On 08 April 2025, the World Customs Organization (WCO) advised that under the framework of the European Union (EU) -WCO RoO Africa Programme, funded by the EU, the WCO had hosted a study visit for the East Africa Community (EAC) on Self-Certification of Origin from the 01 to 04 April 2025, to enable participants to learn good practices of origin self-certification systems and gain insights that will guide development and implementation of self-certification in the EAC region. The participants were Customs and other government officials from member states and representatives from the EAC Secretariat.
The visit was designed to give the participants a tailor-made and valuable learning opportunity to better understand implementing self-certification systems. In this regard, the agenda was rich in experiential learning, including visits to the EU Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD), Belgium Customs and Netherlands Customs, where participants were taken through the legal framework enabling self-certification; administration and procedural requirements; infrastructure requirements; human resource requirements; and Customs controls inherent in self-certification systems.
At the conclusion of the visit, the participants had a reflective discussion session where they identified key lessons learnt and developed recommendations that would facilitate the implementation of Self-Certification of Origin within the framework of the EAC Rules of Origin (RoO). Additionally, the delegates provided constructive feedback on the study visit. They expressed their gratitude to both the EU and the WCO for the support offered, which is expected to have a long-term impact on intra-regional trade facilitation.
The RoO Africa Programme remains committed to its overall objective of facilitating and increasing intra-African trade, trade between Africa and Europe, and trade between Africa and the rest of the world. In this regard, the Programme will continue to work with the EAC and other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) within the Continent to actualise this commitment.