Substandard Products: SON Seeks Amendment To Act

The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) said it is working with the National Assembly to amend its Act to enable it to prosecute producers of fake drugs and other substandard products.

SON said the existing Act is limiting its operations hence the need for the amendment.

“We are already working with NASS to amend the existing Act to increase penalties like jail terms to defaulters whose offences relate to lack of standardisation of products in the country,” director-general of SON, Farouk Salim, said.

Salim, who spoke on the topic: ‘The Role of Standardisation in Building Resilient Non-oil Sector’ at the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria conference in Abuja, said

said the bill to amend SON Act when passed into law would criminalise the production, manufacturing and distribution of substandard products in the country.

Represented by an assistant director in the agency, Mariam Samson, Salim explained that the Act when amended would ensure that both the manufacturers and importers of low-quality products apart from getting heavily fined may also face jail terms according to the severity of their offence.