The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has passed the EAC Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers Bill, outlawing the remaining nearly 15 per cent of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) in the region.

Initiated by the Council of Ministers, the legislation enforces Article 13 of the Protocol on the Establishment of the EAC Customs Union in which partner states agreed to remove, with immediate effect, all existing NTBs.

The Bill sailed through the third reading after intense debate in the Assembly sitting in Bujumbura, Burundi. It now awaits assent by EAC Heads of State.

The draft law provides a legal mechanism for the elimination of identified NTBs in partner states and for identifying and monitoring the removal of NTBs within partner states.

Speaker Daniel Kidega described it as a very pivotal piece of legislation.

The Chairperson of the Council of Ministers, Tanzania’s Dr Abdullah Saadalla, cited roadblocks and weighbridges among the identified NTBs.

"The spirit of EAC is to promote trade as fast as possible,” Saadalla said.

Multisectoral meeting of ministers and the trade remedies committee are charged with monitoring the removal of NTBs.

Legal redress

Under the new law, traders affected by NTBs would be free to seek legal redress in the East Africa Court of Justice (EACJ).

Saadalla said almost 85 per cent of previously identified NTBs have been eliminated.

Tuesday’s debate was preceded by adoption of the report of the Committee on Communication, Trade and Investment (CTI), which is chaired by MP Mukasa Mbidde (Uganda).

The committee met with the Council of Ministers and experts from the Customs and Trade Directorate at the EAC Secretariat and proposed amendments to the effect that respective ministries of the EAC in each partner state be mandated to be national focal points for matters related to Non-Tariff Barriers.

The committee also proposed an amendment to provide for reference at the EACJ by any person aggrieved by a directive, decision or recommendation of the EAC Council of Ministers or the EAC Committee on Trade Remedies.

"The law provides for remedies that include that one can take recourse to court. It also provides for compensation in the event of losses due to NTBs,” Mbidde said.

"East Africans should know that NTBs are not natural phenomena and do not come out of the blue. They are decisions by governments, by institutions and directives by persons.”

Liability explained

In case of losses due to NTBs, Mbidde said, a partner state from which the individual hails would be legally responsible.

Where an affected party has taken recourse to court, then the rules of the court will apply with legal force, which include suing the attorney general of the partner state from which the official that has administered an NTB hails.

"Once assented to, it will be incumbent upon East Africans to vigorously and vigilantly seek to implement it by running to courts of law and using the avenues provided as remedies, both regional and locally at partner state level,” Mbidde said.

The EAC now prepares quarterly reports on the status of the elimination of NTBs to boost efforts by the National Monitoring Committees and the EAC Regional Forum on NTBs.

Truck drivers in Bujumbura’s busy Quartier Asiatique welcomed the development.

George Mauseni, manager of two heavy trucks plying the Bujumbura-Nairobi route and the Bujumbura-Dar es Salaam route, told The New Times that "traffic police checks, and weighbridges” are what he wants to see mostly eliminated.

"The police should stop delaying us on the way. On my last trip from Kenya, I took five days because of the stops at police checkpoints,” he said.

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