Safer paraffin stoves campaign held in Vusimuzi informal settlement, Tembisa

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1 A quarterly publication issued by NRCS THIRD QUARTER October - December 2015 Safer paraffin stoves campaign held in Vusimuzi informal settlement, Tembisa Pretoria Safe paraffin stoves have been distributed to households in the Vusimuzi informal settlement in Tembisa as part of the Safer Stoves Campaign, says the Department of Trade and Industry (dti). >>Page 2 In this Issue... Safer paraffin stoves campaign held in Vusimuzi informal NRCS takes consumer education to Buffalo City - PG 5 settlement, Tembisa - PG 2 The sixth NRCS building lekgotla focused on empowering building officers - PG 4 Nationwide energy-saving campaign to be launched in South Africa - PG 5 The NRSC confiscates over four million non-compliant incandescent lamps - PG 6 Seminar on Food Labelling and Consumer Protection in South Africa - PG 7

2 2 Safer paraffin stoves campaign held in Vusimuzi informal settlement, Tembisa Pretoria Safe paraffin stoves have been distributed to households in the Vusimuzi informal settlement in Tembisa as part of the Safer Stoves Campaign, says the Department of Trade and Industry (dti). A total of households in the area were found to be paraffin does not spill, therefore averting a catastrophe, using stoves that were not safe. These were confiscated said Minister Davies. and replaced with safe stoves. He added that they discovered that nine houses out of 10 Speaking at the handover ceremony on Tuesday, Trade and make use of the illegal stoves because they are cheaper Industry minister, Rob Davies, said the import and sale of than the safe, compliant ones, which are approved by the deadly, non-compliant paraffin stoves is prohibited in the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS). country. Every year people are affected by fires caused by The reason we are against the use of the illegal stoves is unsafe paraffin stoves. This causes hardship in communities, that in the event that it is tipped over, the flame continues government and municipalities. We are saying that through burning, the paraffin spills out and the stove causes fire, this campaign, this has got to stop. We went to the docks devastating communities in the process. With the compliant in Durban and discovered these stoves were shipped in via stove, if it is tipped over, the flame goes out and the cargo. >> Continues to page 4

3 3 Safer paraffin stoves launch in pics

4 4 >> Continues from page 2 We were confiscating and destroying them but the perpetrators involved in this trade have resorted to importing these stoves in bits and pieces, and are setting up illegal factories to assemble and distribute them locally, he explained. We also had a South African Police Service and NRCS driven operation that found four informal and two formal shops selling illegal stoves. The operation resulted in 44 illegal stoves being confiscated, and six arrests were made. Those people are going to be prosecuted in court. The Safer Stoves Campaign involves the dti, Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, NRCS, National Consumer Commission (NCC) and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. The partnership follows a winter campaign that kicked off in June 2015 by the NRCS and NCC, which was aimed at educating consumers about the importance of using approved appliances such as paraffin stoves and heaters to prevent shack fires that often result in loss of lives and damage to property. Today our campaign has reached a new level in that we have brought the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on board, Minister Davies said. Minister Davies said 700 people in the community were trained to promote the importance of safe stoves as well as the importance of getting rid of unsafe stoves. The sixth NRCS building lekgotla focused on empowering building officers Building control officers, the people who inspect buildings for quality and standards for municipalities, need to be empowered and protected in order for them to perform their duties with less complications. buildings; we therefore need to ensure that the Act protects and assists them in performing their duties with ease, he said. Held under the theme Working together to ensure safety of buildings in South Africa, the convention is a platform where various stakeholders in the building industry share ideas with a view to implement the National Building Regulations and Standards Act (NBR&BS Act 103 of 1977) in a uniform manner. The Act provides uniformity in the law, relating to the erection of buildings in the areas of jurisdiction of local authorities for the prescribing of building standards. This was said by NRCS Chief Executive, Asogan Moodley, while delivering a keynote address at the convention, which was held at the Francis Baard District Municipality chamber hall in Kimberly. In his address, Moodley stressed the importance of empowering building officers to ensure uniform implementation of the NBR&BS Act across the country. These officers play a critical role of ensuring safety of NRCS plays an important role within the Built Environment ensuring that buildings are safe, structurally sound and environmentally friendly. Delegates at the convention also discussed, among other issues, ways to ensure that buildings are safe for occupation as well as the status of the NBR&BS Act 103 of 1977, which is currently under review.

5 5 Nationwide energy-saving campaign to be launched in South Africa The National Department of Energy, working together with the Department of Trade and Industry and various stakeholders including the NRCS and SABS is expected to launch an energy-saving campaign across the country. Dubbed the Appliance Check Campaign, it will focus on household appliances and is aimed at creating awareness around ways in which to save energy when using refrigerators, washing machines and other home-related appliances. Manufacturers of these household appliances will also be targeted to ensure that they comply with labelling requirements that are enforced by the NRCS through compulsory specifications. Image source: philadelphia-appliance-repair.com The campaign will be rolled across the country, creating awareness to the people of South Africa about the importance of saving energy, therefore contributing to economic growth and job creation. NRCS takes consumer education to Buffalo City Image source: timeslive.co.za In its quest to expand consumer education regarding the dangers associated with the use of unsafe products, the NRCS in partnership with the Departments of Trade and Industry, and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, hosted a firesimulation exercise in East London. The shack-burning exercise was aimed at educating the residents of Duncan Village, and surrounding areas, about the dangers associated with unsafe products in particular paraffin stoves and heaters. The simulation is also part of the ongoing National Safer Stoves Campaign, which was launched on 8 December 2015 at the Lindelani Sports Grounds in Tembisa.

6 6 The NRSC confiscates over four million non-compliant incandescent lamps The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) regulates compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and incandescent lamps, ensuring the two lighting technologies are safe for use, and that they meet the minimum energy performance standards as set in the technical regulations. Image source: shopify.com The bulk of these lighting products are imported, mainly from the Far East. The strategic move taken by the NRCS to enforce compliance at the ports of entry resulted in the interception of large volumes of non-compliant bulbs, which do not meet the minimum requirements. Recently, in collaboration with SARS, the NRCS impounded 26 containers of non-compliant incandescent lamps, 4.5 million lamps in total, with a market value of approximately R45 million. The non-compliant incandescent lamps will be destroyed later this year in Durban, Cape Town and Gauteng saving the South African economy millions of rands from illicit goods. In the 2015/16 financial year, the regulatory scope of the NRCS has expanded to include the energy efficiency of many household electrical and electronic appliances. The appliances covered include: audio and visual equipment such as televisions and set-top boxes, refrigerators and freezers, electric ovens, washing machines, washer-dryer combinations, tumble dryers, dishwashers, air conditioners and geysers. The enforcement is being implemented in phases from May 2015 to November In addition, these appliances will be required to have appropriate energy-efficiency labels, declaring the energy performance in accordance with the relevant standards. All these efforts are done in line with the call made by President Jacob Zuma in his state of the nation address in June 2014, to radically respond to the country s energy constrains and boost economic growth.

7 7 Seminar on Food Labelling and Consumer Protection in South Africa Image source: ips.lk The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and the National Consumer Commission (NCC) recently hosted a seminar on Food Labelling and Consumer Protection in South Africa, at Diep in die Berg in Pretoria on Wednesday, 25 November According to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, the mislabelling of various food products is common in South Africa, and this not only violates food regulations but also poses a number of economic, ethical as well as health challenges. Consumers face violations such as offering products with expired dates, defacing of labels, no labels and overall failure to label properly. Government is therefore not only concerned about the failure of some entities in the food-value chain to stick to the parameters of the law in order to ensure consumer safety, but also the impact that mislabelling has on producers, importers and retailers of various food products. The inappropriate disclosure of the country of origin particularly creates challenges for both consumers and companies, and therefore the need to adhere to the rules of origin parameters as commonly accepted in international trade, said Minister Davies at the seminar. The seminar was a follow up to food labelling challenges that were identified recently, including the issues identified in the report on species substitution and mislabelling detected in meat products as well as the investigations conducted by the NCC. The seminar took a holistic view in respect of how issues of food labelling affect consumers, the domestic as well as the offensive interests of South African companies abroad. The seminar also focused on the trends and developments regarding the labelling of food products in the consumer market, the food labelling regulations within the context of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) of 2008 in South Africa and the respective state of enforcement/compliance or lack thereof, the risks and consequences of misrepresentation and non-compliance with food labelling regulations, country of origin food labelling requirements as well as the approaches to effectively enforce food labelling regulations in the country. The seminar was attended by all stakeholders in the food industry, specifically food-industry associations in the various sub-sectors, policy makers, retailers, importers, exporters, regulators, lobby groups, activists, academics and other experts concerned with food labelling and consumer protection issues.

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