Document glitches force postponement of electrical import safety scheme

THE DEADLINE for the new safety scheme for electrical imports was put back by four months, as import companies battled to get their documentation into order, according to Wimpie Lyons, inspection services division manager at SABS (SA Bureau of Standards) - the control body for the scheme.
With all sorts of grey goods flooding the SA market, proof of safety standard compliance is often unknown - and many of these imports could be unsafe products.
Add to this the fact that many of these imports are illegal, and you have a situation calling for control, Lyons told FTW. The first phase of control - which requires documentary proof of safety standard compliance, and is monitored through Customs - was due for implementation on January 1.
This covered a range of 27 (mainly household) appliances; 13 categories of luminaires; 16 types of hand-held, motor-operated electric tools; eight of their transportable sisters; and the all-encompassing information technology equipment, including electrical business equipment - all listed by the SABS from November last year, after the law was gazetted the previous November.
But importers were slow in getting the applicable paperwork submitted to SABS applying for letters of autho-rity to cover their import goods, and May 1 was declared the new implementation date.
However, said Lyons, the introduction dates of November 1998 and 1999 for Phases 2 and 3 of the scheme - and the SABS - compiled lists of product types for each - still stand.