The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has started impounding illegally imported beauty products that contain mercury and hydroquinone.
URA said cosmetics that promise to ‘brighten’ and lighten skin color are increasingly popular despite their prohibition in Uganda.
Ibrahim Bbossa, the URA Spokesperson, noted that continuous importation of such products not only affects health but also the taxes URA collects for improved public service delivery.
The tax collectors recently stormed Nabugabo, Kampala, where they impounded cosmetics and smuggled tobacco products known as shisha.
“There are bad practices we have come across as a revenue mobilizer where people are engaging in illicit trade and contraband products. These products do not pay taxes, and it is incumbent on us as a revenue mobilizer to work with other government agencies to take action,” Bbossa affirmed.
According to one of the customs officers who was part of the operation, they gathered information for a week about different stores in Nabugabo that were trading expired cosmetics, including altering the dates of the products.
For this particular operation, during verification, some of the items intercepted included 122 cartons of Olive Oil hair spray; 35 cartons of Dove Body Lotion; 20 cartons of Jengen ultra-healing body lotion; assorted contrabands (cosmetics, cake flavors, and shisha); 6 cartons of Fair and White; 37 cartons of Vaseline Body Lotion; 10 cartons of expired Dove Body Lotion; 1 carton of expired Runjing Hand and Body Cream; 1 carton of Noor Natural Body Lotion; 7 cartons of assorted expired cake flavors and 7 cartons of assorted shisha.
Cosmetics that contain hydroquinone and mercury are contraband prohibited by law within Uganda; once impounded, they are destroyed to discourage their further importation.
Cancer
Hydroquinone and mercury are common active ingredients found in a number of skin care products, designed specifically to lighten or bleach the skin.
However, research has established that hydroquinone is a carcinogenic or a cancer causing chemical and it has also been linked to the medical condition known as ochronosis in which the skin becomes dark and thick.
The World Health Organization also states that mercury, a key ingredient in most of the skin care products, causes kidney damage, skin damage, rash and reduces the skin’s ability to resist bacterial and fungal infections.
Other examples of contraband include drugs, medicines, cigarettes, used computers and refrigerators, and polyethene bags below 30 microns.
Bbosa urged the public to desist from importing or consuming such harmful products as stipulated in the East African Community Customs Management Act (EACCMA).
The Act prescribes a penalty of 50% of the value of goods or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both for those caught in violation of the law.
All those found culpable according to the Act are also liable to a fine not exceeding seven thousand dollars and their goods forfeited.
Despite continuous smuggling of contraband items, URA has intensified intelligence-guided operations leveraging the use of non-invasive inspection technology at border points and field intelligence enforcement operations.
URA is also intensifying tax education awareness, especially on the dangers of smuggling to the individual, the community, and the economy.
