Ecowas Trade Commissioner Expresses Confidence Over Functional Common External Tariff in 2010

4 August 2010
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Lome - Togo — The ECOWAS Commissioner for Trade, Customs, Industry and Mines, Alhaji Mohammed Daramy, has expressed optimism about the prospect of having a functional Common External Tariff for the region by 2010.

Commissioner Daramy was addressing the opening of the ninth meeting of the Joint ECOWAS-UEMOA Committee for the Management of ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) on Monday, 2nd August 2010 in Lome, the Togolese capital. The Commissioner based his optimism on the progress recorded by the Joint Committee, which was established by regional leaders in January 2006 when the CET was adopted by ECOWAS Heads of State and Government. Included in the progress is the creation of a fifth band of 35 per cent which has been described as "specific goods for economic development", a term consistent with the region's poverty reduction objectives on the CET.

The Joint Committee has also set the criteria for the fifth band for goods that qualify on the basis of their fragility, their contribution to economic diversification, contribution to regional integration, the promotion of the sector and high production potential. The Commissioner stated that at the Joint Committee meeting in April 2010 in Accra, 311 tariff lines were approved for re-categorization under the 5th tariff band. In addition, he said other products had been proposed for re- categorization into other tariff bands outside the 5th tariff band while work on accompanying measures and safeguard measures had been initiated.

Furthermore, he disclosed that reports from the CET meeting which ended on 30th July 2010 in Abidjan indicated that substantial progress had been made with regards to the transformation from the 2002 to the 2007 Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, also known as the Harmonized System nomenclature. While acknowledging the critical nature of the mandate of the Joint Committee in helping to build an effective trade policy, he advised members of the Committee to "attempt to keep the tariff structure simple to ensure transparency of the customs system in order to promote trade, reduce transaction costs and the possibility of corruption".

The Joint Committee is to consider the report of the Ad-hoc Committee on the Draft ECOWAS CET Nomenclature based on the 2007 version of the Harmonized System for Designating and Codifying Goods. When adopted, the nomenclature would, among others, assist in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)-related areas such as the development of a cleaner market access offer product list. Members of the Joint Committee, comprising representatives of Member States as well as the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions, will also continue with negotiations on product re-categorization under the fifth band from their previous meetings in Cotonou and Accra in March and May 2010, respectively. The Committee's objective is to advise the UEMOA and ECOWAS Commissions on all issues related to the management and monitoring of the ECOWAS CET.

In addition, both Commissions are to inform the Joint Committee on issues relating to the classification of goods in the tariff nomenclature or on the import duties and taxes applicable to products in the CET. The Lome meeting of the Joint Committee and that of the Ad-hoc Committee on CET Nomenclature which took place from 26th to 30th July 2010 in Abidjan are in fulfillment of a May 2010 Bamako directive by the ECOWAS Ministerial Monitoring Committee on the EPA negotiations with the European Union.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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