DOES UGANDA HAVE THE NECESSARY MANUFACTURING STANDARDS FRAMEWORK TO PURSUE THE NDP III’S IMPORT REPLACEMENT STRATEGY?

This study assesses Uganda’s legal, regulatory and institutional standards framework in pursuit of the third National Development Plan’s import replacement/export promotion strategies. Using the National Standards Capability Assessment Framework, the study conducts a mini-survey of the manufacturing sector and key informant interviews to establish the status of Uganda’s legal, regulatory and institutional standards framework. The results show that despite efforts to create the legal, regulatory and institutional framework for standards, several challenges still exist in the implementation that need to be addressed to achieve the strategy’s objectives. These include; outdated laws, corruption, inadequate funding to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), and the lack of awareness about standards among stakeholders. We recommend that there is a need to regularly evaluate laws, regulations, and policies related to standards to address gaps in their implementation; understand what the manufacturers/traders need and how they can be supported to adhere to standards; increase training and staffing for UNBS to address human resource gaps, and empower the local authorities to know what standards are, and to report the culprits who do not meet the basic requirements for standards as a way of strengthening enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]