THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN REPLY
2346. Mr N L Kwankwa (UDM) to ask the Minister of Trade and Industry:
Whether any steps have been taken to reduce the red tape that is stifling
trade with the African continent; if not, why not; if so, what steps?
NW2837E
Response:
Tariff barriers to trade within the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) have been removed to a considerable extent. This was done through
the implementation of the SADC Trade Protocol, which established a free
trade area among 12 SADC member states. The tariff phase-down commitments
have largely been implemented and almost all tariffs reached zero in 2012.
Some member states are however not fully compliant with their commitments.
The department continues its work in the relevant SADC fora and on bi-
lateral level to achieve full compliance.
South Africa is also participating in the Tripartite Free Trade Area
negotiations between the East African Community, Common Market for East
and Southern Africa (COMESA) and SADC which aim to combine markets of 26
countries with a population of nearly 600 million and a combined GDP of
US$1 trillion. The main objective of the TFTA is to provide market scale
that could launch a sizeable part of the continent onto a new developmental
trajectory.
Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade remain a significant impediment to
trade. The 26 countries of the Tripartite region have established an on-
line monitoring and reporting system for NTBs. As a reporting tool it works
well, however, the resolution of the NTBs reported remains slow and
difficult. Many NTBs require regulatory or legislative changes.
Nevertheless, some success has been achieved: of 461 complaints registered
in the system, 352 are reported as having been resolved. One should caution
though that what is in some cases recorded as resolved, was in fact only
explained in terms of the underpinning legislation, rather than
resolved/changed. Customs and border procedures, and transport-related
issues and infrastructure bottlenecks remain a key challenge in the African
continent. South Africa has considerably modernized and streamlined its
customs procedures through the Customs Modernization Programme developed
and implemented by SARS.