Standards agency sees 55% leap in non-tax fees collections, reports K350 million in 2022

The Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency (ZCSA) has collected over K350 million from non-tax revenue from companies as at end 2022, which is part of its execution mandate.

This was an increase from the targeted K225 million, giving a positive variance of about 55 percent.

This is according to Executive Director Gerald Chizinga in the 2022 annual report released on Tuesday.

Chizinga attributed the increase to the use of online payment systems.

“The agency collects fees for non-tax revenue in the execution of its mandate. The target for the year under review was K225,426,056.04. The agency collected K351,286,309.77, giving a positive variance of about 55 percent.

“The use of the single payment point on the Zambia electronic single window and the GSB significantly increased the agency’s efficiency in ensuring that fees for imported products were promptly settled by clients,” he said.

Chizinga also said the agency was set to pursue the outstanding declarations of 52 new compulsory standards this year.

These have already been recommended for declaration as compulsory standards,

Chizinga said this was one of the focus areas of the agency for this year.

“Declaration of these standards will widen the scope of the agency to cover other products, thereby enhancing public safety through its regulatory intervention,” he said.

Chizinga said increasing the scope of accreditation was another focus area for the agency this year.

He explained that this would enhance the recognition of services provided by the agency and add value to the implementation of its mandate.

“The agency will continue to pursue excellence in its service delivery and to this end, will make strides towards increasing the scope of accreditation of its inspection services to the international standard ISO/IEC 17020 to other products subject to compulsory standards,” Chizinga stated.

He further said the agency would this year work on computerising more of its internal processes to enhance efficiency and service deliver.

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