Zambia is among several other African countries including Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana whose telecom markets have been flooded by counterfeit mobile phones and other electronic products from China.

The pre-export verification of conformity-to-standards plan was designed to ensure that imported products are first checked, before being exported, through physical inspection and laboratory testing by the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) with the help of two international companies.

The Bureau Veritas of France and Societe General de Surveillance of Switzerland were contracted by ZABS to conduct pre-export verification of all electronic products coming to Zambia.

The plan has now been abandoned by ZABS, however.

ZABS Acting Director Nathan Sing'ambwa said this week that the pre-export verification of conformity system would not be implemented because of some of the flaws that were brought by stakeholders during the consultation process.