Engineered for the first mile. Proven on your own crop.

The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) certifies food products and food-safety management systems and enforces compulsory Uganda Standards — in Uganda the food regulator and the national standards body are the same institution. The Ministry of Health administers the Food and Drugs Act, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) covers primary production and export phytosanitary control. Imports are cleared by the Uganda Revenue Authority Customs Department against UNBS requirements. A single Food and Agriculture Regulatory Authority (FARA) has been proposed in a Bill tabled in Parliament but is not yet established, so UNBS remains the operative food product authority.

A UNBS certification permit to apply the UNBS Distinctive Mark, widely known as the Q-Mark, is granted per product after a factory or technical audit and product testing, and is applied for through the UNBS Certification Information Management System (CIMS). It is mandatory for products falling under compulsory Uganda Standards. Food plants are separately certified under the UNBS systems certification scheme, and premises also need local-government trading and public-health clearances. The Ugandan project owner should confirm with UNBS what applies to their specific product and site before production or sale.

Plant hygiene and food safety sit under the Food and Drugs Act and its subsidiary regulations, the Public Health Act, and the Uganda National Bureau of Standards Act. For plant hygiene and food safety, UNBS certifies against US 130:2017 (HACCP) and US ISO 22000:2018; East African Standards adopted as Uganda Standards carry the "US EAS" prefix. Layout, food-contact materials and cleaning design should be reviewed against the standards applicable to the operation, and the applicable standards and editions confirmed with UNBS.

Regulated imports run through the UNBS Pre-Export Verification of Conformity to Standards (PVoC) programme, operated by UNBS-appointed inspection bodies under the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (Inspection and Clearance of Imports) Regulations, 2022. The PVoC scopes published by those inspection bodies list industrial machinery and accessories, including spare parts, for a manufacturing process and not for re-sale, and farm machinery, agro-processing equipment and spare parts not for resale, as exempt from PVoC — the route most turnkey food-processing and drying plants fall under. The exemption is not automatic: the importer must obtain a written exemption letter or approval from UNBS before clearance, and an exempt consignment can still be subject to destination inspection by UNBS on arrival. Treatment is decided per HS code, so confirm the classification and the exemption route with UNBS and your clearing agent before shipment.

Depending on classification, a consignment may need a Certificate of Conformity (CoC) and an Import Clearance Certificate (ICC) issued through the UNBS imports e-portal, or a written UNBS exemption approval where the machinery exemption applies, alongside the commercial invoice, packing list, shipping documents and Uganda Revenue Authority customs entries. Goods arriving without a CoC are subject to destination inspection and a penalty surcharge. The compulsory-standards schedule changes: Legal Notice No. 14 of 2025, issued 30 June 2025 and effective 1 January 2026, introduced 57 changes to it — 30 newly established standards and 27 amendments to existing ones. The Ugandan importer and clearing agent should confirm the exact document list against the current schedule.

Not as a blanket rule for every plant. UNBS operates a systems certification scheme against US 130:2017 (HACCP) and US ISO 22000:2018, and food-safety management may be required by regulation, by buyers or by an export market depending on the product and destination. Whether certification is needed for a particular plant, and in which scheme, should be confirmed with UNBS and with the intended customers.

No — this page makes no claim that GEM or any particular machine already carries Uganda certification. GEM Foodtech can discuss engineering specifications and provide the available technical documentation for a proposed line. The applicable conformity route, any PVoC exemption approval and the documentary requirements must be verified for the specific machine and shipment by the Ugandan importer, with UNBS and their clearing agent. Note that electrical and metrological items shipped with a plant — motors, switchgear, control panels, cables and weighing instruments — can fall under their own compulsory standards and may require a Certificate of Conformity even where the process equipment itself is exempt.

Our engineering team can review food-contact materials, cleanability, process flow, utility loads against a 415 V / 50 Hz supply with standby generation, and the drawings and technical documentation a Ugandan plant needs during project design. Final site approvals, UNBS certification, registrations and import clearances remain the responsibility of the Ugandan project owner and the relevant authorities.