The East African Community member states are delaying implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol, thus denying the bloc full integration, says the East African Legislative Assembly.

“The biggest challenge is delays and commitment in harmonising national laws to fit with the requirements of the protocol,” said Peter Mathuki, Kenyan member of EALA and chair of the Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges.

“Partner states must co-operate on harmonising policies; they must also share information and experiences on how to regulate markets,” he added.

Mr Mathuki said that, over the past seven years, reforms in the EAC have focused on simplifying regulatory processes.

The establishment of the EAC Common Market Protocol is in line with the provisions of the EAC Treaty. It provides for “Four Freedoms:” The free movement of goods, labour, services, and capital. The plan is to implement the protocol established in 2010 progressively until December 31.

According to a report by EALA, 63 measures out of 500 key sectoral laws and regulations of partner states have been identified by the committee as inconsistent with the Common Market Protocol. Seventy-three per cent of these are exclusively related to professional services.

In terms of movement of capital, only two — external borrowing and repatriation of proceeds from sale of assets — out of 20 capital operations are free of restrictions in all partner states.

Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) chairman Vimal Shah said that only when the protocol is fully implemented, the larger integrated market encourage more investment.

According to Mr Mathuki, the challenge in implementing the protocol is that it did not provide for sanctions for non-compliance.

In Kenya, 17 operations were found open (no restriction), Rwanda 15, Uganda 15, while in Burundi and Tanzania only four operations were found open.

The report further revealed that a total 63 non-conforming measures to commitments to liberalise services trade. Out of 63, Tanzania had 17, Kenya 16, Rwanda 1, and Burundi 9.

Under key obligations on the free movement of goods, most partner states were found compliant though non-tariff barriers remain a challenge.

“Although some partner states have tried to eliminate trade barriers, there are still hurdles obstructing the effective running of businesses in the region,” said Andrew Luzze, East African Business Council chief executive.

The EALA report also shows that Kenya has also amended its immigration laws but is yet to amend the labour laws adopted in 2007 to reflect the requirements of the Common Market protocol.

In Rwanda, a law establishing a competition authority has been enacted but is yet to be gazetted. Burundi is finalising the establishment of a national competition commission while Uganda has drafted a national competition policy and law, which is awaiting Cabinet approval.

Article 16 of the protocol provides that the partner states guarantee the free movement of services supplied by nationals within the Community.

Burundi has embarked on a review of some of the domestic laws and regulations that impose restrictions on free movement of services.

Uganda has developed a National Implementation Strategy, which together with the National Development Plan and National Trade Policy will guide the implementation of the Common Market Protocol.

The EALA report says there is still embedded resistance and nationalistic sentiments in complying with the agreed time frames to the protocol.

“To overcome the challenge, EALA will come up with a regional law and or Act on Common Market implementation so as to streamline and guide implementation at country level,” said Mr Mathuki.

Source: The East African

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.