Southern African Customs Union (SACU) will continue to experience a shortfall in customs revenue because of depressed intra-trade within member states, says Paulina Elagao of the SACU Secretariat. Elagao said this week that the SACU member states – Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia – were working towards ensuring free and fast cross-border trade conducted in a less costly manner coupled with a clear and predictable regulatory environment while ensuring the safety and security of citizens.
She said SACU was currently hamstrung by a lot of barriers to engage trade. In her view the impediments to free and faster movement of goods within SACU states relates to the involvement of multiple stakeholders with varied requirements for import and export transactions and non-compliance with the regulations by traders.
Elagao said member states were implementing a Customs Modernisation Programme (CMP) that was aimed at creating an environment for traders to move goods freely within the SACU sub-region. The Preferred Trader Programme (PTP) is the main focus of the CMP and is aimed at recognising and rewarding traders that are consistently compliant with the laws by ensuring that their cargo moves freely without being subjected to checks at the points of entry.
The endorsement of the WTO TFA signifies the importance within which the SACU member states view trade facilitation.
Revenue administrations are working towards developing supporting tools for the PTP such as IT systems connectivity to enable exchange of import and export data on time; risk management and enforcement, compliance and adherence to all the set laws and regulations.
She said the five countries have endorsed the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and are currently working towards its implementation.
“The endorsement of the WTO TFA signifies the importance within which the SACU member states view trade facilitation and the potential benefits to be derived when implementing the agreement such as simplified customs procedures and predictability by traders,” she said.
Work is underway to ensure implementation (including ratification and notification of the agreement) of the WTO TFA commitments at a national level and in addition all the five countries have agreed to coordinate the activities at a regional level.
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