Africa is at the centre of a mobile technology revolution which is already benefiting traditionally disadvantaged groups. According to interviews, SMS appears to be the most preferred means for informal traders to report NTBs. Although there exists online NTB reporting systems at the national level in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania utilizing SMS, as well as a Tripartite online system (http://tradebarriers.org/), these rely on sufficient awareness raising and ensuring they can be understood in appropriate local languages. TMA supported advocacy efforts have increased the number of both formal and informal traders being aware of the existence of NMCs and phone numbers of NMC representatives. The following examples were recounted in interviews: On one occasion, a woman trader had been stopped at the Rwanda border asking her to pay a bond in order to take cultural goods to an exhibition in Rwanda. Having received an SMS text, the Tanzania NMC coordinator was able to call back the woman trader (saving her airtime) and reassure her that the money going into the bond was only a tax guarantee in case she sold any goods, and if she does not, the bond would be given back to her when crossing the border back to Tanzania. The following morning, the woman trader paid the bond and successfully crossed the border to attend the exhibition. On another occasion, an NMC member supported a Ugandan trader wishing to attend an East African trade fair in Tanzania to enter the country at the Mutukula border. The Tanzania Revenue...

The purpose of the EAC Rules of Origin is to implement the provisions of Article 14 of the Customs Union Protocol – setting out criteria for distinguishing between goods produced within the EAC and, therefore, eligible for EAC preferential treatment against those produced outside the EAC customs territory that attract duties specified in the CET (EAC, 2006)70. The EAC Customs Union RoO Rules 2015 are intended to spur intra-EAC trade by being more flexible for the private sector to comply with. However, at present, many NTBs relate to the interpretation of RoO, and challenges have arisen such as the following: Motor Vehicles: Kenya is the largest motor vehicle assembler and importer in the EAC. It imports car parts from outside the EAC and then assembles cars in Kenya, creating jobs and reducing costs. Through such process, cars satisfy the ‘value addition’ criterion for the RoO test and are considered as originating from Kenya. However, there have been instances where Kenya has been unable to export cars assembled on its territory to EAC markets under the preferential treatment principles. An illustrative example, filed on the Tripartite online NTB-reporting system in September 2015, is the one of General Motors. General Motors were charged a duty when exporting four vehicles to Tanzania at the Namanga border post, notwithstanding presenting copies of the EAC Certificate of Origin (CoO), the commercial invoice, the import duty assessment document and the import duty payment note. This NTB has recently been considered resolved, yet there are many instances...

The NTB Act aims to give effect to the second clause under Article 13 of the Customs Union, by establishing a legal mechanism for identifying and monitoring the removal of NTBs. The NTB Act provides as follows: Part I (preliminary provisions) – defines the objective as enhancing and facilitating trade in goods within the EAC through the removal of conditions which affect and distort trade, the creation of an environment which is conducive to trade and effective movement of goods, and the removal of the restrictions which make imports and exports difficult or costly. Part I also adopts the WTO’s categorisation of NTBs as the one applying to EAC Partner States. Part II (prohibition of activities that create NTBs) – requires Partner States to review their trade practices, customs procedures and other measures in place to remove existing NTBs. Part III (National Monitoring Committees and National Focal Points) – determines the establishment by each Partner State of a NMC, consisting of representatives of the Government and the private sector, to support the elimination of NTBs. Part III also determines the establishment by each Partner State of a National Focal Point, consisting of a Ministry, to act as secretariat of the NMC. Part IV (procedure for Elimination of NTBs) – identifies three mechanisms to eliminate NTBs: mutual agreement of Partner States; implementation of the EAC Time Bound Programme for Elimination of NTBs; and regulations, directives or recommendations of the Council of Ministers. There is a dispute resolution process which refers the...

1. BACKGROUND The overarching goal of Rwanda’s Vision 2020 is to transform the country into a lower middle income economy by improving its competitiveness while ensuring unity and inclusive growth and development. Significant strides towards achieving this vision have been made especially regarding improvements in the country’s business environment and competitiveness. The African economic outlook 2014 indicted that the Rwandan government has priority to support export growth and diversification, bolster private sector development and leap-frog the various impediments that continue to hinder the contribution of the country’s private sector to national development. This in turn indicates that exporting quality and competitive products through market linkages by small- and medium-scale companies or enterprises in Rwanda enables them contribute to the national economic development of the country and export earnings in Rwanda increased by an estimated 33% in 2013. According to the global competitiveness report 2014-2015, Rwanda is ranked in 62nd position in the world, in Africa, 3rd position and number one in the East African Community which indicates that Rwanda has become even more competitive and that the business and investment environment of the country is improving. Sosoma Industries Ltd in Rwanda, located about 4km from Kigali Airport is one of the companies that we future in this case study and was supported by the TMA supported Traidlinks (Export Development) programme that worked with 16 export ready companies. The programme was implemented at an estimated budget of about US$ 1.4 million from 2013 to 2015. 2.THE ISSUE Companies in Rwanda were facing challenges...

1 BACKGROUND African countries are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of developing trade capacity in order to achieve effective participation in the regional and world trading system and to reap the full benefits of improved access to these markets (World Bank). There is wide recognition that capacity building and training are prerequisites to economic and social Development and capacity building and training have long been recognized as an important component of most trade development activities. Right from the start of the TMA Traidlinks export development programme, TMA placed considerable emphasis on capacity building and skills development, to ensure longer-term sustainability and impact of the outcomes of the programme and it was important that all those involved in the export development programme improved their skills and understanding of all aspects of exporting. The programme was implemented in partnership with Rwanda Development Board, Kigali Independent University and the relevant private sector stakeholders and the overall programme budget was estimated at about US$ 1.4million from 2013 to 2015. With regard to the priorities to improving the export capacity of Rwanda and the EAC as whole. This case study highlights the benefits of enhancing delivery of export advisory services in Rwanda. The TMA Traidlinks supported programme is just one of the TMA programmes that is helping the private sector in Rwanda and in the EAC do business in ways that are not only good for company development but also good for competitiveness and economic development of a country. Mr. Evary Murasa, one of the...

Despite the benefits that trade facilitation initiatives such as the introduction of an eSW may yield for a wide range of stakeholders including clearing agents, importers and exporters and government agencies, like most trade reforms, the links between these types of investments and poverty reduction are not so clearly defined. A recent study (Shepherd, 2014) has found that trade facilitation interventions can have direct effects on poverty by altering relative prices in agriculture and manufacturing. Although the study has not focused exclusively on eSW, the findings could be used to understand some of intended and unintended effects of such intervention on the poor. Trade facilitation efforts that reduce importing and exporting prices have different effects in different groups and may create winners and losers even among the poor. The nature and size of the effect depend on whether or not the particular groups of people are net producers or net consumers of traded goods, and whether or not these are exported. Exporters tend to benefit from trade facilitation interventions. Shepherd (2014) highlights that ‘reducing transaction costs for exporters means that the overall wedge between the farm or factory gate price and the world price is reduced to some degree.’ As highlighted in the report, a number of factors affect farm and factory gate prices, and changes in transaction costs may not immediately translate into increased prices. Poor groups that may benefit includes those involved in the production of exportable goods such as cash crops like cocoa, coffee or cotton. Other...

The first Electronic Single Window (eSW) was introduced in Singapore in the late 1980’s. The Singapore TradeNet links multiple parties involved in external trade, including 34 government agencies, to a single point of transaction for most trade related transaction such as Customs clearance and payment of duties and taxes, processing of export and import permits and certificates of origin and collecting trade statistics. Between 1989 and the maturation of the system in the early 2000’s the major achievements included: Processing time was reduced from 2-7 days to within 2 minutes. Number of documents required fell from 3,035 (depending on the transactions) to 1. During this period the number of daily transactions processed rose from 10,000 per day to 30,000 per day. Freight forwarders estimate that they save 20-35 per cent of the cost of handling trade documentation. Payments of customs duties enter government coffers much faster than before. The compilation of trade statistics is substantially improved, benefiting the trading community as well as national authorities responsible for trade policy and economic surveillance. Since the launch of the Singapore TradeNet, over seventy countries have established eSWs of varying complexities, including over half a dozen or so in Africa, including the Rwanda eSW launched in 2012.24 This case study provides a brief overview of two different business models for implementation of the eSW and examines key pros and cons of the two models to inform TMA and policymakers in the region who may be considering establishing eSWs.  This is particularly relevant given...

Establishing a Formal Trade Portal A Trade Portal is a web-based trade facilitation tool that provides reliable and up to date information on all laws, regulations and procedures for traders and government agencies involved in the import and export of goods. The tool complements the overall goal of the electronic single window since it reduces the time and costs of obtaining information whilst offering greater transparency and predictability to trade transactions (World Bank, 2014). The Trade Portal is often considered a ‘first step’ towards the implementation of an eSW and increasingly seen as a way of promoting greater trade facilitation. (Pugliatti,2014). For WTO members, a Trade Portal assists them in complying with the new Trade Facilitation Agreement commitments related to Article 1 on publication and availability of information. The main obligations under this article is that Member States are required to publish ‘promptly’ a wide range of specific information related to requirements and procedure of clearing goods for import and export. In addition, Member States are required to publish this information on the internet (ITC, 2013). Despite the benefits of a Trade Portal, the development of this intervention can be extremely challenging for developing countries. Pugliatti (2014) provides a practical guideline for the steps required to develop a Trade Portal. The first step is to define the scope of the Portal in terms of the information that will be published, identifying key agencies that play a role in trade and what information they oversee as well as setting up a...

At the launch of the Kenyan Electronic Single Window in May 2014, President Uhuru called for the establishment of an EAC regional single window platform to integrate the national single window systems in partner states. Discussions on this initiative are ongoing as part of the EAC SCT operationalization, but currently only Kenya and Rwanda have functioning national level eSWs, though progress is made in establishing eSW in the other EAC member states. In late 2014, Tanzania contracted the delivery of the eSW to a private contractor, with initial roll-out for the Port of Mombasa with other border crossing and airports to be connected in the second phase. TMA is supporting the development of the eSW in Uganda, with an agreement signed for support from the Government of Denmark in September 2014. In March 2015, Burundi launched its own eSW with a number of key agencies already connected. The regional approach to eSW has been pioneered by the launch of the ASEAN Single Window Project (ASW) in 2013. The ASW is a regional initiative that connects and integrates national level eSWs of Member States. ASW implementation is expected to ensure compatibility of Member States eSWs with international open communication standards while also ensuring that each of those Member States can then exchange data securely and reliably with any trading partners that use international open standards. The ASW at present is rather limited in scope and connects only the Customs agencies of some ASEAN member countries. It currently supports the exchange of...

Section 5.2 of the report provided a detailed analysis of the average release times of imports and exports for the 2010-2014 period. In addition, it identified the release times for the various stages; some of these changes can be attributed to the ReSW, others are the result of other reform measures identified in the report. These data highlight progress as well as outstanding issues that can guide RRA in further streamlining its operations and extracting more benefits from the ReSW platforms o as to further better serve the trading community by reducing these times. These finding provide more information that has so far been used to monitor the progress of the ReSW and can be updated regularly with minor effort. In addition, the table below provides information on standard deviations for the overall time release estimate and for the different stage for the period 2010-2014. This is the first time that this statistic has been calculated for Rwanda release time and is rarely computed in time release studies. It contains valuable information and can assist in focusing on problem areas in the release process. The standard deviation statistics reflect how representative the calculated averages are for the population of release times of the data set. It informs us that 78.2 per cent of all observations fall within one standard deviation. For instance if the average time it takes between acceptance and release is 483 minutes and the standard deviation is 1118 minutes (Q4, 2014) it means that in the frequency...