Unregistered imports will not be cleared at Ghana’s ports from February 1, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) said on Friday.

A statement signed by Mr Seth K. Seaneke, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Health Products and Technologies Division, copied to the Ghana News Agency, said any company or importer who flouted the directives would face sanctions.

This would be in the form of fines, imprisonment or both, it said.

Since last year the Authority had put in place measures to ease the burden of importers and had revised its registration fees and processes to make registration easy and user friendly for all importers.

The statement said despite those measures, there had been an alarmingly large number of products that continued to arrive in the country without meeting the proper requirements.

“Despite this prohibition, products that do not conform to the regulatory requirement or product registration continue to find their way into the Ghanaian markets and pose a potential health hazard to unsuspecting consumers.”

It reminded importers that Sections 99 and 118 of the Public Health Act 2012, Act 851, prohibited the importation of unregistered products.

The statement assured the public that the Authority remained committed to protecting the health and safety of consumers and called for their cooperation to protect the market.