Ban On Used Goods: We’re Working With GSA To Adopt International Standards - Energy Commission

The Energy Commission says that it is collaborating with the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA) to ensure that the nation embraces global standards for imported electrical goods. According to the Assistant Manager of Energy Efficiency, Nsoh Zan, the Commission had realised that a lot of dealers were bringing in obsolete products, and in some cases new electrical appliances that did not meet the substandard they were required to meet.

Thus, he highlighted that his outfit’s collaboration with the GSA has enabled them to create minimum energy performance standards for electrical appliances. A lot of them [the dealers] have said that their used products are even more durable than the brand new ones that are coming into the country. How do we establish this as an energy commission?

We play the role of a referee and so the only way to establish that is to come up with minimum energy performance standards, and that is what we have done by working closely with the Ghana Standard Authority to adopt international standards. The Energy Commission has been pushing the agenda to ban the importation of some electrical appliances as there have been persistent concerns raised about Ghana being at risk of being turned into a dumping ground for electronic waste.

The Commission issued a statement that highlighted that 19 used electrical appliances and renewable energy products, which included TV sets, air conditioners, washing machines, and computers, will be affected by the ban. However, some groups, such as the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), have asked that Parliament intervenes in the implementation of the ban, with the justification that the ban may increase the level of unemployment in the country.

But Mr Zan voiced out that he did not understand the fears of the second-hand dealers as the proposition by the Energy Commission was not intended to rob them of their work. He emphasised that the sole thing his outfit sought to do was to prohibit products that did not meet the minimum performance standards from coming into the country.

He added that the Commission was very clear on what they were doing, hence the reason they did not want to divert the discussion to either second-hand or new products. With that, Mr Zan advised all second-hand dealers on what they were expected to do if they believed their products met the required ststandards. If they think their used products will meet the minimum performance standards, all they have to do is to submit the technical documentation of these products.