Role of customs in free trade agreements in Eastern and Southern Africa

Abstract

There has been a significant change in the role of Customs in recent years. With increasing global and regional trade, numerous economic blocs have emerged at multilateral, regional and bilateral level. The research addresses to the issues of the development, implementation and administration of regional integration initiatives having the impact on Customs. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the difficulties encountered by Customs Administrations in Eastern and Southern Africa where most countries have multiple memberships (SADC, COMESA, EAC, SACU, and IOC). This study will illustrate the importance of Customs in the execution of these trade policies. The research will also lay emphasis on the involvement of Customs in trade negotiations as very often trade experts involved in negotiations are not acquainted to the implementation phase. The scholars will focus mainly on the technicalities of rules of origin, the complexities of the tariff structure and the role of Customs in safeguarding trade interest of countries in preferential trade agreements. For the research methodology, an analytical study of trade policy measures and their impact on the implementation process will be conducted. In a nut-shell, the purpose of this research is to encourage more Customs involvement in trade negotiations to ease the difficulties arisen in the implementation process.