President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Mark Myers represented the JCC at the labelling seminar. - File

Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

The Bureau of Standards Jamaica will start confiscating goods that do not meet its labeling requirements, having announced that there soon will be 'zero tolerance' for breaches under its compliance programme.

The laws also allow criminal prosecution, but the agency has not named it as an option.

The countdown began last week with a seminar for manufacturers, importers and distributors on labeling standards, and with an admission that the bureau itself was still finalising elements of the compliance programme.

The agency will in the next fours months, hold a series of seminars targetted at different groups on what is required of them, after which its penalties will hit the non-compliant.

Broadly, the bureau will assess for nutritional content/ingredients, country of origin and manufacturer's address, the 'best before' date, which indicates how perishable the item is, and its batch code.

At present, there is a $2,500 charge by the Bureau for a label assessment either done on request of a business operator or when the BSJ pulls a product for testing from a factory it is inspecting.

Under the current programme, however, the charge will be $1,000 to register each product label, renewable every two years.

The fee is not at issue, though the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, which co-hosted last week's seminar, has said it might be a bit higher.

Uncertainty

What is worrying some companies is the uncertainty of what the compliance programme might cost them in packaging, especially if their current labels don't pass muster with the standards agency.

"We are not in a position to comment on how it will affect our cost profile," marketing manager of GraceKennedy, Gabrielle Sang, told the Financial Gleaner.

"It's a bit too early to say because we posed a question of 'If a cherry is changed to a melon, whether we would have to change the registration' and they were not able to answer."

One of the sectors alreadyidentified as non-compliant is the prepared foods sector, some of whose ready-to-eat products generally do not include an expiry date.

Super Plus Foods Store, owned by the Chen family, is also worried about the treatment to be given to 'staples' that are bought in bulk and bagged by supermarkets in generic plastic packaging - a practice of large and small grocers alike.

"It might affect the price on those goods because the margins are already small and the unit cost to redo the labels - which quantity we would have ordered based on the price breaks and savings given - would go up if the Bureau says you have to change those labels."

He named the packaged flour, rice, sugar and cornmeal - all basic items - that are often identified by shoppers by the look of the product encased in clear plastic bags.

Chen said if not properly managed, the process could hold up the flow of goods and affect the supply chain.

"It could be costly," he said.

At last week's forum, however, manager of the standards bureau's inspectorate division, Fay Anderson, dismissed concerns from importers that the labeling programme could push up consumer prices, countering that it was more likely to boost their sales.

More satisfied customers

"Improved product information increases user confidence in products. Properly labelled products will undoubtedly improve public safety and result in more satisfied customers," said Anderson.

Labelling is an element of the cost of manufacturing a product which according to GraceKennedy's Sang is sometimes factored in the final cost of the product.

The conglomerate, whose hallmark is quality for the $13 billion of sales it makes annually, could be facing big packaging costs that run into millions of dollars if the standards agency were to require adjustments, according to checks by the Financial Gleaner.

Pascal Lee, managing director of Labels and Boxes Limited, a local printery which specialises in labels, says his business prices range from 50 cents to $1.50 per label printed on regular label paper.

A million labels, assuming no discounts, would cost $500,000 to $1.5 million.

Plating is additional, at $3,000 to $6,000 per plate, per colour, depending on the volume. This means if a company's label has four colours and a change in detail on the label is to be made, it could cost the manufacturer $12,000 each time to make that change.

The digital output costs range between $5,000 and $20,000 while the dye cut, which would not be affected by any changes the manufacturer has to make, ranges from $10,000 to $25,000, depending on the shape and the size of the label.

Price range

The art work, depending on the complexity of the design, can be as cheap as $1,000 or range to $1 million, based on the concept and photographic work, said Arnold Foote, managing director of Advertising and Marketing Limited.

The BSJ's Senior Director of Technical Services, Gladstone Rose, says it is difficult for the agency to name the actual cost to a company to register its labels, adding that the price is often dictated by the type of test.

If micro-biological testing is involved, the cost to register the labels could be greater.

Rose said the two-year registration period would allow the Bureau time to pull apart the ingredients in a product and that packagers will be liable if the ingredients stated on labels are not reflected in the tests.

In cases where companies change their labels for one-off promotional stints, the Bureau should be notified, he warned.

If found non-compliant, registration of a product is withdrawn and the goods are rehabilitated at the trader's expense. Once rehabilitated, the label will have to be re-assessed and re-registered.

Under laws, such as the Weights and Measures Act of 1976, the Standards Act of 1969, the Petroleum Act, the Customs Act and The Processed Food Act of 1959, the Bureau has the right to confiscate goods deemed non-compliant with its standards.

In fact, offences under these acts attract fines ranging from $200 to $500,000 for each day of the offence or 12 months imprisonment on conviction.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com