Regulator warns of goods slipping past port checks
Trade regulators say they have to physically check products on store shelves as some items have been known to bypass checks at the port of entry.
"A lot of these goods coming to South Africa under the premise of give a false declaration, or they will describe it as something else so that they can import and slip through the system,” says Donovon Ciceros from the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications.
Inspectors raided several businesses in the Durban CBD on Tuesday in a joint operation with metro police and other officials.
They entered various store in search of counterfeit goods and electronics that didn't meet regulations. Food items, chemicals and other materials were pulled from shelves.
READ: Durban raids target counterfeit, unsafe goods
Ciceros says compliance checks show customers that what they're buying is safe for consumption.
He says while the regulator carriers out inspections at the country's ports of entry, there are sometimes issues with declarations.
"Shipping lines send the manifest to us and we go through all the goods that's in a container. Once we interested in a certain container, we will go out and do an inspection. So a lot of the times there's mis-declarations or false declarations, and we don't always get to check each and every container that comes into South Africa."
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