NCRA Records Seven Per Cent Year-on-Year Increase in Site Inspections

In 2024, the National Compliance and Regulatory Authority (NCRA) conducted 4,870 site inspections, up from 4,550 in 2023.

This represents a seven per cent increase and is attributed to intensified monitoring of products at each site inspected.

These details are contained in the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica (ESSJ) 2024, an annual publication of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).

The survey informed that consignments were inspected both at ports of entry and at the premises of importers.

“Products that did not conform to the Standards Act, 1968 were detained. There were 1,421 consignments inspected at the ports of entry and premises of importers/distributors, two of these consignments [comprising 89,966 products] were detained for breaches of compulsory standard specifications,” the document stated.

“This represents a 99.9 per cent conformance level compared with 99.8 per cent in 2023 when 1,128 consignments were inspected and a similar two were detained,” it added.

In the domestic market, 323,958 products were inspected, resulting in the withdrawal of 24,842 units from sale due to various labelling breaches.

Additionally, 19,532 units of products were detained in the domestic market due to breaches of compulsory standard specifications. This brought the total number of non-conforming products identified in the domestic market to 44,374 units.

Comparatively, in 2023, of the 162,775 units of products inspected, 50,361 were withdrawn from sale due to similar violations.

The NCRA facilitates the enforcement of standards by monitoring entities to ensure compliance with established specifications.

This is achieved through site inspections, the removal of non-conforming goods, and the registration of importers and manufacturers of specified products.

Source: JIS