ECOWAS flat tariff regime nears take-off

The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will start implementing the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET), a flat rate tariff on all shipments within the West African sub-region, on January 1, 2015.

The ECOWAS-CET was adopted in 2006 by the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government as a vehicle for achieving a Customs union that will promote the creation of a common market in West Africa and make goods from ECOWAS countries cheaper and affordable.

Acting Commissioner of Customs Wallace Akondor, who disclosed this to the B&FT in an interview, said his outfit has already started a series of stakeholder engagements and ongoing negotiations with sub-regional counterparts toward smooth implementation of the regime.

“ECOWAS is an economic union with similar trade and bilateral trade policies; therefore, the new directive is being implemented in the spirit of economic integration.

“We have begun sensitising local industry players, especially shippers, about this directive and we are in regular meetings with our counterparts in the sub-region its smooth implementation from January 2015.

“We had some protractions between the Anglophone and Francophone blocs, but there has been a convergence. As Customs unions, we deal with the same clientele, hence the need for cooperation in the interest of intra-regional trade,” he said.

The Common External Tariff is a harmonising instrument that has been employed by ECOWAS governments in their quest for a strong common market for bilateral economic trade in the broader context of regional integration.

Article 3 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty defines the aims of the community as promoting “cooperation and integration, leading to the establishment of an economic union in West Africa”.

In order to achieve this, the community is to ensure -- in stages, among other means -- the establishment of a common market through “…the adoption of a common external tariff and a common trade policy vis-à-vis third countries”.

It is toward this end that the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government established an ECOWAS Customs’ union to foster a harmonised tax regime in the interest of intra-regional trade.

The common tariff regime will provide a common nomenclature that will ensure transparency and reduced delays in customs processes.

Mr. Akondor said the new regime, when rolled-out, will be instrumental in harmonising ECOWAS member-states toward the creation and strengthening of a vibrant common market that will facilitate the timely movement of goods and people within the sub-region.