UNBS closes two factories over undersize tarpaulins
By Our reporter
NAMAVE – The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has closed factories belonging to Modern Agro Investments Limited and Namanve Tarpaulin Weaving Limited for producing and selling undersized tarpaulins. The operation followed a viral video on social media in which two men were seen measuring sheets labeled 30×30 feet that turned out to be much smaller.
One of the sheets, reportedly from Namanve Tarpaulin Weaving Limited, measured approximately 23.3 by 22 feet, while another from Modern Agro Investments Limited measured less than 22 feet on one side. A subsequent investigation confirmed that the two companies were producing, selling, and storing undersized and poorly labeled tarpaulins, a violation of Uganda Standard US EAS 1073:2022 and the UNBS Act Cap 210.
Both factories were immediately sealed off. UNBS has since encouraged the public to report suspected cases of substandard products through its social media platforms or toll-free lines 0800133133 / 0800233233. Under Section 2 (1)(f) of the UNBS Act, the bureau is mandated to enforce standards to protect the public from harmful, dangerous, and substandard products.
UNBS officials taking measures of tarpaulins at one of the factories
Section 20 of the same law prohibits the manufacture, sale, distribution, or storage of any product that does not meet the compulsory Uganda standards. The relevant standard, US EAS 1073:2022, requires that the size of a tarpaulin shall not vary by more than one percent—plus or minus—from the dimensions declared on its label, as measured per ISO 22198.
