EAC Common External Tariff changes released

Arusha. Tanzania has identified imported goods that will be taxed under the East African Community (EAC) Common External Tariff (CET) in the current fiscal year.

These include sugar, cooking oil, clothes and footwear, and buses for transportation. The country’s tariff rates will slightly differ from those that will be applied by fellow partner states in the seven-nation bloc.

The new import duty rates are among those approved by the EAC secretariat and were expected to be applicable from July 1st this year to June 30th, 2024.

Tanzania will grant stay of application of the EAC CET rate of 100 percent or $460/MT, whichever is higher, and apply a duty rate of 35 percent for one year on cane sugar imported under a permit issued by Tanzania Sugar Board.

Rwanda is granting stay of application for EAC CET of 100 per-cent, or $460 per tonne, for the same commodity. It will instead apply a duty rate of 25 percent.

Uganda is also charging a rate of 25 percent on sugar (for industrial use), while Burundi will exempt the same from tax.

On worn items of clothing and footwear, Tanzania, along with Burundi and Uganda, will charge duty rates of 35 percent or $0.4 per kg, whichever is higher.

The approved import duty rates for given products were different among countries based on the priorities of each partner state.

Tanzania will charge a duty rate of 25 percent or $250, which-ever is higher, for imported iron and steel reinforcements and hollow profiles.

On the other hand, Rwanda is applying a duty rate of 35 per-cent to the same construction materials. Kenya, the EAC Gazette shows, will grant stay of application of the EAC CET rate and impose a duty rate of 35 percent or $300 a tonne, whichever is higher.

EAC partner states also intend to tax cooking oil differently in the current financial year.

Tanzania will continue to grant stay of application of the EAC CET rate (of 35 percent) for refined vegetable oils and impose a lower duty rate of 25 percent or $500 per tonne, whichever is higher.

Rwanda is applying a duty rate of 25 percent to this product, while Uganda will impose a duty rate of 60 percent, almost double the common tariff.

Tanzania will apply a duty rate of 0 percent for buses for the transportation of more than 25 people imported for the rapid transport project.

Kenya is imposing a higher duty rate of 35 percent on such buses for the one year under consideration.

It is expected that Burundi and Rwanda will grant stay of application for the EAC CET rate of 25 percent. Instead, they will apply a duty rate of 10 percent for buses for transportation of more than 25 persons and not exceeding 50 persons.

Also, the two countries are set to grant stay of application of the EAC CET rate of 25 percent and instead charge a zero rate (0 percent) for buses for transportation of more than 50 per-sons.

The import duty rates for Tanzania under the regional CET for rice, electric, and hybrid vehicles, and inputs for the assembly of mobile phones are not contained in the Gazette notice as is the case for the other countries.

The measures on customs duty rates on the items in question were approved by the EAC Council of Ministers under the pro-visions of the EAC Customs Union Protocol.

The Protocol provides that the partner states shall establish a four-band CET with a minimum rate of 0 percent, a middle rate of 10 percent, 25 percent, and a maximum rate of 35 percent in respect of all products imported into the bloc.