The Standards Organisation of Nigeria has revealed it achieved more than 60 per cent harmonisation of export certifications, ensuring ease in intra-continental trade.

The SON Assistant Director, Trade, Chioma Chudi-Anaukwu, disclosed this to The PUNCH on the sidelines of the Final Validation of the Market Access Guide and E-Commerce Platform held recently in Lagos by the Nigeria African Continental Free Trade Area Coordination Office.

Chudi-Aniukwu pointed out that SON has made headway in standards harmonisation, especially through Nigeria’s membership in the African Organisation for Standardisation, the continent’s intergovernmental standards body formed by the then Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in 1977.

“We have harmonised standards. SON is part of ARSO because we represent Nigeria in that forum,” the SON official stated. “If you come to certify your product, for instance, you (produce and sell) face masks; we are (going to) certify it based on that harmonised standard. This means that what is acceptable in Nigeria, the certification that we have given you in Nigeria, is acceptable in all those other places.

“We are all encouraged to try to use those harmonised standards. SON, I tell you, out of the standards that have been harmonised, we are perfectly doing well. We have harmonised and are using more than 60 per cent of that. More than some other countries do.”

She added that the SON has worked to get Mutual Recognition Agreements with its counterparts in the African continent to ensure that Nigeria’s certification is accepted and vice versa.

Chudi-Anaukwu urged exporters, especially small and medium enterprise owners, to shun exploitation from consultants when they seek to obtain SON certifications, advising they interact directly with the agency.

“It is better for (exporters) to avoid consultants because they exploit (them),” she asserted. “We have an active SMEs desk that caters for SMEs in terms of rebates and others the organisation has set aside for SMEs.

“Some of them have gone through the SMEs (desk), and it was successful. The unfortunate thing is that some of them feel maybe because of other experiences they had somewhere else, they feel they have to use a consultant (to interact with) SON. When you use consultants, you are being exploited.”

According to the official, SON offices across the states are open to exporters to attend to their needs. She explained the need for exporters to know and hold SON officials understand the kind of certification they need, noting, “When you want to export a product or you are producing a product and you need certification for it.

(SON) has various kinds of certification, of which there is the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme certification—mandatory as the name implies—which you have to obtain for all manufactured products in Nigeria.

“We have certifications also for export purposes, including the product type certification and another certification for products that meet the import requirements of another country. But if you don’t let the SON officers know, they will not know.”

Chudi-Anaukwu explained that without a proper explanation of the desired certification, SON officers will prepare a MANCAP certification by default.

“If you just go into the state office and you say you want to do certification, of course, they’ll do your certification based on MANCAP, which is what you are producing and is the standard format for that,” he said.


Responding to exporters who have issues with exporting to buyers who insist on a Société Générale de Surveillance certification above other local certifications, Chudi-Anaukwu explained that Nigeria is partnered with SGS, as she advised that exporters need to discern what particular form of certification the importing party requires.

“Exporting your products depends on the requirements of the importing country. You have to provide the necessary documentation as requested by the importing country. When a person importing into their country asks for SGS certification, the exporter needs to learn the required certification from Nigeria.

She acknowledged that it is the same case for imports entering Nigeria, where if the product is on SON’s regulated product list, it requires a Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme certificate.

She explained that the SGS certification is anchored on Nigeria’s partnership with internationally accredited firms in all designated countries, of which SGS is a part, and there are others, including Cotecna and Intertek.


https://punchng.com/son-achieves-60-harmonisation-of-export-certifications-for-trade/