The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) recently announced the launch of the Ghana Product Conformity Assessment Program (G-CAP), an initiative aimed to prevent the entering of unsafe goods into Ghana by mandating a Certificate of Conformity (CoC) prior to export from the country of origin. While unofficial news releases expect the enforcement date to be delayed, the official implementation date remains October 1, 2014.
According to a release by the GSA, “The program is carried out by authorized third-party independent service providers, on an “Exporter Pays concept” and consists of physical inspection with combination of laboratory testing, documentary review and factory audits.”
In order to obtain the CoC, exporters can chose one of the following three routes:
- Route A: Shipment Verification- Applicable to any goods and trader
- Products to be shipped have to be both tested and physically inspected
- Route B: Registration. Recommended for frequent exporters
- Offers a fast track certification process for goods with reasonable and consistent levels of quality through registration of such products
- Route C: Licensing. For certified products
- Open to manufacturers who can demonstrate existence of a quality management system in their production/manufacturing process
Products shipped into Ghana without a CoC will be subject to a 30% penalty.
Detailed information can be accessed here
