COMESA Earmarks Billion U.S. Dollars for Regional Customs Transit Scheme

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has earmarked 1 billion U.S. dollars for the implementation of its regional customs transit scheme, a trade facilitation to reduce the costs associated with transporting and transiting goods by between 15 and 25 percent.

According to the latest COMESA annual report for 2007, a pilot test of the scheme has been running in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and would now be extended to other COMESA member countries by the end of the year.

The report said the COMESA customs transit scheme would, besides directly leading to a reduction in import costs, raise export competitiveness. "The scheme is flexible and will be extended to other COMESA countries this year. It is pertinent to note that the scheme is the second of its kind in the world after the European Union Transports Internationaux Routers (TIR)," says the report.

The COMESA pilot project launched last year provides security guarantee to transit countries for recovery of duties and taxes should the goods being transported be dumped in the domestic market.

Under the current system, when goods cross the customs territory of one or more countries by road, the customs authority in each state applies national controls and procedures.

These involve frequent inspection of the load at each national frontier and the imposition of national security requirements, causing considerable expense, delays and interference in trade.

 

 

 

Source: CRIEnglish