Mauritius Freeport Authority

Transcription

1 Mauritius Freeport Authority COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa 2003

2 (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) COMESA LIST OF 21 COMESA MEMBER COUNTRIES Angola D. R. of Congo Eritrea Madagascar Namibia Sudan Uganda Burundi Djibouti Ethiopia Malawi Rwanda Swaziland Zambia Comoros Egypt Kenya Mauritius Seychelles Tanzania Zimbabwe 2

3 What is COMESA? The COMESA is a regional grouping of 0 African states established to promote intraregional trade. The COMESA was set up in 1994 to replace the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) which has been in existence since It is currently the largest regional trade bloc on the African continent, representing a potential market of around 380 million people. COMESA FTA (Free Trade Area) The COMESA has already implemented the Free Trade Agreement, signed in October 2000, and 9 out of 20 member states (as at June 2002) provide duty free access to goods imported from within the COMESA provided the rules of origin criteria are satisfied. These 9 countries are; 1. Djibouti 2. Egypt 3. Kenya 4. Madagascar 5. Malawi 6. Mauritius 7. Sudan 8. Zambia 9. Zimbabwe The remaining countries apply a reduction on their import tariffs for eligible products ranging from 60 to 80%, meaning that they only charge between 20% and 40% of their regional tariffs (Most Favoured Nation) on COMESA originating goods. Namibia and Swaziland have obtained a provisional derogation from the COMESA Secretariat. It is worth noting that COMESA does not allow any non-tariff barrier or banning of imports among member states. The COMESA Rules of Origin Products are eligible for tariff reduction/elimination within COMESA if they satisfy one of the following criteria: They should be wholly produced (e.g. animals bred and reared on a farm); or The c.i.f value of the imported material content should not exceed 60% of the total cost of the materials used in the production of the goods; or The local value added in the process of production should account for at least 35% the ex-factory cost of the goods (for Uganda and Egypt local value added should be at least 45% - as at June 2002); or The process of production should lead to a changed in tariff heading of the processed goods (e.g. import of fabrics for producing garments as finished product); or 3

4 The goods should de designated in a list by Council of Ministers to be goods of particular economic importance to the development of the member states and the local value added should not be less than 25%. Cumulative Treatment Raw materials or semi-finished goods in any one of the member states and undergoing working or processing either in one or two or more in states shall, for the purpose of determining the origin of a finished product, be deemed to have originated in the member state where the final processing or manufacturing take place. The COMESA Certificate of Origin This document should accompany shipment of goods eligible for COMESA tariffs, and is available from the Ministry of Commerce and Cooperatives (Foreign Trade Division), 4th floor, Anglo Mauritius House, Intendance Street, Port-Louis. How to calculate the Value Addition? Inputs used to produce the goods Imported raw materials from outside the COMESA Raw materials available locally Labour costs Other Direct Costs Ex factory Costs Profit Ex-factory Price MUR (CIF) % Local Value Addition = local raw materials + other local inputs X 100 Ex-factory cost = ( ) X 100 = 60% 40 From the example above, the local value added (60%) is greater than the value addition criterion of 35% (and also for Egypt & Uganda where it is 45%) and hence the product qualifies for the COMESA certificate of origin. 4

5 FTA COUNTRIES NON-FTA COUNTRIES No duties or charges of equivalent effect Country Rate of Tariff Reduction Country Rate of Tariff Reduction Djibouti Burundi 80% Angola Nil Egypt Comoros 80% D. R. Congo Nil Kenya Eritrea 80% Ethiopia 10% Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Sudan Zambia Zimbabwe Rwanda Uganda 90% 80% Swaziland On derogation, pending SACU agreement to join FTA in April