Mainstreaming Metrology Activities for Enhanced Consumer Protection: Mapping Enforcement Challenges within Tanzania’s Quality Infrastructure System

This study examines the mainstreaming of metrology as a means of strengthening consumer protection in Tanzania, with particular emphasis on enforcement challenges within the national quality infrastructure system. Guided by international standards and best practices advanced by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the International Organisation of Legal Metrology (OIML), particularly OIML D.1-2020 (E), and the East African Community Standardisation, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing Act, 2006, the study adopts a qualitative research approach to evaluate Tanzania's legal and institutional framework. The findings suggest that, although the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) and the Weights and Measures Agency (WMA) are the principal institutions responsible for standardisation and legal metrology, enforcement is constrained by overlapping statutory mandates and fragmented institutional coordination. Both institutions perform inspection, certification, and aspects of conformity assessment, resulting in regulatory duplication, operational inefficiencies, increased compliance costs, and uncertainty among market participants. These institutional overlaps are inconsistent with internationally recognised principles that require clearly defined institutional responsibilities and coordinated quality infrastructure governance. The study further suggests that limited technical capacity, inadequate inter-agency collaboration, and weak market surveillance undermine regulatory enforcement and reduce the effectiveness of consumer protection measures. The study recommends the adoption of a comprehensive National Quality Policy to clarify institutional mandates, eliminate overlapping functions, strengthen coordination among quality infrastructure institutions, and promote integrated market surveillance and information sharing. The study also advocates capacity building and closer alignment with regional and international metrology standards and best practices to improve regulatory efficiency, measurement accuracy, consumer confidence, fair trade, and sustainable consumer protection in Tanzania.