The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has held a practical session with stakeholders on Ghana’s Digital Conformity Pilot Project in Kumasi.
The project, which involves electrical cables, will eventually include other products in subsequent phases of the practical sessions.
Last Wednesday’s session sought to sensitise the public on the Authority’s new mobile application (Review App) which enables one to assess the “quality parameters” of products (cables), which must meet the required standard of GSA, by scanning the label on the product.
Addressing the media, Dr. Samuel Kofi Frimpong, Ashanti Regional Manager, GSA, disclosed that the Authority was moving with the pace of technology, hence the introduction of the Digital Conformity Assessment App, which would help one to determine the quality and brand of a product.
The Regional manager said it would also ensure that products already on the market are of standard quality and that personnel in uniform, who are being trained by the Ghana Police Service, would be deployed to various markets to ensure that products are of GSA standards.
Dr.Frimpong indicated that ACT 1078 (2022) metes out penalties to individuals who found in possession of substandard products.
He also called for the support of the public, noting that the citizenry should help provide the Authority with information on persons with inferior products, if they come across such individuals.
Ing. Francis Mensah Akpaloo, the Project Manager, GSA indicated that the app would help increase and circulate quality products, reduce fake and substandard products on the market, as well as to ensure fair competition.
The Project Manager disclosed that currently there are only six cable manufacturers (Tropical Cable, NexansKabelmetal, African Diamond, Reroy Cable, Fenice Metal Technology and Focus Technology) in the country that have gone through the GSA certification and mandated to manufacture cables.
He explained that the App would help consumers to authenticate the Authority’s certification of the product and be able to trace the manufacturing company as well as to ensure that quality products are circulated on the market.
Ing. Akpaloo, therefore, advised the public to avoid buying electrical cables that do not have GSA label to ensure the circulation of standard products on the Ghanaian market.
He revealed that other products, such as edibles, appliances, would be catalogued on the Digital Conformity Assessment App, by December with a full roll over in January 2026.
From Oswald P. Freiku, Kumasi
