In reference to the article that ran in The New Times N°. 112 of March 8th, 2008, under the heading Rwandans need to work hard in EAC, the Rwanda Revenue Authority would like to clarify the following:

The Reporter cited thus: "The customs union stipulates same laws governing member countries borders and scrapping of VAT on commodities from member countries."

The reporter would have rather said that the Customs Union has the following key pillars: a Common External Tariff, harmonized customs legislation, a programme of elimination of internal tariffs and application of rules of Origin. Implying that upon implementation of the EAC Customs Union, Rwanda will eliminate internal tariffs on goods from EAC Partner States.

A customs Union only affects import duties which is a duty on imported goods, and cannot in any way affect Value Added Tax (VAT) as this is a domestic tax.

For any clarifications about tariffs, the public should always feel free to contact the Rwanda Revenue Authority on a toll free line 3004.