SONCAP is a new policy implemented by the Nigerian federal government to inspect and control the export of substandard and unsafe products to the country.
SONCAP came into effect on September 1, 2005, and gave a grace period of 90 days, which was officially implemented on December 1, 2005.
SONCAP is an acronym for the Standards Organization of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme.
SONCAP is a set of conformity assessment and certification procedures applicable to certain categories of regulated products imported into Nigeria. The above regulated products must meet or comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) and/or other approved international standards prior to shipment.
SONCAP was implemented to protect Nigerian consumers from unsafe and/or substandard manufactured products. Most of the above-mentioned unqualified and unsafe products are imported and sold directly to consumers.
The goal of implementing SONCAP is to ensure that regulated products meet the relevant provisions of acceptable standards, and to facilitate the management of regulated products by the relevant government agencies with regulatory responsibility for product quality.
