EAC members have pursued the harmonization of national standards for products traded across their borders for the past 11 years. The goal is to strengthen their economic integration, improve competitiveness, ease market access and reduce the cost of doing business.

Apart from the PIEA-led initiative, the East African Business Council (EABC), an umbrella organization for East Africas private sector, and the ministries of trade in the regions six member-states have launched studies and introduced programs to ensure harmonization of quality standards for products, including petroleum by-products. The process of reviewing East African quality standards on petrol, diesel and engine oils has finally kicked off, said Wanjiru Manyara, PIEA general manager. The review is led by a technical committee consisting of representatives from the PIEA, national standards agencies and oil marketers in East Africa.

Currently, national agencies, including Kenyas Bureau of Standards, Burundis Bureau of Standards, Rwandas Standards Board and Tanzanias Bureau of Standards encourage the use of higher specification synthetic multigrade engine oils – API CJ-4 for diesel engines and API SN for gasoline engines. However, the process of enforcing these requirements varies from country to country, hence some suppliers continue to market low-quality engine oils.

Manyara noted that the PIEA has encouraged member countries to harmonize their fuel standards, to enable widespread use of higher-quality engine oils. However, she added, these efforts are still in the initial stages, and there is a need to improve the specifications further.

Presently, minimum standards in the region call for monograde, mineral-based engine oils formulated to meet the API CD standard for heavy-duty equipment and API SF for passenger cars. However, Manyara said that oils formulated to comply with advanced standards will meet the emission control requirements for vehicles, thereby reducing carcinogenic pollutants and allowing increased importation of modern vehicles.

Import Variations

One issue complicating the use of higher-quality oils is that vehicle import requirements vary widely across the EAC. As a result, vehicle ages in the region span a broad range, complicating the implementation of uniform oil standards.

For example, Kenya has imposed an eight-year age limit on all imported secondhand vehicles. An estimated 99 percent of all vehicles imported to Kenya are secondhand, and only 1 percent are new.

Uganda, on the other hand, has no age limit on imported vehicles. Instead, the countrys Revenue Authority has imposed an environmental levy on vehicles more than five years old. The tax amounts to 35 percent of the value of vehicles between five and 10 years old. Vehicles older than 10 years face a 50 percent environmental levy. Vehicles under five years old can be imported free of charge.

Experts have pointed out that some vehicles are so old they cannot operate on modern engine oils. The Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that developing countries such as Kenya and Uganda still have limited regulations on the intake and maintenance of used vehicles, including basic emission standards that would promote the importation of cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles. The regulatory gap allows for the transfer of obsolete and polluting vehicle technology.

Despite the wide differences in vehicle import policies in the EAC, countries in the region have spelled out requirements for engine oils that comply with API specifications. For example, Ugandas National Bureau of Standards specifies that engine oils shall consist of approved petroleum products, or of approved synthetically prepared products, or of a combination of these two types of products, compounded in all cases with such functional additives as detergents, dispersants, oxidation inhibitors and corrosion inhibitors. The bureau further requires that engine oils be free of suspended matter, sediment, water and other impurities. Uganda has also issued specifications for testing the characteristics and chemical composition of engine oils, including viscosity index, sulfated ash and total base number.

Kenyas Bureau of Standards (KEBS) announced last year that it would take a more active role in ensuring the quality of petroleum products entering the market. KEBS Petroleum Products Inspection Operations Manual states, Inspection of petroleum products has been for a long time left in the hands of private surveyors with minimal involvement of Kenyas Bureau of Standards as a regulator, even though it is a mandatory requirement that goods entering Kenya must be tested by KEBS before acceptance.

The agency stated further, Though private surveyors have over the years applied international best practices in the inspection of petroleum products, the lack of oversight by the regulator as an independent body has opened the possibility of inconsistent levels of performance and service to both the country and, hence, consumers. The manual is part of the agencys strategy to establish uniform inspection procedures and ultimately improve compliance of petroleum products to relevant Kenya standards or approved specifications and also provide a framework through which KEBS exercises its oversight role.

EAC Working Together

The review of quality standards for engine oils entering the EAC could be a response to increased consumer consciousness about the need for products that support new vehicle technology. The consumer is increasingly aware of the benefits of quality product; so, there is a trend toward higher product specification requirements, said Elvis Kahi, lubricants territory manager (consumer and industrial) at the National Oil Corp. of Kenya. Furthermore, there is some effort to update standards for petroleum products to reflect growing demand for quality and environmentally friendly products, he said.

The new process for reviewing engine oil quality in East Africa fits well with the wider strategy by EAC to push for harmonized quality standards by the respective national agencies. Although the primary aim of the PIEA-led review of engine oils in the region is to support emissions control, it complements a 2006 initiative that developed standards to enable EAC countries to work toward closer economic integration.

The EAC Standardization, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing Act of 2006 provides for regional cooperation in the areas of standards, metrology, conformity assessment, accreditation and technical regulations. According to EABC, goals of the act were to facilitate industrial development and trade and ensure the protection of health, safety and the environment. Standards are essential in helping the business community to be innovative, reduce business costs, improve quality and maintain competitiveness in local, regional and international markets, said EABC.

Engine oils are just a few of the products that manufacturers and business groups in East Africa want harmonized to reduce costs, enhance market access and improve business competitiveness in the region. A survey commissioned by EABC late last year found out that harmonization of standards for selected consumer products within the region led to increased trade among countries in the region from U.S. $291.2 million in 2010 to $343 million in 2014.

Compliance with standards and market requirements are prerequisites for successful market access and for improving the competitiveness of exports in the East Africa Community, EABC said in its post-survey report in October 2016.

In a separate initiative, Kenya, through the Ministry of East Africa Community and Joint Secretariat on Standards, has partnered with Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan to harmonize standards for engine oils and other products traded across these countries borders on a regular basis. While each country already has its own quality standards, experts said that the EAC is pushing for better harmonization to enhance knowledge sharing, capacity building and create a common platform regulating key products such as engine oils.

Ugandas Bureau of Standards indicated that it periodically reviews the countrys quality standards for internal combustion engine oils. Currently, its standards for engine oil require API CD for diesel engines and API SF for gasoline engines. However the bureau said its standards do not cover the chemical requirements for oils, as these vary with the type of additive used in the formulation of a particular oil for a particular category.