Tau backs down on China import checks

Minister of trade, industry & competition Parks Tau has, in a stunning turn of events, backtracked from his plan to tighten quality checks on unregulated imports from China that could potentially be harmful to consumers, following pushback from the country’s largest trading partner.

In what was seen as a bold move to level the trade playing field and shield consumers, Tau in March issued a directive for the implementation of a pre-export verification of conformity (PVoC) regime to prevent the influx of substandard or non-compliant products into the South African market.

China was picked as the trade partner to pilot this new regime because the Asian economic powerhouse is South Africa’s primary source of imports, with the programme targeting high-risk unregulated consumer products such as skin-lightening creams, hair relaxers, facial creams, moisturisers and makeup products.