From 11 to 15 January 2021, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) held a meeting of its Nomenclature and Tariff Committee in Douala, Cameroun, as part of its ongoing work to prepare the implementation of the 2022 version of the Harmonized System (HS) and in line with the Community's HS 2022 migration plan. The meeting was organized in close cooperation with the WCO, in the framework of the EU-WCO Programme for the HS in Africa (HS-Africa Programme) funded by the European Union.

The meeting brought together tariff experts from Cameroun, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Central African Republic, as well as the Secretariats of the CEMAC and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). Representatives of Chad and the HS-Africa Programme attended the meeting by video conferencing.

The Committee examined various issues related to the use of the CEMAC Common External Tariff (CET). Delegates agreed to continue their efforts to further harmonize the use of the CET for the purposes of collecting national taxes and duties by Member states. The meeting addressed the dynamics achieved by the CEMAC and the ECCAS towards establishing a single Regional Economic Community in the region of Central Africa, which would eventually include 11 countries sharing a common tariff.

The Committee concluded its work by provisionally adopting a draft CET based on the HS 2022, subject to a few minor issues that remained outstanding and would be finalized at a later stage. The CEMAC Commission will continue its cooperation with the WCO under the HS-Africa Programme to ensure timely and effective implementation of the HS 2022 amendments.

For more details, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.