NAIROBI: The East African Community (EAC) Member States are fine tuning modalities of setting up a single customs regime in order to promote cross border trade, have officials.
Heads of revenue authorities from Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, who met in Nairobi, said that countries have been harmonizing policy and legislative frameworks to fast-track the establishment of a single customs territory (SCT).
“The process of establishing a single customs territory in the region has not encountered any hitches and would be completed in three years time,” Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General John Njiraini said in Nairobi.
East African Heads of States have approved the uniform customs regime to ease cross border movement of goods and services. The regional countries in 2012 commenced the process of establishing a single customs territory as a means to boost cross border trade, revenue collection and ease of doing business.
The EAC is targeting the creation of a political federation, a borderless single state made up of the five countries, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, led by a single president and exercising a single foreign policy.
To get the vision of a single state in motion, the Arusha-based EAC Secretariat has been working towards a foreign policy, a common defence policy, a customs union, which is currently in place and the Monetary Union, which aims at a single currency.
Njiraini noted that significant ground has been covered since the process of establishing a regional customs regime commenced.
“We have covered significant milestone like the reduction in hours spent to clear goods. There is less tax evasion and the cost of transporting goods has also gone down,” Njiraini told reporters He added that the single customs territory will boost foreign direct investments in the region.
East African States have adopted modern technology to enhance clearing of goods and revenue collection at ports of entry. Njiraini said customs officials from the region have benefitted from capacity building on warehousing.
“We have improved knowledge sharing to help address potential risks that may arise from the single customs territory.”It will help tackle challenges like dumping and tax evasion,” Njiraini said. The single customs territory will be the bedrock of regional integration to promote trade, investments and skills transfer.
The Director of Customs, East African Community, Kenneth Baga Muhunda said countries have endorsed new policy and regulatory frameworks on clearance, warehousing, air freight and exports. “We aim to roll out the single customs territory in the next two to three years once the laying of foundation stone is completed,” said Baga Muhunda.
Efforts to create a single state in East Africa have been ongoing since 2004 when the leaders of the region met in Nairobi and agreed that its creation should be the ultimate goal of a process that started with the gradual opening of the borders to trade.
A Single Customs Territory (SCT) is a stage towards the full attainment of the Customs Union and is achievable by the removal of restrictive regulations and/ or minimization of internal border controls on goods moving between the Partner States with an ultimate realization of free circulation of goods.
