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East Africa: EALA Passes Kay Report On Single Customs Territory

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has debated and adopted a key committee report on the Single Customs Territory. The report of the Committee on Communication, Trade and Investment on oversight activity of the EAC Single Customs Territory (SCT) was presented by the Committees Chairperson, Mukasa Mbidde.

The report urges EALA to come up with pieces of legislations that support the implementation of SCT. The report further wants the roll-out of more products to be integrated under the Single Customs Territory arrangement. To do so, the Assembly is calling for the finalisation of the utilisation of the Single Regional Customs Bond by EAC Secretariat.

The Report also urges revenue authorities to streamline the process of granting rights of access to information to the Clearance & Forwarding agents. The report followed an on-spot assessment undertaken at the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) on September 29, 2014 to October 2, 2014 to engage ports and customs authority and the freight forwarders association.

The objectives of the on-spot assessment were to - understand the state of play for the operationalisation of the Single Custom Territory, analyse operations and processes involved in the implementation of the EAC Single Customs Territory and to recommend solutions to the fears and challenges faced.

The Committee was informed that Standard Operating Procedures covering most of the key customs procedures and control mechanisms were developed and tested. "In terms of Customs Systems Interconnectivity, Tanzania's ASYCUDA++ was interfaced with ASYCUDA world of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi and Simba system of Kenya, to allow piloting of SCT that commenced in June 2014", a section of the report says.