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.