Most importers focus on the cost of the LOA itself — the laboratory fees, the application fee, and the professional fees. What many only discover when it is too late is the far larger expense that accumulates while the container sits at the port or in a depot waiting for ... Read More

Receiving a non-compliance notice from an NRCS inspector is one of the more serious situations an importer or manufacturer can face. It means the regulator has found products that do not meet the relevant compulsory specification, and formal action is now underway. How you respond in the first few days ... Read More

In March 2026 we reported that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) had published a proposal for stricter controls on a wide range of imports from China. That proposal centred on a Pre-shipment Verification of Conformity (PVoC) system that would have required Certificates of Conformity (CoC) to be ... Read More

One of the most effective ways to reduce the cost of NRCS compliance is to group related models under a single test report and, where possible, a single Letter of Authority (LOA). When done correctly, this approach can significantly cut laboratory fees and the number of LOA applications required. When ... Read More

Obtaining a Letter of Authority (LOA) from the NRCS is only the first step. Keeping it valid is often where importers and manufacturers run into trouble. Many assume that renewal is a simple administrative exercise — submit the old documents, pay the fee, and continue trading. In practice, renewals frequently ... Read More

Why the Correct IEC Test Reports Matter for Your LOA application to NRCS If you import or manufacture electrotechnical products for the South African market, the Letter of Authority (LOA) issued by the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) is non-negotiable. Yet one of the most common reasons applications get ... Read More