29 Oct 2020

Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) and the Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority (BoMRA) have signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on cooperation at designated ports of entry.

The MoA will focus on controlling the importation of medicines, medical devices and cosmetics.

Speaking during the signing ceremony in Gaborone on October 27, BURS acting commissioner-general, Mr Segolo Lekau said the agreement was necessary since their primary role was to mobilise tax revenue for the development of Botswana and to manage border operations. 

He noted that BURS was the competent authority in terms of regulation of importation and exportation of goods in Botswana while BoMRA regulated the supply chain of human and veterinary medicines, medical devices, and cosmetics in Botswana.

Mr Lekau said the agreement provided for BURS to collect fees imposed in terms of the Medicines and Related Substances Act. 

He said this was in accordance with Section 5 of the Customs Act of 2018, which empowers BURS to enter into such arrangements with other government entities with the view to enhance the enforcement of relevant national statutes for the respective entities. 

He said upon remittance of the revenue to BoMRA, BURS would deduct six per cent of the total collected fees to cover the cost of providing the service.

The agreement, he said was an opportunity to set out areas of cooperation and clarify roles to ensure seamless operations at designated ports of entry particularly to control imported medicines, medical devices and related substances. 

He further indicated that BoMRA would play a critical role by capacitating BURS officials in the verification and handling of safe medicines as authorised. 

Mr Lekau highlighted that they were aware of the proliferation of fake medicines and associated products in the local markets, noting that this was a very serious challenge that was not only harmful to the economy but also the health of the nation. 

“This worries us a great deal because these fake medicines are mostly imported and pass-through ports of entry under our watch,” he added.

He said this called for all stakeholders to work even closer together to curb the illicit trade in medicines and associated products.

For his part, BoMRA CEO, Dr Stephen Ghanie said the MoA would ensure that only products that had undergone regulatory assessments would be imported into Botswana. 

He indicated that enforcement operations as the authority were reliant on the agreement, to safeguard citizens and ensure the incidences of substandard and falsified medical products were reduced.

Dr Ghanie highlighted his desire for the continuation of efforts for long term strategic partnership between the two entities, and expressed belief that the event marked the beginning of a very important milestone between the two organisations. ends