On 09 July 2025, the World Customs Organization (WCO) advised that, in accordance with the WCO’s and the European Union’s (EU) Rules of Origin (RoO) Africa Programme, it would offer financial and technical support for the review of the technical aspects of the East African Community (EAC) RoO. The support aligns with WCO’s strategic objectives on trade facilitation, revenue collection, and organisational development. It enables the implementation of the directive from the 34th meeting of the Council of Ministers of a comprehensive review of the EAC RoO, 2015, and its procedure manual. This initiative aims to ensure that the rules are trade-facilitative, aligned with regional best practices, and supportive of industrial growth.
The review of the EAC RoO is timely, as it provides an opportunity to address current implementation challenges and build greater transparency, predictability, and trust among stakeholders. Considering that Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are the building blocks of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the benefits arising from this review are expected to have a long-term impact on intra-African trade.
As part of the review process, the EAC Secretariat convened the first meeting of the regional task force, which took place in Kampala, Uganda, from 10 to 12 June 2025. In attendance were representatives from the customs administrations of partner states, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture, other experts, and the EAC Secretariat. The objective of the meeting was to allow the experts to review the general rules of origin provisions and the updated Annexe III on EAC RoO, with a view to identifying necessary revisions and agreeing on proposed amendments to the rules.
Among other things, the meeting agreed to amend general RoO provisions regarding Legal References and Definitions; Cumulation (full and extended cumulation and modalities for their implementation); Special Economic Arrangements/Zones (SEZ); Registration of exporters; Origin declaration with a view to enhancing use of self-certification; Simplified Trade Regime (STR) for small-scale cross-border traders; and exemptions from proof of origin. Following this regional task force meeting, another session will be held in July 2025 to review the Product-Specific Rules (PSRs). The conclusion of these reviews will usher in the subsequent phases, which include reviewing the manual for implementation of the EAC RoO; developing a capacity-building programme on the revised EAC RoO; and training critical stakeholders on the revised EAC RoO.