Dti clarifies NRCS

Friday, August 29, 2014

Pretoria - Trade and Industry (dti) Minister Rob Davies has called on opposition party Members of Parliament (MPs) to think more carefully before associating themselves with complaints raised by market players.

The minister’s comments follow on calls made by DA MP Hill-Lewis and Dean Macpherson for a reduction in the time taken by National Regulator for Compulsory Specification (NRCS) to process Letters of Authority (LoA).

The issue has been discussed with NRCS  Chief Executive Officer Asogan Moodley who has indicated that it was important that the organisation be given adequate time to carry out its inspection work before issuing LoA’s.

Moodley had pointed out that the 120 days it takes to process such LoA’s in SA compared favourably with comparable countries.

An LoA is required by any person or organisation, including a registered manufacturer, importer or builder of vehicles (MIB) and charitable organisations wishing to import a new or used vehicle (passenger vehicle, goods vehicle, special vehicle or trailer) into South Africa; and/or a person and/or organisation not registered as a MIB that builds or modifies a vehicle.

The NRCS is an entity of the dti established to administer compulsory specifications and other technical regulations with the view to protect human health, safety, the environment and ensure fair trade in accordance with government policies and guidelines.

On Thursday, Minister Davies said South Africa continues to be bombarded with harmful sub- standard products which are both harmful to consumers and constitute unfair competition to South African producers.

“At this stage of our development the priority is to ensure that we step up on efforts to combat the entry of sub-standard products, and not pander to the demands of vested interests that seek, in the name of greater administrative efficiency, to keep open the doors to such potential abuse,” he explained. - SAnews.gov.za