Under the EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme, funded by the European Union (EU), the World Customs Organization (WCO) is providing financial and technical support towards the review of the technical aspects of the East African Community (EAC) Rules of origin (RoO). The support is in alignment to WCO’s strategic objectives on trade facilitation, revenue collection and organisational development, and enables the implementation of the directive of the 34th Meeting of the Council of Ministers for a comprehensive review of the EAC RoO, 2015, and its Procedure Manual. This initiative aims at ensuring that the rules are trade-facilitative, aligned with regional best practices and are supportive of industrial growth.
The review of the EAC RoO is timely since it provides an opportunity to address current implementation challenges and build greater transparency, predictability and trust among stakeholders. Considering that Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are building blocks of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), benefits arising from this review are expected to have a long-term effect on intra-African trade.
As part of the review process, the EAC Secretariat convened the First Meeting of the Regional Task force which was held in Kampala, Uganda from 10 to 12 June 2025. In attendance were Partner States’ representatives from Customs Administrations, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, other experts; and the EAC Secretariat. The objective of the Meeting was to allow the experts to review the general rules of origin provisions and the updated Annex III on EAC RoO, with a view to identifying necessary revisions and agreeing on proposed amendments to the rules.
Among other things, the meeting commendably agreed to amend general RoO provisions regarding Legal References and Definitions; Cumulation (full and extended cumulation and modalities for their implementation); Special Economic Arrangements/Zones (SEZ); Registration of exporters; Origin declaration with a view of enhancing use of self-certification; Simplified Trade Regime (STR) for small-scale Cross Border Traders (STR); and Exemptions from Proof of Origin. Subsequent to this Regional Task Force Meeting, another session will be held in July 2025 to review the Product Specific Rules (PSRs). Conclusion of these reviews will usher in the next phases which include review of the Manual for Implementation of EAC RoO; development of a Capacity Building Programme on the revised EAC RoO; and training of critical stakeholders on the revised EAC RoO.