TBS Certification Tanzania: The Standards Mark for Local Manufacturers and Agro-Processors

The rules sit in the Standards Act, Cap. 130 (Act No. 2 of 2009, as amended) and the Standards (Registration of Premises and Certification of Products) Regulations, 2021, GN No. 683 of 2021. Small producers introduced by SIDO can be certified at government expense. Zanzibar runs a separate bureau.

What the law says about TBS certification

The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) is the Mainland standards body. It works under the Standards Act, 2009 (Act No. 2 of 2009), cited by TBS as the Standards Act, Cap. 130. That Act replaced the Standards Act of 1975 on 20 March 2009.

Four provisions matter most to a manufacturer:

• Section 4: lists the Bureau's functions, including quality control, testing, approving standards marks and granting licences. Standards declared by the Minister prevail over any other standard (s.4(3)).
• Section 18: once a standards mark is declared, no person may apply it to a commodity except under a TBS licence, and only if the commodity meets the standard. Breach is an offence (s.18(8)).
• Section 20: the Minister may declare a standard compulsory by Gazette notice, on TBS's recommendation. After the date in the notice, a person may not sell a non-conforming commodity (s.20(6)).
• Section 21: a refusal, condition, suspension or cancellation can be appealed to the Minister within fourteen days, and then to the Commercial Division of the High Court.

The Finance Act, 2019 (Act No. 8 of 2019) added food and cosmetics from 1 July 2019. Part VII inserted Parts IVA and IVB into the Standards Act. New section 21A(1) bars the manufacture, import, distribution or sale of pre-packaged food unless TBS has registered it. New section 26A requires food and cosmetics to be made, sold or stored only in registered premises. Part VIII renamed the old food and drugs authority the Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) and removed food and cosmetics from its Act.

The working detail is in the Standards (Registration of Premises and Certification of Products) Regulations, 2021. They were published as GN No. 683 on 24 September 2021 and replaced the Standards (Certification) Regulations, 2009 (GN No. 406 of 2009). Licences issued under the old rules are deemed issued under the new ones (reg. 37).

Who is affected by TBS certification?

• Agro-processors making sunflower, sesame or groundnut oil, maize or wheat flour, rice, sugar, honey, dairy products or bottled water for sale in packs.
• Food manufacturers of any pre-packaged food, because regulation 5 bars its sale unless TBS has registered and certified it.
• Cosmetics makers, who need product registration and registered premises under regulation 13.
• Industrial manufacturers of goods under a compulsory standard, such as cement, cables, steel or building materials.
• Exporters whose buyers ask for proof of conformity, and manufacturers who want PVoC relief on imported inputs.
• Foreign investors setting up a factory, who should note that micro and small industries are reserved for citizens under GN 487A of 2025 (register NEW-08-14).

Loose food sold without a pack is outside the licensing part of the Regulations (reg. 12(1)). The dealer must still keep it safe and hygienic, and TBS may inspect and test it. Imported pre-packaged food follows a separate import registration route (reg. 6(2)).

Which products need TBS certification?

A standard becomes compulsory when the product affects health, safety or the environment, or has a major effect on the economy. TBS explains this on its compulsory standards page. Every other standard is voluntary. A voluntary standard can still be certified, and many buyers ask for it.

TBS publishes the list of new and revised compulsory standards as of October 2025. It runs to more than 800 entries. The table shows the lines an agro-processor meets most often.

Buy the current edition of your standard before you design the process. Where no standard exists, TBS may set its own conditions (reg. 11).

How does food certification sit between TBS, TMDA and COPRA?

Since 1 July 2019 the split on the Mainland is clear in law. TBS registers food and cosmetics, their premises and the standards mark. TMDA keeps medicines, medical devices and diagnostics. A product whose label claims to treat or prevent disease moves toward the medicines regime, so classify borderline products with both bodies before printing labels. Our guide to registering medicines and medical devices with TMDA covers that side.

Edible oil processors also meet COPRA. As our COPRA registration guide explains, GN No. 92 of 2026 designated crude and refined edible oils for regulation by the Cereals and Other Produce Regulatory Authority. COPRA registers the processor and licenses the trade. TBS certifies the oil against its standard. One does not replace the other.

For the full licence stack around a food plant see our guide to food business licensing with TBS, TMDA and the council.

How do you apply for TBS certification?

TBS takes applications through its electronic system, i-SQMT. The TBS product certification page directs applicants to the e-services button or to portal.tbs.go.tz. The TBS e-services page lists the i-SQMT portal alongside an Online Application System.

Check first that the company name, TIN and factory address match your BRELA and licence records. TBS licenses the named applicant for the listed products (reg. 26(3)).

The application form is in the First Schedule to GN 683. TBS numbers each application in order of receipt and acknowledges it (reg. 24). The form states that an application is valid for three months from receipt. If TBS asks for samples or information and you do not supply them within four months without good reason, the application lapses (reg. 10(3)). A fresh application is then treated as new.

TBS published its signed Standard Mark License and Tested Product Certification Scheme Procedure on 24 August 2026, on its publications page. The signed procedure is a scanned file that we could not read as text. Ask the zonal office for its current service times and for which products get a tested product certificate rather than the mark.

What happens at sampling, testing and factory inspection?

TBS sets out five stages on its product certification page. The Regulations add the rules for how officers inspect and sample. The table combines both, with the time limits the law fixes. TBS publishes no processing time for the inspection, testing or decision stages; regulation 34 leaves those to its client service charter.

TBS says the decision rests only on two reports: the factory inspection and the laboratory results. Both must show no fault in production, system or product. If either fails, you correct the fault and an inspector takes new samples. Plan production so the line runs on the day of the visit, because TBS will not certify a factory it has not seen working.

For food premises the Regulations list location away from smoke, dust and vermin, sound design, space, lighting, ventilation and cleanable surfaces (reg. 21(2)). Keep batch records from the first day of production.

How long is a TBS licence valid and how do you renew it?

A licence to use the standards mark is valid for no more than twelve months (reg. 26(5)). TBS describes the licence and the tested product certificate as valid for one year. Apply for renewal sixty days before expiry (reg. 27(1)). Renewal needs continued conformity to the standard and payment of the fees.

TBS may suspend a licence at once if the product or process fails, inspectors are refused access, production stops for six consecutive months, or a condition is broken (reg. 28(1)). It may cancel a licence for a false statement, fraud, a relevant conviction, six months of suspension, or a change of premises (reg. 28(2)). Except for conviction cases, you get notice and a chance to be heard within thirty days. On cancellation, marks on stock must be removed or defaced.

Changes to composition, packaging or labelling must be notified within fourteen days (reg. 31).

What does TBS certification cost?

TBS charges are set by the Standards (Fees and Charges) Regulations, 2021, GN No. 496L of 2021, cited in regulations 21 and 33 of GN 683. Zatra's government fee register records that TBS does not publish its product certification, premises and food registration fees (register F0365). The amount is therefore assessed by TBS on your application, and the control number it issues governs.

Every government charge is paid to the authority at the official rate against a GePG control number. It is separate from any professional fee, and Zatra never marks it up. The full schedule is in our government fees handbook.

Can small manufacturers get TBS certification free?

Yes, on conditions. TBS says on its product certification page that the government budgets each year to meet certification costs for start-up, small and medium enterprises. An eligible enterprise may pay no fee at all. To join, it needs an introduction letter from its nearest SIDO (Small Industries Development Organisation) office describing the business.

The Daily News reported on 1 November 2023 that the joint TBS and SIDO programme charges nothing for the first three years. TBS told the paper that the government sets aside TZS 150 million to TZS 200 million a year for the cost. Entrepreneurs attend a SIDO course and then receive the letter. Food Business Africa reported a stepped charge after year three, rising to the full fee in year seven. That step is not on a TBS page we could read, so it is listed under Figures to confirm.

The scheme covers TBS charges only; council, BRELA, NEMC and OSHA fees still apply. Visit SIDO first, because the letter is part of the application. Our startup and SME advisory guide covers wider support.

What documents does TBS ask for?

Regulation 7 lists the documents for a pre-packaged food application. Most of them apply to any product. The checklist adds what the inspection and the SME route need.

Worked example: certifying a sunflower oil processor in Dodoma

A citizen-owned company presses and filters sunflower oil in Dodoma City. It employs twelve people and has a fixed investment of TZS 80 million in presses, filters and a filling line. It sells one-litre and five-litre bottles to shops in Dodoma and Singida, and a supermarket chain now asks for the TBS mark.

The oil falls under TZS 50:2025/EAS 299:2023. The company obtains a SIDO letter, files on i-SQMT and runs the line on inspection day. Its government charges are below.

Without the SIDO route, the company pays what TBS assesses under GN 496L. The council may use BLB137 (TZS 100,000) instead of oil milling, and NEMC may place a small press in a lower category. The example is illustrative; control numbers govern.

A sunflower processor should also ask TBS whether its oil must meet the fortified oils standard, TZS 1313. A flour mill would run the same steps against TZS 328-1 for maize or TZS 439-1 for wheat.

How does TBS certification link to PVoC for imports?

Local certification and import conformity are two sides of one system. Imports regulated by TBS need a certificate of conformity before shipment under the Pre-shipment Verification of Conformity (PVoC) programme. The fee is 0.50% of FOB on Route A, with a minimum of USD 250 and a maximum of USD 5,000 (register F0355).

A certified manufacturer gains here. TBS grants PVoC exemptions on application for raw materials, machinery and spares imported by TBS-certified manufacturers, and for TBS-certified products (register F0366). A Dodoma oil processor importing filter media or bottles can apply for that relief once it holds the licence. See our guide to PVoC and TBS import conformity for the routes and penalties.

Mainland and Zanzibar: who certifies products in Zanzibar?

TBS and the Standards Act operate on the Mainland. Zanzibar has its own standards law. The Zanzibar Standards Act, 2011, published in the Zanzibar Government Gazette of 8 July 2011, lets the Zanzibar Bureau of Standards (ZBS) declare standards marks and license their use. The tripartite non-tariff measures register records sections 12 and 13 of that Act as in force.

Food and cosmetics on the islands answer to the Zanzibar Food and Drugs Agency, not TBS or TMDA. Our guide to ZFDA in Zanzibar explains that split. We found no published rule that makes a TBS licence valid in Zanzibar, or the reverse. A Mainland processor selling into Unguja or Pemba should ask ZBS and ZFDA in writing what they need before shipping.

What are the penalties under the Standards Act?

Using the standards mark without a licence is an offence under section 18(8). So is selling a commodity that fails a compulsory standard after its effective date (s.20(6)). Where no specific penalty applies, section 27(1) of the 2009 text sets imprisonment of not less than two years, or a fine of TZS 50 million to TZS 100 million, or both. A repeat offence carries not less than three years (s.27(2)). The court may also confiscate the goods (s.27(3)).

TBS may compound an offence by accepting up to TZS 20 million instead of prosecution (s.30(1)). Breach of regulations made under the Act carries a fine of TZS 5 million to TZS 100 million, prison of up to five years, or both (s.36(4)). Directors and employers can be liable unless they show lack of knowledge and due diligence (ss.28 and 29). TanzLII has not consolidated the 2019 and later amendments, so confirm the current wording before relying on it.

Where TBS seizes stock, proposes compounding or prosecutes, instruct an advocate at once; the fourteen-day appeal window runs from notice.

What to do now

1. Identify your standard. Check the TBS compulsory list for each product and buy the current edition of the standard.
2. Classify the product. Confirm that it is food, a cosmetic or an industrial good, and that no label claim moves it to TMDA.
3. Get the SIDO letter. If you are a small or start-up enterprise, attend the SIDO course and obtain the introduction letter first.
4. Align your records. Make the company name, TIN, licence and factory address identical across BRELA, the council and the application.
5. Prepare the file. Assemble the regulation 7 documents, the process flow chart and the factory sketch.
6. Apply on i-SQMT. Submit the application and answer every TBS request well inside the four-month limit.
7. Run the line for inspection. Produce on the inspection day and keep batch and testing records ready.
8. Correct and resample. Fix any fault in the inspection or laboratory report and book the return visit.
9. Diary the renewal. Enter the renewal date sixty days before expiry and notify any change within fourteen days.

Key dates and deadlines

• 20 March 2009: Standards Act No. 2 of 2009 replaces the 1975 Act.
• 8 July 2011: Zanzibar Standards Act, 2011 gazetted, with ZBS licensing the Zanzibar mark.
• 1 July 2019: Finance Act, 2019 moves food and cosmetics to TBS and renames TMDA.
• 24 September 2021: GN No. 683 of 2021 published, replacing GN No. 406 of 2009.
• October 2025: TBS issues its list of new and revised compulsory standards.
• Each application: valid three months; requested information within four months.
• Each licence: valid up to twelve months; renewal sixty days before expiry.
• Each change or decision: notify changes within fourteen days; appeal within fourteen days.

How Zatra helps

Zatra's sector business permits team prepares the TBS file, aligns it with BRELA and council records, and tracks each request to its deadline. We arrange the industrial registration described in our industrial licence guide and the council or BRELA licence through business licensing. We also diary renewals so a licence does not lapse during a supermarket contract.

Government fees are paid to TBS, BRELA, councils, NEMC and OSHA at the official rate against their control numbers. Zatra's professional fee is quoted separately on our pricing page. TBS decides every licence. Zatra does not decide or guarantee any authority's outcome. Seizures, prosecutions, disputes and legal opinions go to an advocate.

Sources and status

Accurate as at 8 October 2026.

• Standards Act, 2009 (Act No. 2 of 2009): TanzLII, version of 20 Mar 2009, ss.4, 18, 20, 21, 27 to 30, 36. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• Finance Act, 2019 (Act No. 8 of 2019), Parts VII and VIII: Tanzania Revenue Authority copy, 30 Jun 2019. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• Standards (Registration of Premises and Certification of Products) Regulations, 2021, GN No. 683: Tanzania Bureau of Standards, 24 Sep 2021. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• Product certification (Uthibiti Ubora): Tanzania Bureau of Standards, web page live 2026. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• TBS e-services, i-SQMT portal: Tanzania Bureau of Standards, web page live 2026. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• Compulsory standards (Viwango vya Lazima): Tanzania Bureau of Standards, web page live 2026. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• List of new and revised compulsory standards as of October 2025: Tanzania Bureau of Standards, Oct 2025. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• Standard Mark License and Tested Product Certification Scheme Procedure: Tanzania Bureau of Standards, posted 24 Aug 2026 (scanned, not text-readable). Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• MSMEs advised on product verification: Daily News, 1 Nov 2023. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• Tanzania Bureau of Standards urges SMEs to take advantage of free certification: Food Business Africa, undated. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• Zanzibar Standards Act, 2011, Part III ss.12 and 13: Tripartite NTB reporting system, record of the Gazette of 8 Jul 2011. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• Tanzania Country Commercial Guide: trade standards: US International Trade Administration, 19 May 2026. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.
• Tanzania Government Fees 2026, fee register: Zatra Handbook 06, fees at 26 Sep 2026, lines F0110, F0355, F0365, F0366, F0442, F0509, BLA102, BLB137, BLB195, NEW-08-14. Accessed 8 Oct 2026.

Figures to confirm before you act

• TBS certification fees: set by GN 496L of 2021 and not published by TBS (F0365); take the written assessment and control number from TBS
• SME fee steps after year three: Food Business Africa reports a stepped charge reaching the full fee in year seven; not confirmed on a TBS page
• Processing times: TBS publishes no durations for inspection, testing or decision; ask the zonal office for its client service charter times
• Tested product certificate: which products receive it instead of the mark is set in the scanned procedure of 24 Aug 2026; confirm with TBS
• Standards Act penalties: taken from the 2009 text on TanzLII; later amendments are not consolidated there
• COPRA processor registration fee: set by COPRA's 2026 Regulations, not in the Zatra register
• NEMC category for a small press: edible oil (TZS 1,500,000) or small mills (TZS 150,000) under F0509; NEMC decides
• Zanzibar recognition: whether ZBS accepts a TBS licence for goods sold on the islands; ask ZBS in writing

This article is general information based on official sources available at the date of publication. It is not legal, tax or financial advice. Laws and notices change. Verify with the issuing authority or consult Zatra before acting.