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Burundi Bureau of Standards (BBN)

  • Act N°1/036 of the December 13 the 1989 on establishment of the standardization and quality system
  • Act n°1/17 of may 7th,1992 on establishment of the standardization and quality control Bureau
The functions of the Burundi Bureau of Standards are to:
  • promote standardization in industry and commerce
  • prepare or modify specifications and codes of practice
  • promote quality assurance and management
  • proceed on metrology testing
  • create and proceed on management of the certification mark
  • coordinate committees, laboratories and others services in the field of standardization and quality control
  • represent the national interest in the field of standardization and quality control
The Burundi Bureau is divided into four technical Divisions:
  1. Certification, accreditation and inspection.
  2. Standardization and Metrology
  3. Documentation on standards
  4. Training and technical assistance to Companies
INSPECTION OF IMPORT AND EXPORT COMODITIES BY THE BBN

a) Imports

Food Inspection and other Commodities:
  1. Verification of foods and others commodities inspected / certified in the Country of origin
  2. Inspection and certification of foods and others commoditieswhich are not inspected / certified in country of origin
  3. Testing carried out by national laboratories appointed by the Certification, Accreditation and Inspection Division of the BBN 
b) Exports

Tested Product Certificate:
  1. Application for certification by the company
  2. Inspection of the Product by the Division
  3. Sampling by the Division
  4. Testing by a national laboratory appointed by the Division
  5. Certification of conformity or notification of non-conformity.
Quality Management system Certificates (ISO 9001:2005 and HACCP):
  1. Company: Brewery :
    Certified by VERITAS under the supervision of Heineken Society.
    Before certification the Preliminary assessment was carried out by the BBN.
  2. Preliminary assessment in 3 enterprises and training of staff and technical assistance by the BBN.
  3. Ten others enterprises to be assessed this year, according to the programme.
Main Products Certified by BBN:
  1. Organic products (fruits and vegetables)
  2. Honey
  3. palm and cotton oil
  4. Passion fruit juice
  5. mineral water
  6. Milk
  7. Tea
Quarantine procedure:
  1. Report by the Inspector to the Director of BBN
  2. Notification of not delivery of the product to the Director of customer by the Director of BBN
  3. Notification to the importer of non-conformity to the standard requirements
  4. Re - export or destroy. 
LABORATORY DATABASE
  1. Certificate of donation of laboratory equipment issued to BBN by PTB in April, 1st 2009 : By Friday,may, 29, 2009 PTB sent laboratory equipment to BBN.
  2. The testing facilities are under construction : They were be available at the end of this month as it is scheduled.
  3. UNDP also supported the BBN in 2007 ( donation of Laboratory equipment such as gas chromatograph, ...)
  4. Before these two donations the government of Burundi supported the BBN by some calibration equipment (2005)
  5. This year the government decided to support BBN with lot of chemical products.
  6. In the field of product testing the BBN cooperates with national laboratories. These laboratories are :
  • Food laboratory of the science agronomical institute
  • National food technology centre
  • A private laboratory
  • Microbiology laboratory of the University of Burundi.
Bureau Burundais de Normalisation et Controle de la Qualite
  Boulevard de la Tanzanie No 500
  B.P 3535 Bujumbura, Burundi
  Tel: +257-22221577 /  22221815
  e-mail:  bbnorme(a)yahoo.fr
see also
Kenya Bureau of Standards
www.kebs.org
Rwanda Bureau of Standards
www.rwanda-standards.org
Tanzania Bureau of Standards
www.tbs.go.tz
Uganda National Bureau of Standards
www.unbs.go.ug
Tanzania Weights and Measures Agency (WMA)
www.wma.go.tz