East African Tariff Policy & Trade Facilitation
East African countries have pursued deeper regional integration and trade liberalization in recent years. The East African Community (EAC) Customs Union (launched 2005, fully implemented by 2010) harmonized external tariffs and eliminated internal dutiesfao.org. Under the EAC common external tariff (CET), raw materials, capital goods and agricultural inputs enter duty-free (0%), intermediate industrial inputs at 10%, and most finished goods at 25%fao.org. A list of sensitive products (e.g. sugar, cereals) carries higher tariffs than the 25% baseline fao.org. For example, EAC rules impose a compound tariff of 75% (or a fixed levy) on items like rice and sugar fao.org. These CET rules are periodically reviewed by EAC ministers, but applied rates have generally trended lower than the 25% maximum due to temporary duty waivers and exemptions fao.orgfao.org. By 2009 the…
