Namibia is only member still to finalise procedure
Alan Peat
THE FREE trade area (FTA) for the SADC (Southern African Development Community) is getting closer to completion with 10 of the 14 member states now having signed up their "implements of instrumentation".
The latest two to join the throng are Tanzania and Mozambique which were included under Section 49(1)(a)(iv) of the Customs and Excise Act (Act) 1964 on October 25.
In these amendments, the General Notes to Schedule No.1 were altered to include Tanzania and Mozambique - and they have implemented the Protocol on Trade from July 1 and July 31 respectively.
Looking at Article 10 of the Amendment Protocol it can be seen that the following countries are now part of the FTA - Botswana (effective December 1, 2000); Lesotho (November 1, 2000); Malawi (May 1, 2000); Mauritius (September 1, 2000); Mozambique (July 31, 2001); SA (September 1, 2000); Swaziland (October 1, 2000); Tanzania (July 1, 2001); Zambia (March 5, 2001) and Zimbabwe (May 1, 2000).
The only one of the 11 SADC member countries that have committed themselves to the creation of the FTA - but has still not finalised the procedure - is Namibia.
But this delay should not be too much longer, according to Riaan de Lange, head of Deloitte & Touche's international trade division. "It does not make sense for them not to sign up since the rest of SACU (Southern African Customs Union) has done so."
The other 3 SADC member countries - Angola, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Seychelles - have indicated that they will commit to an FTA at a later stage.
"But that they have not signed the Trade Protocol," said De Lange, "and have, to my knowledge, not given any indication of when they intend to do so.
"For all practical purposes it could take quite some time before they do this."
But what signs are there of the SADC FTA getting underway, FTW asked De Lange, and when is this expected to become evident?
"At present the non-SACU SADC members have direct duty-free access to the union countries for the majority of products.
"So, in theory, there should be immediate increases in imports from them. However, the expectations are that this could practically take quite some time to become evident."
And what benefits can SA expect from the FTA?
"In the short term, not a lot," said De Lange. "The SA preferential access is phased in over a period of time while these others have immediate access.
"However, SA importers could well consider these countries in the bigger scheme of things bearing in mind their depreciating currencies."
