Major progress in breaking through non-tariff barriers

Non-tariff barriers are coming
under the spotlight as 26
countries in South and southern
Africa move towards a customs
union.
“The global experience
indicates that as tariffs
fall away, countries seek
protectionism from non-tariff
barriers,” Vonesai Hove of
Trademark Southern Africa told
the Maputo Corridor Logistics
Initiative (MCLI) general
meeting held in Maputo in
September.
At least 85% of the goods
traded within the existing three
customs unions – Comesa,
EAC, and SADC – are already
traded at zero duty, she says.
Negotiations to merge the three
will start in 2012.
The proposed union will
stretch from South Africa to the
Democratic Republic of Congo,
Ethiopia, Tanzania, Sudan, and
Libya, as well as the islands
off the east coast. The only
east coast country excluded at
present is Somalia.
Non-tariff barriers “are
not meant to prevent trade,
but make it difficult for the
exporter/importer by raising the
cost of doing business,”
she said.
They include customs and
administrative entry procedures,
lengthy and costly customs
clearance procedures, technical
barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary
measures, charges on
imports, and costs such as toll
fees, border weighbridges and
high port tariffs.
The good news, she says, is
that progress is being made in a
number of the countries.
An identification and
reporting mechanism has been
in place since 2004, and a
matrix cataloguing the barriers
in the participating countries
has been compiled.
The barriers are now being
eliminated systematically.
Progress – and the imposition
of new barriers – is being
monitored through an online
reporting system, www.
tradebarriers.org
Companies, individuals and
government organisations can
register their complaints online.
By November this year, 370
complaints had been registered,
267 of which had been
resolved.
Most of the outstanding
complaints concern fees
payable at the borders and road
regulations.
One of the interesting
complaints is by Zambian
organic producers, who have
been banned from exporting
into South Africa honey that
has not been radiated.
The system is under review,
according to Hove, because
it has been found that the
classification of the non-tariff
barriers “is not user friendly,”
and that countries are imposing
new trade requirements
outside the treaty and relevant
protocols.
She encouraged all freight
and transport representative
organisations and companies
to promote the online reporting
of non-tariff barriers, and to
monitor progress.