Jan-18-2024
On 11 December 2023, five East African countries (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of Draft East African Standards for 10 fertilisers. The notifications are open for comments for 60 days from the date of notification.
East African Standards
East African Standards (EAS) are developed by the East African Standards Committee (EASC) to harmonise quality requirements for products and services in the East African Community. The aim is to remove trade barriers within the Community through harmonised standardisation.
East African Standards are developed by technical committees that are representative of key stakeholders including government, academia, consumer groups, the private sector, and other interested parties. East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards they are implementing.
Included fertilisers
The draft East African Standards for the 10 fertilisers and biofertilisers are listed in the table below. The purpose of the standards is to protect human and animal health and safety and protection of the environment; to reduce trade barriers; to reduce costs and increase productivity; to prevent deceptive practices and to protect consumers.
Standard |
Description of contents |
Fertilizers —Phosphate rock powder —Specification, second edition. |
Draft East African Standard specifying requirements, sampling and test methods for phosphate rock fertilizers in powder form of biogenic sedimentary origin. |
Fertilizers ― Granulated phosphate rock ― Specification. |
Draft East African Standard specifying requirements, sampling and test methods for granulated phosphate rock fertilizers of biogenic sedimentary origin. |
Fertilizers —Triple Superphosphate —Specification, Second edition. |
Draft East African Standard specifying requirements, sampling and test methods for Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) fertilizer.
|
Fertilizers —Potassium sulphate (sulphate of potash) —Specification, Second edition. |
Draft East African Standard specifying requirements, sampling and test methods for potassium sulphate (sulphate of potash) fertilizer.
|
Fertilizers —Potassium chloride (muriate of potash) —Specification, Second edition. |
Draft East African Standard specifying requirements of sampling and test methods for potassium chloride (muriate of potash) fertilizer. |
Fertilizers —Calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) —Specification, Second edition |
Draft East African standard specifying requirements, sampling and test methods for calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) fertilizer. |
Fertilizers —Urea —Specification
|
Draft East African Standard specifying the requirements, sampling and test methods for urea fertilizer. This standard does not cover specifications for coated urea.
|
Fertilizers —Ammonium Sulphate (Sulphate of Ammonia) —Specification, Second edition. |
Draft East African Standard specifying requirements, sampling and test methods for ammonium sulphate fertilizer. |
Fertilizers —Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK) compound —Specification, Second edition. |
Draft East African Standard specifying requirements, sampling and test methods for NPK fertilizer (compound).
|
Biofertilizers —Specifications, First edition.
|
Draft East African standard specifying requirements, methods of sampling and test for biofertilizers. This draft standard covers the following types of biofertilizers: Rhizobia, Phosphate solubilizing microorganism, Azospirillum, and Azotobacter. |
Content of the draft standards
The draft standards contain information on the following:
General requirements (form and particle size)
Specific requirements (content and test methods)
Contaminants (limits and test methods for heavy metals)
Packaging
Labelling (in accordance with ISO 7409 in English and/or any other official language of the country of destination).
Sampling
Nov-01-2023
The non-governmental organization (NGO) Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) has conducted a market monitoring of skin lightening products sold online and found that toxic mercury cosmetics are still being marketed as a ‘solution’ for dark skin. The ZMWG is urging the negotiators at the Fifth Conference of the Parties (COP5) to the Minamata Convention to address the enforcement gaps and implementation failures related to mercury-containing cosmetics.
African proposal
In May 2023, Botswana, and Burkina Faso on behalf of the African Parties to the Minamata Convention, proposed an amendment to eliminate the use of mercury in cosmetics, removing the current 1ppm threshold for mercury in cosmetics and phasing out the substance completely by 2025. Mercury is used in products such as skin lightening products (SLPs) which are predominantly used by people of colour to obtain lighter skin. The text of the proposal can be found here.
The African amendment seeks to strengthen the Minamata Convention provision by:
Banning the production and sale of all ‘mercury-added’ cosmetics, not just those containing more than 1 ppm of mercury.
Restricting the trade of ‘mercury-added’ SLPs, including sales, offers for sale, marketing, advertising, and display.
Coordinating inter-ministerial, bilateral, and/or regional strategies to phase-out mercury SLPs
Increasing public awareness regarding the risks associated with mercury SLPs.
Report by Zero Mercury Working Group
On 12 October 2023, the NGO Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) released its report on ‘Online Marketing of Toxic Skin Lighteners’. In the report they state that they have found mercury levels ranging from 1.18 ppm to 74,800 ppm in 191 out of 213 SLPs purchased from online platforms.
The report highlights the current lack of adequate measures to stop the production and online sale of mercury-added SLPs. Online platforms, continue to avoid their duty to stop unethical sellers from advertising, marketing and selling illegal SLPs.
Based on information from the packaging of these products ZMWG said that most of these products are manufactured or distributed from Pakistan (34 %), Thailand (17%) and China (13%) and sold on various online platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Shopee, and Flipkart
In addition, ZMWG has highlighted some other issues with the information on the packaging of SLPs:
The information on the packaging is often inaccurate and misleading information.
Mercury-added SLPs that did not list mercury as an ingredient
Country of origin is not always listed.
Obscure name of manufacturer
Web links that lead to unsafe or unrelated webpages.
Phone numbers that do not connect to the manufacturer.
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