Tanzania’s Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) will start requiring all lubricant products to be registered with the agency.

According to EWURA, all importers, producers, distributors and sellers of lubricants need to register their products by March 31, 2018. Lubricants that have not been registered with the EWURA won’t be allowed to be imported, produced, distributed or sold in the country.

EWURA Public Relations Manager Titus Kaguo told a local paper that “it had come to the authority’s attention that the situation on the ground with regard to the business of lubricants was pretty bad.”

“Having successfully brought sanity into the fuel business in the country, we are now turning our attention to the business of lubricants. We are coming with full force to regulate it,” Kaguo said. He added that “fake, sub-standard and recycled lubricants were rampant” in the country, based on “a quick survey and reports from consumers.”

“Generally speaking, the situation is worse. People are selling lubricants that are not fit for use, causing damage to cars and other machinery, occasioning immense loss to the owners.”

EWURA will collaborate with the Government Chemist Laboratory (GCLA), the Fair Competition Commission (FCC) and the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) in implementing the program to oversee Tanzania’s lubricants market.