Friday, 17^th June 2022 Nairobi, Kenya: –  Industry leaders have called for a regional wide duty remission scheme instituted to spur intra-EAC trade.

Speaking at the EAC Incentive Scheme Workshop organized by East African Business Council with support from TradeMark East Africa; Dr. Samuel Nyantahe from Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) said, “Final products manufactured using raw materials benefiting from duty remission do not access the EAC market at the preferential rate of 0% which has set back the growth of intra-EAC trade and industrial value chains.”

Governments have allowed some raw materials to be imported outside the EAC bloc within duty remission, yet the raw materials are sufficiently available from other EAC Partner States, this has distorted the regional value chain integration.

The industry leaders have also called for a Regional Committee on Duty Remission to convene and for the private sector to be involved in overseeing the EAC Wide Duty Remission Scheme.

Low uptake of EAC incentive schemes by the private sector is due to lack of awareness of the accreditation procedures and benefits of the schemes to businesses.

Mr. John Bosco Kalisa, EABC CEO said, “Export Processing Zones (EPZ), Duty Remission Scheme (DRS) and Authorised Economic Operators (AEO); are all incentive schemes intended to promote EAC exports and facilitate trade. “

The EAC Incentive Schemes Workshop organized under the EABC-TMEA Public‐Private Sector Dialogue Programme for Trade and Investment in Eastern Africa improved awareness of over 40 business associations on use of EAC customs instruments and schemes such as Export Processing Zones (EPZs), Duty Remission Schemes (DRSs) and Regional Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs).

The workshop delved into the benefits and application of the customs schemes to EAC businesses, intra-EAC trade and investment, while also looking at how to improve accessibility & compliance to the schemes by the private sector.