability, providing a competitive edge necessary for effective worldwide trading of products and services.

All Zanzibar Standards can be purchased from the ZBS office. The entire collection of published standards will be soon on ZBS website via the ZBS Standards Catalogue under e-ZBS Menu.

Certification is a third-party attestation that a product, service, person or management system meets specified requirements. By giving the purchaser confidence that a product or service meets the requirements, certification facilitates trade both within countries and between countries. Tanzania Bureau of Standards runs four certification schemes, namely TBS Mark Certification Scheme, Batch Certification Scheme for Imports, Tested Product Certification Scheme and Management systems registration scheme.

Certification process starts with an application to the Director General from the producer. Before logging the application, the producer must make sure that the premise through which operations are carried out is to the standards and has been passed by relevant regulatory and/or health/safety authorities. Above the premise is the product itself which includes packaging and labelling. In most cases, or as is often the case, the producer is asked to obtain standards from TBS before embarking on the whole process. It must be clear that certification is done against a particular standard, so acquiring a standard is obligatory.

Accreditation is the conformity assessment of bodies that perform conformity assessment services. It is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented. Various TBS laboratories are accredited against ISO/IEC 17025:2005, General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories and others are in different stages of accreditation by the South African Accreditation System (SANAS).

Yes. ZBS conducts day to day inspections and sample collection. This includes batch inspections at the ports and other entry points like the Zanzibar ports, industries, ZBS also conducts routine surveillance inspections to clients licensed to use the ‘ZBS’ mark and those certified under tested product certification schemes. Pre-licence/certificate inspections to new applicants under “ZBS” and tested product certification are also conducted.

For certified companies, ZBS conducts about 2 inspections annually for those who are certified. The first is conducted at the factory upon receipt of certification request from a client. Upon certification, ZBS conducts at least three inspections either at the premise or through point of purchase without the knowledge of the producer. This is done to ensure that the products adhere to standards all the time.

The certificate period is one year only, each year end the client has to seek for renewal to ensure that each certified client has a chance at mandatory level to be inspected once every year in case by chance the client missed to be inspected in between.

The standard mark is for goods manufactured within the country. For imported goods, ZBS issues certificates for those goods that have passed ZBS tests. Any consumer doubting whether such goods are in good order on not can enquire through ZBS offices. The consumer is also encouraged to look for marks of quality of the country from which particular goods come from.

Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs), ZBS help them for giving them knowledge on how to get standards and how to prepare standard products but for future we will consider those who are especially those nurtured by the Zanzibar micro, small and medium industrial development agency which are recognized by the government they will get ZBS certification services freely. Such SMEs are not supposed to pay any certification fee.

Zanzibar Food and Drug Agency (ZFDA) is a semi-autonomous regulatory body under Ministry of Health Zanzibar (MOH). ZFDA was established under section 3 of the Zanzibar Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act 3/2017 and gave mandate of regulating safety, quality and efficiency of food, medicines, cosmetics, medical devices and diagnostics.'

Zanzibar Bureau of Standards (ZBS) is the national statutory body with overall responsibility for standardization and quality assurance of goods and services for both local market and export. The Zanzibar Bureau of Standards was established by the authority of the Zanzibar Standards Act No. 1 of 2011. It operates under the support of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Marketing, and has a statutory responsibility for the quality of goods and services, which are to be manufactured and used in Zanzibar, exported or imported while ensuring safety and health to consumers.

Thus according to its function ZBS which is the bureau concentrate on standards product that’s why we cooperate with the agency even though ZBS has the mandate on preparation of standards and monitor them in their implementations. But in making sure that we cooperate in making sure our citizen have safety products we organise on inspections activities in marketing areas.