Southern African Customs Union
Southern African Customs Union | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Windhoek |
Largest city | Johannesburg |
Official language | English (de facto)a |
Demonym(s) | Southern African |
Type | Customs union |
Membership | 5 states |
Leaders | |
• SACU Chair | Lesotho [1] |
• SACU Executive Secretary | T.D. Khasipe [2] |
Establishment | 1910 left |
Website sacu | |
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The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is a customs union among five countries of Southern Africa: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. Its headquarters are in the Namibian capital, Windhoek. It was established in 1910.
History
The SACU is the oldest existing customs union in the world.[8]
The first customs union in the area was established in 1889 between the British
Following the
With the advent of independence for the High Commission territories, the agreement was updated and, on 11 December 1969, it was relaunched as the SACU with the signing of an agreement between the
As of 2007, the Executive Secretary of the SACU was Tswelopele C. Moremi. Paulina Mbala Elago, a Namibian national, became executive secretary on 1 April 2014 for a period of five years. Thabo David Khasipe was appointed as executive secretary on 1 February 2023.[14]
Member states
Country | Area
(km2)[16] |
Population |
---|---|---|
Botswana | 581,730 | 2,630,296 |
Eswatini | 17,360 | 1,201,670 |
Lesotho | 30,360 | 2,305,825 |
Namibia | 824,290 | 2,567,012 |
South Africa | 1,219,090 | 59,893,885 |
Functions and organisation
The union meets annually to discuss matters related to the Agreement. In addition, the Customs Technical Liaison Committee, the Trade and Industry Liaison committee and the Ad hoc Sub-Committee on Agriculture each meet three times a year.
Its aim is to maintain the free interchange of goods between member countries. It provides for a common external tariff and a common excise tariff to this common customs area. All customs and excise collected in the common customs area are paid into South Africa's National Revenue Fund. The revenue is shared among members according to a revenue-sharing formula, as described in the agreement. South Africa is the custodian of this pool. Only the BLNS Member states' shares are calculated, with South Africa retaining the residual. SACU revenue constitutes a substantial share of the state revenue of the BLNS countries.
Developments and structure
Politics of the African Union |
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Following the formation of the Government of National Unity in South Africa in April 1994, member states concurred that the existing agreement should be renegotiated to democratise SACU and address needs of the SACU member states more effectively. With this in mind, the Ministers of Trade and Industry of the five member states met in Pretoria on 11 November 1994 to discuss the renegotiation of the 1969 agreement. The Ministers appointed a Customs Union Task Team (CUTT), which was mandated to make recommendations to the Ministers. CUTT has met on numerous occasions in the member states, and declares that good progress has been made in the renegotiation process.
At a meeting of Ministers of Trade and Finance Departments from the SACU member states, held in Centurion, Pretoria on 5 September 2000, the Ministers reached consensus on the principles underpinning institutional reform in the SACU. The institutional administrative structure of the revenue pool was agreed as follows:
- Council of Ministers
- Consisting of one minister from each SACU member state, it would be the supreme SACU decision-making body and would meet quarterly. The decisions taken by this council would only be by consensus.
- Commission
- An administrative body composed of senior officials, three technical liaison committees and an established Agricultural Liaison Committee.
- Tribunal
- An independent body of experts. It would report directly to the Council of Ministers. The tribunal would be responsible for tariff-setting and the anti-dumping mechanism.
- Secretariat
- Responsible for day-to-day operations of the pool. It would be funded from the revenue pool. Its location would be determined by senior officials who were directed to meet after one month to develop proposals for the implementation of the revised SACU institutional structure.
SACU ministers further agreed that the revenue share accruing to each member state should be calculated from three basic components:
- a share of the customs pool;
- a share of the excise pool; and
- a share of a development component.
By agreement, these components would be distributed as follows:
- The customs component, allocated according to each country's share of total intra-SACU trade, including re-exports.
- The excise component, net of the development component, allocated on the basis of GDP.
- The development component, fixed at 15% of the total excise pool and distributed to all SACU members in an inverse proportion to each country's GDP/capita.
While SACU entered into a free trade deal with the four-nation
SACU is involved in negotiations for a free trade agreement – the
Comparison with other regional blocs
African Economic Community | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pillar regional blocs (REC) |
Area (km²) |
Population | GDP (PPP) ($US) | Member states | |
(millions) | (per capita) | ||||
EAC | 4,810,363 | 312,362,653 | 833,622 | 3,286 | 8 |
ECOWAS/CEDEAO
|
5,112,903 | 349,154,000 | 1,322,452 | 3,788 | 15 |
IGAD | 5,233,604 | 294,197,387 | 225,049 | 1,197 | 7 |
AMU/UMA a | 6,046,441 | 106,919,526 | 1,299,173 | 12,628 | 5 |
ECCAS/CEEAC | 6,667,421 | 218,261,591 | 175,928 | 1,451 | 11 |
SADC | 9,882,959 | 394,845,175 | 737,392 | 3,152 | 15 |
COMESA | 12,873,957 | 406,102,471 | 735,599 | 1,811 | 20 |
CEN-SAD a | 14,680,111 | 29 | |||
Total AEC | 29,910,442 | 853,520,010 | 2,053,706 | 2,406 | 54 |
Other regional blocs |
Area (km²) |
Population | GDP (PPP) ($US) | Member states | |
(millions) | (per capita) | ||||
WAMZ 1
|
1,602,991 | 264,456,910 | 1,551,516 | 5,867 | 6 |
SACU 1 | 2,693,418 | 51,055,878 | 541,433 | 10,605 | 5 |
CEMAC 2
|
3,020,142 | 34,970,529 | 85,136 | 2,435 | 6 |
UEMOA 1
|
3,505,375 | 80,865,222 | 101,640 | 1,257 | 8 |
UMA 2 a | 5,782,140 | 84,185,073 | 491,276 | 5,836 | 5 |
GAFTA 3 a | 5,876,960 | 1,662,596 | 6,355 | 3,822 | 5 |
During 2004. Sources: The World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database.
Smallest value among the blocs compared.
Largest value among the blocs compared.
1: Economic bloc inside a pillar REC.
2: Proposed for pillar REC, but objecting participation.
3: Non-African members of GAFTA are excluded from figures.
a: The area 446,550 km2 used for Morocco excludes all disputed territories, while 710,850 km2 would include the Moroccan-claimed and partially-controlled parts of Western Sahara (claimed as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic by the Polisario Front). Morocco also claims Ceuta and Melilla, making up about 22.8 km2 (8.8 sq mi) more claimed territory.
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See also
- 1903 Southern African Customs Union Agreement
- Trade bloc
- Common Monetary Area
- Southern African Development Community (SADC)
- Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
- Rules of origin
- Market access
- Free-trade area
- Tariff
References
- ^ Shttps://www.sacu.int/docs/pr/2023/Press-Release-SACU-Chairmanship-Rotation-and-Handover-15-July-2023.pdf
- ^ "** Welcome to the SACU Website *".
- ^ SACU (Southern African Customs Union). s.a. What is SACU?. https://www.sacu.int/about/what_is.html Date of access: 16 October 2021
- ^ World Bank. 2022. Population, total - South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=ZA-BW-LS-NA-SZ Date of access: 19 July 2022
- ^ World Bank. 2022. GDP, PPP (current international $) - South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.PP.CD?locations=ZA-BW-LS-NA-SZ Date of access: 19 July 2022
- ^ World Bank. 2022. GDP (current US$) - South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=ZA-BW-LS-NA-SZ Date of access: 19 July 2022
- ^ World Bank. 2022. In Southern Africa, Leveling the Playing Field at Birth Critical to Reducing Inequality, Intergenerational Poverty. https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/publication/in-southern-africa-leveling-the-playing-field-at-birth-critical-to-reducing-inequality-intergenerational-poverty Date of access: 13 April 2022
- ^ "WTO - Trade policy review - Southern African Customs Union 2003". wto.org. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ a b c Brief Chronology of Customs Southern Africa, 1855-1979 by Derek J. Hudson, Botswana Notes and Records, Vol. 11
- ^ "Institute for Global Dialogue" (PDF). igd.org.za. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ Ali M. El-Agraa, The European Union economics and policies, Ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007, p. 7.
- ^ "** Welcome to the SACU Website **". sacu.int. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ISBN 9780521878494. Retrieved 6 April 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ "APPOINTMENT OF MR. THABO DAVID KHASIPE AS THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF SACU" (PDF). February 2023.
- ^ "Population by sex, annual rate of population increase, surface area and density" (PDF). United Nations Statistics Division: 1–2. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
- ^ World Bank. 2022. Land area (sq. km) - South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.SRF.TOTL.K2?end=2021&locations=ZA-BW-LS-NA-SZ&start=2021&type=shaded&view=map&year=2020 Date of access: 9 July 2023
- ^ USTR - Southern African Customs Union Free Trade Agreement Archived 20 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "EU dismiss concerns of Southern African customs union". wordpress.com. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ "Letter from SACU to De Gucht, 11 February 2010" (PDF). afrika.dk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ "Letter from De Gucht to SACU, 31 March 2010" (PDF). afrika.dk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2018.