Africa is a hot market for multinational trade forces, and in recent years it has become more obvious. In addition to earlier entrants such as Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, India has also become another major trade rival on the African continent. Under the "One Belt And One Road" strategy, "made in China" is seeking to tap into greater African demand. In this context, China's foreign trade enterprises should be familiar with local trade rules and access requirements.

Verification of Conformity (VoC) is the most common technical compulsory certification in Africa and has been promoted to most sub-saharan African countries. Only if the qualified conformity certificate is obtained, the importer can clear the customs clearance at the destination country (land) and obtain the goods.

Before entering Africa, you can understand the conformity certification.

Many African countries have different names for VoC compliance, such as SONCAP in Nigeria, CBCA in Zimbabwe and PVoC in East Africa, which has led to some confusion among traders. For this, he explained, these are all conformance certificates, and they get the same certificate of conformity.

At present, using conformity certification of African countries, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Gabon, guinea and Ghana, food, chemical industry, textiles, electronics and machinery, and other categories.

From the perspective of international trade, conformity certification can be regarded as a reasonable trade technical barrier in Africa. In Africa, conformity certification is made by the government, which corresponds to the national bureau of standards. To import local products, the product quality standards and national norms should be satisfied first.

In the process, the role of third-party testing and certification bodies is indispensable. The African countries entrust the conformity certification inspection of products to qualified third-party testing and certification bodies. The final certificate of conformity certification represents the state authorization. If this certificate of compliance is not obtained, it cannot be proved that the product conforms to the standards and national norms of African countries and therefore cannot be successfully cleared.

Chinese traders will have conformity certification requirements of products are exported to countries in Africa, before delivery, be sure to certification by a qualified third party testing institutions approved by the local conformance certificate. After that, the certificate is cleared at the exit destination.

Quality clearance, still need a paper proof.

In fact, every country or region has different standards and requirements for imported products, such as the Chinese national standard GB, the European Union EN standards, such as the United States have ASTM standard, African countries, too, to import has its own entry requirements. Only those products that meet the standard can enter the target country market smoothly.

African compliance certification lists the control list, which is included in the control list, and is required to obtain a compliance certificate. In terms of Kenya's PVoC, most general trade products are included in the control list, including toys, electrical appliances, textiles, furniture and chemical products. Products that are not included in the control list do not have to provide compliance certificates, but there are other standards and certification requirements for them.

Mr Hui said that a certain type of product could be exported to a country or region, and its quality would meet local technical standards, but it would not be allowed to enter the local market without the relevant certificates. For example, apple phones sold in the Chinese market must be certified by Chinese 3C or illegal.

In the past, "made in China" has been labelled cheap and bad in Africa. Now, Chinese enterprises have basically said goodbye to this awkward stage, the quality of products is not under the words. However, according to xu, it is not enough for Chinese enterprises to pay attention to the requirements of African conformity certification.

Although China's foreign trade industry is mature, many foreign trade enterprises are still in the primary stage of international trade. Now Chinese companies are very concerned about the quality of their products, but they ignore the standard system to prove the quality. "The quality of the product is very important, but it is more important to determine whether the product quality is good or bad, and whether it meets the standard system requirements for export destinations."

It can be said that the requirements of national or regional standards are not the most important. The key is that the products are exported to which destination, which should meet the local requirements. For example, from a global perspective, Europe and the United States more meticulous and strict entry requirements, but traders product conforms to the regulations of these countries and regions, also does not mean that has reached the requirement of Africa. In a word, Africa needs to be exported to Africa. Our foreign trade enterprises should pay special attention to this point.

Borrow a third party to prove who I am.

From the perspective of the third party inspection certification agency professionals, foreign trade enterprise respect the market environment and regulations of African countries, should change ideas, more international trade gradually mature thinking habit, not only pay attention to the product itself, but also to have proved that the consciousness of "my product quality is qualified".

It is worth mentioning that the impact of Indian enterprises on Chinese enterprises in the African market should not be underestimated. Compared to our bicycles, Indian companies make bicycles cheaper, but the quality is poor. But the cleverness of Indian traders is that they have the idea of proving who I am. In this way, if the quality of the export destination is lax, they will soon be able to access the product quality qualification test report through a third-party testing and certification body, and then enter the market. By contrast, Chinese bikes are much more cost-effective, but because of a lack of standard awareness, indians have been allowed to take advantage of them.

"The One Belt And One Road strategy has injected new growth forces into trade between China and Africa, and china-africa trade is also a major trend in the future." Mr. Hui said that he attaches great importance to the Chinese market and will provide continuous professional support for Chinese foreign trade enterprises to obtain African compliance certificates.