1 BACKGROUND TFDA began its operations as a regulatory body on 1st July 2003 and is mandated to regulate the quality, safety and efficacy of food, medicines, cosmetics and medical devices which is provided for under the Tanzania Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Cap 219. Since its inception, TFDA has attained notable achievements in regulating the quality, safety and efficacy of food, medicines, cosmetics and medical devices. Amongst its achievements, TFDA has developed robust systems and put in place guidelines for registration of products, inspection and surveillance as well as laboratory analysis of product samples prior to market authorization. This case study focuses on the improvements that Tanzania Food and Drug Authority (TFDA) has made in enhancing trade in Tanzania through the automation of their key trade process with support from TMA. The TMA support towards automation of key trade process at TFDA began in 2012 at a tune US $ 285,000 and is expected to end in 2017. The automated system at TFDA serves its stakeholders in registration, regulation and monitoring of food, medicines, cosmetics, medical devices and premises in Tanzania. The expected outcome of the TMA intervention at TFDA was to increase efficiency through time and cost saving for TFDA and its stakeholders as the portal eliminates the need for physical presence of customers at TFDA offices, promotes transparency and accountability by TFDA and its customers which in the long run enhance and promotes trade. 2 THE ISSUE The method of services delivered at TFDA to its stakeholders...

BACKGROUND Rwanda Agricultural Livestock Inspection and Certification Services (RALIS) a directorate under the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) is a public institution responsible for the overall coordination of: the enforcement of the Rwanda plant health law and regulations for phytosanitary measures necessary for trade, Plant pest/disease monitoring, surveillance and diagnosis, conducting Pest Risk Analysis, and conduct inspection and certification. RALIS also delivers animal products certification services including enforcement of sanitary laws, monitoring and surveillance of animal diseases, and animal inspection and certification. This case study shows how the TMA support to RALIS has been used to automate the systems and processes used to regulate and facilitate businesses in Rwanda by reducing the time and cost spent when acquiring import and export permits. The RALIS SWIFT project was implemented at an estimated budget of US$ 124,000 and the projected started in 2011 and is expected to be ending in 2017 with the main implementing partner being TMA. The e-portal targeted importers and exporters of plant, plant materials, animal and animal products, and agrichemicals in Rwanda. THE ISSUE Before the automation of the systems and process at RALIS, the old system was bureaucratic and not effective and efficient in serving the stakeholders and the general public because it was relatively slow in the process of applications and giving feedback, a lot of signatures were required and too much paper work was involved. All this in the long run were contributing to increasing the cost and time of doing business and...

1. BACKGROUND This case study highlights how Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) a membership based trade support institution has benefited from the TMA SWIFT projects initiatives. The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry is registered as a not-for-profit private company limited by guarantee under the Companies Act Chapter 486 of the laws of Kenya with a National Office and County Chamber’s offices in all the 47 counties in Kenya. The core purpose of KNCCI is to promote, protect and develop commercial, industrial and investments interests of its members and the entire business community both locally and internationally. The KNCCI SWIFT project was implemented at an average budget of US$ 120,000 and the project started in 2014 and is expected to be ending in 2017 with the main implementing partner being TMA. The project targeted beneficiary members of KNCCI who constitute of the small, micro enterprises (MSEs), medium and large enterprises and the expected outcomes of this initiative were to provide support in implementation of an automated system focusing on Trade Facilitation Process and Business Development Process. Molo Greens Limited located in Molo town in Kenya is one of the companies that was identified in this case study using the KNCCI automated system. 2. THE ISSUE The KNCCI stakeholders highlighted that they were facing challenges in accessing manual certificate of origin which was also causing unnecessary delays and also increasing the cost of doing business. The companies that were involved in exporting had to regularly prepare and...

Context: The East African community (EAC) comprises of five countries namely: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda with a total population of about 143.5 million people with a GDP of US$110.3 billion as of 2014. The EAC Common Market Protocol provides for “accelerated economic growth and development EAC Partner States through the attainment of free movement of goods”. The EAC Customs Union Protocol Article 13 provides a legal structure for the development of an EAC mechanism to identify, monitor and remove NTBs in the EAC. This was done by enactment of an East African Standard Quality Assurance Metrology and Testing Act (EAC SQMT Act). One of the aims of the EAC SQMT Act is to ensure that SQMT of products produced or traded within the EAC facilitates development and trade. Section 3e provides for the “harmonization of the national and East African standards with international standards to reduce cost, enhance compliance and develop trade opportunities” and Section 24(2) of the Act,  provides for EAC Partner States to have quality marks and recognize them as equal to their own which facilities free movement of certified products in the EAC. Issues: Unharmonized standards and other trade documentation and duplicative inspections and testing hamper trade, causing overall delays and increases the cost of doing business. In the EAC Secretariat’s March 2012 quarterly review on the status of NTBs in the EAC, both documentation and inspections were targeted for harmonization. José Maciel the Director of NTBs and Standards at TMA noted that standards were...

Context: The Republic of Rwanda acceded to the EAC Treaty on 18th June 2007 and became full Members of the Community with effect from 1st July 2007. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a central engine to driving Rwanda’s transformation to a knowledge-based economy, a fact Rwanda has acknowledged by allocating a budget to ICT as a percentage of its GDP that is at par with OECD countries. Rwanda continues to be one of the fastest-growing African countries in ICT and there are several avenues for growth for the ICT sector from e-commerce and e-services, mobile technologies, applications development and automation to becoming a regional center for the training of top quality ICT professionals and research as a robust ICT industry can create wealth, jobs and entrepreneurs. Rwanda is the most improved economy worldwide since 2005 (World Bank Doing Business Report, 2014). The report further reflects Rwanda the 2nd easiest to do business in Africa after Mauritius. Business environment reforms focusing on trade facilitation endeavor to reduce the cost associated with importing and exporting products. Many factors affect the cost of trade, including poor infrastructure, slow and cumbersome border regulatory and operating processes and non-tariff measures. Reforms targeted to these factors vary depending on the local contexts and problems yet overall they broadly seek to achieve more efficient, transparent, predictable and rule-based import and export processes. Reforms may include new or upgraded trade-related infrastructure, such as roads, ports and border posts; reviewing and (re)drafting the policies, laws and regulations governing...

Context: The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) was established as a semi-autonomous body by an Act of Parliament in 1983. UNBS is mandated through the Act to develop and promote standardisation, quality assurance, laboratory testing and metrology to enhance the competitiveness of local industry to strengthen Uganda's economy and promote quality, safety and fair trade. Quality includes all product attributes that influence its value to consumers, whereas safety includes all measures intended to protect human health. In a globalized economy, the role of NSBs is changing from the regulatory role to trade facilitation. There is need to recognize the importance of the impact of standards and quality awareness services on the economy. Issues: Lower public awareness on standards, quality products and best practices hinder competitiveness and economic growth. Demand for product quality appears to be generally lower in Uganda as the stakeholders do not perceive quality issues as critical to domestic sales in the country. This is attributed to a number of reasons such as; poverty that forces local consumers to tolerate lower-quality products and lack of consumer awareness about product safety and quality. The consumers are not aware of the impact of standards like Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs), animal diseases control procedures and there are no strong consumer organizations that compel retailers and producer groups to provide higher quality goods. The lack of awareness regarding SQMT issues are among the constraints that restrict effective participation of stakeholders in both regional and global standards-related activities. Method: In order to...

Context: Burundi is a landlocked country whose manufacturing sector is still in infancy stages and the country is heavily dependent on bilateral and multilateral aid (Burundi Public Expenditure Review by World Bank, 2013). The Burundi Bureau of Standards (BBN) is the public body in charge of standards and conformity related activities in Burundi. The WTO’s 2005 World Trade Report, recognizes that technical regulations, standards and procedures for determining conformity to requirements such as testing can have positive effects on competition at international and domestic trade because they ensure consumer safety; increase the transparency of product information and compatibility of products. Issues: The link between standards, conformity assessment procedures such as testing, inspection and certification are important in increasing trade. Quality testing laboratories provide the basic facts for the documentation of product properties that are required for international and domestic trade and are often the basis for product certification. In order to establish the facts regarding product properties and quality, effective and efficient testing laboratories are required. The type of laboratory needed depends on the needs and structure of the processing industries, as well as other manufacturing industry in the country. The cost of equipping, maintaining and operating laboratories is relatively high, and careful planning by the NSBs is required if resources are limited. Enhancing production practices, improving on quality assurance and management systems by firms and product testing results to respond to changing technical requirements of trading partners is key in improving capacity to meet both domestic and international markets...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Context: Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) is a statutory body established under the Standards Act (CAP 496) of the laws of Kenya to ensure that quality products and services are accessible in the market. Under the Kenyan government, all people in Kenya have a right to access quality products and services in the market. This is done through product certification and system certification schemes that are managed by the KEBS. In order to produce certified products, a culture of quality needs to be entrenched among the stakeholders especially the consumers and the manufacturers. The World Bank report on the state of Kenya’s economy (8th edition, June 2013) highlighted the need to address the bottlenecks that affected the cost of doing business in Kenya. In order to promote the competitiveness of the Kenyan locally manufactured products, certificates and other types of conformity assessments documents have to be issued by a recognized institution such as accredited laboratories and certification bodies.   Issue: In the EAC domestic trading system, the major non-tariff barriers (NTB) is the variation in certification, testing and inspection practices, and standards used. Unless trade partners use similar or harmonized standards and conformity assessment procedures and recognize each other's certification results, the costly problem of discriminatory, non-transparent, and unnecessary obstacles to trade will persist. Quality products are a pre-requisite for market entry in the EAC and beyond. However, NTBs such as standards, technical regulations and poor quality infrastructure are major impediments to trade in the region. Kenya needs to demonstrate...

It was jua kali – a casual approach to customers.  I would try, and if I got it right then good, but if not so what. It’s a job, so I can earn a living.  Customers were OK with it but did not respect freight forwarders – we were seen as corrupt. “Miscellaneous charges” were always expected on the invoice. I was attracted to EACFFPC training advertised by KIFWA in 2009 because I saw an opportunity to become more professional.  I learned it is important to give clients relevant and accurate information, keep documentation well and clear, and have a good interaction with customers. I am a professional. I now serve the customers.  When a customer says “I want to import X” I can provide all relevant costs and other information to help them. I understand the system and I am organised.  I take pride in my work and I get respect from customers, the KRA and my colleagues and friends.

Before the training, there were many things I could not understand. There were many technical things I did not know about, which meant I could not do my job as well as I wanted to. I made many mistakes: Importing from the UK parcels often arrived and were delivered straight to me because I didn’t know how to interpret all the notes with it very well I sometimes paid on behalf of the client and later found out that it had already been pre-paid. This caused a lot of frustration for the client and hassle for my company to sort out later. I didn’t know how to calculate tariffs and taxes properly so I would sometimes advise friends or clients to import products that were of poor value to import once all duties were paid.   The company I worked for got a new client, who was very important to the company and brought a lot of business. My boss suggested that I could manage the account, but that I should participate in the training course first. I really wanted to learn everything I could to do my job well and was very glad when this opportunity came up. I learned so much about valuation techniques, tariffs, taxes, electronic systems, customs procedures, what happens at every stage of the cargo transport from the ports to Kigali, and how to manage customers well and be professional. I was very interested and was able to apply all the knowledge I gained to...