East Africa: Regional Govts Extend Tax Remission to Uganda Industrial Inputs

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

Zephania Ubwani

27 June 2011

The East African governments have agreed to extend the remission of Uganda list of raw materials and industrial inputs from any form of taxation for one year ending June 2012. Goods exported from Uganda produced by industries enjoying the remission should attract the EAC Common External Tariff (CET).

“This should apply to all goods that enjoy duty remission exported by the partner states”, the ministers responsible for Trade resolved during their meeting in Arusha last week. The ministers, meeting within the framework of the EAC Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investments, considered the Uganda list of raw materials and industrial inputs.

They took note of the reservations expressed by other partner states in the regional bloc; Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi and Uganda. The meeting directed the Arusha-based EAC Secretariat to finalise the study on the impact of the Uganda list of raw materials and industrial inputs to the economies of the partner states.

The exercise should be concluded by December this year. The Secretariat was further directed to fast-track the study before the next pre-budget consultations of the EA Finance ministers. The Uganda list of raw materials and industrial inputs that the EAC member country has fought for their exemptions dates back to 2004 when the EAC Customs Union law was passed.

The latest turn of events, however, can be traced back to May last year during the pre-budged consultations by Ministers of Finance of EA states.During their meeting in Arusha, the ministers considered proposals on the review of import duty for specific products and decided that studies be undertaken to inform the review of the duty rates.

The products whose duties were under review included paper and paper board products, millstone and grindstone for milling, grinding and pulping.Others are plastic tubes for packing toothpaste, cosmetics and similar product and cement.

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