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26 July 2023 East African Community implements tariff changes for the Financial Year 2023/24
The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat released EAC Gazette Notice No. 11 of 2023 (the Gazette) on 30 June 2023, highlighting changes to the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004 (EACCMA) and the East African Community Common External Tariff (EAC CET). Through the Gazette, the Council of Ministers (Council) has implemented several changes that affect both individual EAC Partner States and the EAC1 region, with effect from 1 July 2023. Exercising its powers under Articles 12(3) and 39(c) of the Protocol on the Establishment of the East African Community Customs Union, the Council approved several measures on custom duty rates on the items provided under the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System in Annex 1 to the Protocol. This Alert highlights the changes affecting taxpayers and businesses in Kenya, other EAC partner states, and the EAC region as a whole. The Council approved various measures on import duty rates in the EAC CET for select items imported into Kenya. These measures are contained in Legal Notice Nos. EAC/129/2023 and EAC/132/2023. The stays of application of CET rates are effective for the one-year period from 1 July 2023. These measures, implemented to address specific economic needs, can cause either an increase or decrease in duty rates. Among the products targeted for an increase in duty rates are iron and steel products, wood products, paper and paper products, car imports, furniture, and textiles.
The Council stayed the application of EAC CET duty rates on equipment imported by manufacturers for the manufacture of garments and other textile products for Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The list of goods is contained in Legal Notice No. EAC/133/2023 (see Gazette, linked below 5). They include clothes hangers, safety pins of iron and steel, sewing needles, knitting needles, bodkins, crotchet hooks, scissors, and electric smoothing irons. The Council also stayed the application of EAC CET duty rates for equipment imported by manufacturers of footwear (shoes), to apply the specified duty rate for one year starting 1 July 2023 for the specified partner states. The list of the items is contained in Legal Notice No. EAC/134/2023 (see Gazette*). The following are the approved increases in import duty rates on imports of the affected items in the EAC CET. The items have been moved to the Fourth Band of the EAC CET 2022, attracting a higher import duty rate of 35%.
Through Legal Notice No. EAC/129/2023, the EAC CET 2022 was amended by restructuring Tariff Heading 1701 by the creation of new tariff number 1701.99.20 for other sugar (for industrial use) and changing the tariff number 1701.99.10 to white refined sugar (for industrial use). Through Legal Notice No. EAC/1/2023 of the Gazette, several tariff lines under Chapters 21 and 48 of the EAC CET 2022 were deleted and new structures created for the various tariff headings. However, these decisions came into force on the 1st of July 2023. (See Gazette5.) The Exemptions Regime under the Fifth Schedule to the Act, in Paragraph 27 Part B-General Exemptions, has been amended by deleting the words "plastic bags" appearing immediately after the words "bio digesters." This is in alignment with Paragraph 13 of Part A of the Second Schedule of the same Act, which prohibits the importation of plastic articles of less than 30 microns for the conveyance or packing of goods. These plastic bags are considered an environmental hazard and their importation into Kenya and some other partner states is prohibited. The Council issued a Notice to expunge Legal Notice No. EAC/86/2019, which provided for a remission of duty on raw materials and industrial inputs for the manufacture of footwear (shoes) imported by footwear manufacturers. The same goods will now enjoy EAC-wide Duty Remission under Legal Notice No. EAC/144/2023 of 30 June 2023, which took effect on 1 July 2023. The expunging of the Legal Notice removed a redundant provision. In addition, the new Legal Notice contains an expanded list of 17 items (up from 10). (See Gazette5.) The Council granted the Republics of Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya a stay of application of EAC CET duty rates on originating goods imported from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) from 1 July 2023 through 30 June 2024; and granted the United Republic of Tanzania a stay of application of the EAC CET duty rates on originating goods imported from Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) from 1 July 2023 through 30 June 2024. Importers of goods originating from COMESA/SADC with a valid certificate of origin will benefit from preferential rates for one additional year. The EAC duty remission scheme allows waiver of duty or refrainment from exacting of duty on gazetted inputs imported by gazetted users. The Gazette stipulates items approved by the Council to be imported at a lower rate under remission in accordance with Section 140 of EACCMA and the EAC Duty Remission Regulations, 2008. The scheme is applicable to those importing raw materials for manufacture of finished products for export outside the EAC or imports of raw materials considered as essential goods for manufacture of finished products either for export or domestic consumption. The Council has granted duty remission for various raw materials and industrial inputs for the manufacture of finished goods in accordance with the duty remission scheme and any conditions stipulated thereto when imported by manufacturers from the Republic of Kenya for one year:
Note: If duty remission has been granted for manufactured goods for export that end up being sold within EAC, full duties/CET will apply whether or not the taxpayer possesses a valid EAC certificate of origin. However, originating goods from the Republic of Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania manufactured using sugar for industrial use of tariff 1701.99.20 at regional remission (10%) will be accorded preferential tariff treatment when transferred to the Republic of Uganda.
1 The East African Community is a regional intergovernmental organization of seven partner states: the Republic of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Rwanda, the Republic of South Sudan, the Republic of Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania. 5 See link to EAC Gazette for comprehensive changes here. Document ID: 2023-1308 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||