A simplified, more stable tariff structure would increase the efficiency of SACU's trade, enhance its ability to fulfil its multilateral obligations, facilitate the negotiation of new or expanded regional agreements and help SACU members attract more foreign investment.
A new set of reports prepared by the WTO Secretariat on the trade practices and policies of the five SACU members - Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland - notes that SACU's external tariff, until now determined by South Africa, is extremely complex and often fluctuates, sometimes hampering the export interests of individual SACU members. Separate reports on each of the members' trade policies and practices (see below for salient points) have been prepared by the WTO Secretariat. The reports along with policy statements prepared by each of the five governments will be reviewed by the WTO's Trade Policy Review Body on 21, 22 and 23 April 1998. It is the first time since the Trade Policy Review Mechanism entered into force in 1989 that the GATT or the WTO has carried out a grouped review of developing countries.
According to the Secretariat reports, the SACU agreement is the principal treaty governing the common trade policy of SACU member countries. Under the agreement, members apply to imports customs, excise, sales, anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duties, and other related laws set by South Africa, by far the largest trading partner in the customs union. The agreement provides for duty-free circulation of goods within the five-country customs union and grants transit rights across South African territory. Duties collected by SACU members are pooled in a common fund and subsequently distributed to members by South Africa. The reports note that the agreement is currently under re-negotiation and that SACU members are trying to revise the revenue-sharing formula and the management of the customs union.
SACU's common external tariff averaged some 15 per cent in June 1997. Some 44 per cent of tariff lines, particularly on inputs of capital goods and products that are not manufactured and do not have substitutes in South Africa, bear a zero rate whereas goods produced, or with substitutes produced, in South Africa generally bear relatively high rates. The reports add that the highest average tariff is in manufacturing with 15.6%, compared with 5.6% in agriculture and 1.4% in mining and quarrying. The structure of the common external tariff, determined by South Africa, primarily reflects its policy priorities and industrial structure. The reports note that the existing tariff structure sometimes imposes an anti-export bias on members' industries. SACU members, other than South Africa, are also concerned by the complexity of the SACU tariff regime comprising specific, ad valorem, mixed, compound and formula duties, and its frequent changes. Both factors are cited as impediments to implementing and administering the tariff.
The reports note, however, that the Tariff Rationalization Process (TRP) being undertaken by South Africa should substantially simplify SACU's tariff structure. The TRP may, nevertheless, lead to increased tariff escalation and result in a higher effective rate of protection.
The five SACU countries are also members of the South African Development Community (SADC), an agreement which sets out a timetable for the creation of a free-trade area encompassing the free movement of capital, goods, services and labour. SADC, an agreement which is to have its own dispute settlement mechanism, is also a forum for political cooperation. SADC members, excluding South Africa, also benefit from preferential market access to the European Union under the Lomé Convention.
According to the WTO reports, the network of regional and preferential trade agreements within the southern African area and between southern Africa and Europe presents a number of challenges to policy makers in the region. While SACU must still determine its own structure, it has also to consider its operational relations with SADC. Relations between Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS) with South Africa on the one hand, and South Africa's relations under its coming bilateral trade agreement with the European Union, on the other, are a third piece of the regional and preferential trade puzzle. There is a risk, the reports say, that the evolution of this complex set of relations could create a structure of tariffs, preferences and rules of origin that could well lead to future trade distortion.
Below are the summary highlights of the WTO Secretariat reports. Copies of the reports may be obtained from the WTO's website (under Trade Policy Review Body) or from the WTO's Information and Media Relations Division.
South Africa
The Government of South Africa embarked on new economic and trade reforms following the end of apartheid and the holding of multi-party elections in 1994. It is now rapidly re-integrating its economy into the multilateral trading system. While the WTO Secretariat report notes that South Africa's five-year trade liberalization programme will help its products compete internationally, the report states that policy makers should continue with plans to simplify and coordinate the various aspects of trade policy, especially the tariff structure.
The South African government hopes to increase investment and re-orientate resources away from the highly capital-intensive industrial structure which characterized the economy throughout much of the apartheid era. The report says that South Africa has made decisive moves towards outward orientation with a focus on export promotion by means of a wide variety of incentives, such as tariff concessions and credit facilities. The main objective of South Africa's economic policy is to enhance the value of labour-intensive products with a view to reducing the level of unemployment (29 per cent of the economically active population). Tariffs and "supply-side measures" are South Africa's main trade policy instruments. Quantitative restrictions have been dismantled to a large degree.
Mining and related activities remain at the centre of the South African economy and account for some 40% of earnings from merchandise exports. As the backbone of the economy, the mining and quarrying sector receives the largest share of financial assistance. The manufacturing sector, largely centred around mineral processing, contributes nearly 25% of GDP. However, the report says, the international competitiveness of manufacturing suffers from a lack of skilled labour. This sector is protected mainly by tariffs, which average nearly 16%. Textiles, clothing and related items are also among the most tariff-protected products. Services are the largest employer, with over half of total employment, and account for some 53% of GDP. In the agricultural sector, the government is promoting the deregulation of the marketing system, notably by reducing the number of control boards. Tariffs on agricultural products range from 0 to 35%, with a simple average of 5.6%. Ceiling bound rates ranging up to almost 400 per cent leave considerable margins for discretionary increases in applied tariffs.
In recent years, merchandise imports have grown faster than exports. South Africa's exports include machinery, motor vehicles and fertilizers to African countries, and minerals and agricultural products to developed markets, mainly Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. South Africa's main suppliers of imports are Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The report notes that even though South Africa privatized or commercialized a number of public enterprises in the early 1990s, the process has since slowed down. Several state-owned enterprises hold monopolies or exercise majority control in various areas, including electricity, water, transport and communication, mining and quarrying. In the agricultural sector, there are still 14 marketing boards in operation. In the services sector, though the situation has improved with the restructuring of several state-owned service suppliers and an opening to foreign investment, the report notes that further liberalization would help raise the competitiveness of South Africa's exports.
Botswana
Botswana's growth since independence in 1966 has been impressive, largely due to the performance of the mining sector. The WTO Secretariat report on Botswana's trade policies states that Botswana's strong economy and export structure make it the least dependent of the BLNS states on revenue distributions from South Africa. Liberalization of services, such as telecommunications, finance, insurance and transport, will help Botswana develop its considerable trading potential. Meanwhile, the development of new transport routes via Namibia will encourage diversification of trade. The report notes that given Botswana's potential, the country has an active interest not only in reforming the internal structure of SACU but also in establishing a tariff which reduces the current anti-export bias and encourages further opening towards the broader south African region and to the rest of the world.
Botswana's export trade consists mainly of diamonds (around 70 per cent of merchandise exports) of which over 70% go to the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The UK is also the largest market for Botswana's beef exports, which gain duty-free preferential access under quota to the EU. On the import side, South Africa is by far the largest supplier. Imports from South Africa, however, include goods from other sources coming through South Africa to land-locked Botswana.
The report notes that manufacturing activity has expanded strongly, principally in the textiles and motor vehicles assembly sector. In regard to services, the telecommunications sector has grown rapidly. Banking services are open to new competition and tourism is a potential major source of fore
A simplified, more stable tariff structure would increase the efficiency of SACU's trade, enhance its ability to fulfil its multilateral obligations, facilitate the negotiation of new or expanded regional agreements and help SACU members attract more foreign investment.
A new set of reports prepared by the WTO Secretariat on the trade practices and policies of the five SACU members - Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland - notes that SACU's external tariff, until now determined by South Africa, is extremely complex and often fluctuates, sometimes hampering the export interests of individual SACU members. Separate reports on each of the members' trade policies and practices (see below for salient points) have been prepared by the WTO Secretariat. The reports along with policy statements prepared by each of the five governments will be reviewed by the WTO's Trade Policy Review Body on 21, 22 and 23 April 1998. It is the first time since the Trade Policy Review Mechanism entered into force in 1989 that the GATT or the WTO has carried out a grouped review of developing countries.
According to the Secretariat reports, the SACU agreement is the principal treaty governing the common trade policy of SACU member countries. Under the agreement, members apply to imports customs, excise, sales, anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duties, and other related laws set by South Africa, by far the largest trading partner in the customs union. The agreement provides for duty-free circulation of goods within the five-country customs union and grants transit rights across South African territory. Duties collected by SACU members are pooled in a common fund and subsequently distributed to members by South Africa. The reports note that the agreement is currently under re-negotiation and that SACU members are trying to revise the revenue-sharing formula and the management of the customs union.
SACU's common external tariff averaged some 15 per cent in June 1997. Some 44 per cent of tariff lines, particularly on inputs of capital goods and products that are not manufactured and do not have substitutes in South Africa, bear a zero rate whereas goods produced, or with substitutes produced, in South Africa generally bear relatively high rates. The reports add that the highest average tariff is in manufacturing with 15.6%, compared with 5.6% in agriculture and 1.4% in mining and quarrying. The structure of the common external tariff, determined by South Africa, primarily reflects its policy priorities and industrial structure. The reports note that the existing tariff structure sometimes imposes an anti-export bias on members' industries. SACU members, other than South Africa, are also concerned by the complexity of the SACU tariff regime comprising specific, ad valorem, mixed, compound and formula duties, and its frequent changes. Both factors are cited as impediments to implementing and administering the tariff.
The reports note, however, that the Tariff Rationalization Process (TRP) being undertaken by South Africa should substantially simplify SACU's tariff structure. The TRP may, nevertheless, lead to increased tariff escalation and result in a higher effective rate of protection.
The five SACU countries are also members of the South African Development Community (SADC), an agreement which sets out a timetable for the creation of a free-trade area encompassing the free movement of capital, goods, services and labour. SADC, an agreement which is to have its own dispute settlement mechanism, is also a forum for political cooperation. SADC members, excluding South Africa, also benefit from preferential market access to the European Union under the Lomé Convention.
According to the WTO reports, the network of regional and preferential trade agreements within the southern African area and between southern Africa and Europe presents a number of challenges to policy makers in the region. While SACU must still determine its own structure, it has also to consider its operational relations with SADC. Relations between Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS) with South Africa on the one hand, and South Africa's relations under its coming bilateral trade agreement with the European Union, on the other, are a third piece of the regional and preferential trade puzzle. There is a risk, the reports say, that the evolution of this complex set of relations could create a structure of tariffs, preferences and rules of origin that could well lead to future trade distortion.
Below are the summary highlights of the WTO Secretariat reports. Copies of the reports may be obtained from the WTO's website (under Trade Policy Review Body) or from the WTO's Information and Media Relations Division.
South Africa
The Government of South Africa embarked on new economic and trade reforms following the end of apartheid and the holding of multi-party elections in 1994. It is now rapidly re-integrating its economy into the multilateral trading system. While the WTO Secretariat report notes that South Africa's five-year trade liberalization programme will help its products compete internationally, the report states that policy makers should continue with plans to simplify and coordinate the various aspects of trade policy, especially the tariff structure.
The South African government hopes to increase investment and re-orientate resources away from the highly capital-intensive industrial structure which characterized the economy throughout much of the apartheid era. The report says that South Africa has made decisive moves towards outward orientation with a focus on export promotion by means of a wide variety of incentives, such as tariff concessions and credit facilities. The main objective of South Africa's economic policy is to enhance the value of labour-intensive products with a view to reducing the level of unemployment (29 per cent of the economically active population). Tariffs and "supply-side measures" are South Africa's main trade policy instruments. Quantitative restrictions have been dismantled to a large degree.
Mining and related activities remain at the centre of the South African economy and account for some 40% of earnings from merchandise exports. As the backbone of the economy, the mining and quarrying sector receives the largest share of financial assistance. The manufacturing sector, largely centred around mineral processing, contributes nearly 25% of GDP. However, the report says, the international competitiveness of manufacturing suffers from a lack of skilled labour. This sector is protected mainly by tariffs, which average nearly 16%. Textiles, clothing and related items are also among the most tariff-protected products. Services are the largest employer, with over half of total employment, and account for some 53% of GDP. In the agricultural sector, the government is promoting the deregulation of the marketing system, notably by reducing the number of control boards. Tariffs on agricultural products range from 0 to 35%, with a simple average of 5.6%. Ceiling bound rates ranging up to almost 400 per cent leave considerable margins for discretionary increases in applied tariffs.
In recent years, merchandise imports have grown faster than exports. South Africa's exports include machinery, motor vehicles and fertilizers to African countries, and minerals and agricultural products to developed markets, mainly Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. South Africa's main suppliers of imports are Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The report notes that even though South Africa privatized or commercialized a number of public enterprises in the early 1990s, the process has since slowed down. Several state-owned enterprises hold monopolies or exercise majority control in various areas, including electricity, water, transport and communication, mining and quarrying. In the agricultural sector, there are still 14 marketing boards in operation. In the services sector, though the situation has improved with the restructuring of several state-owned service suppliers and an opening to foreign investment, the report notes that further liberalization would help raise the competitiveness of South Africa's exports.
Botswana
Botswana's growth since independence in 1966 has been impressive, largely due to the performance of the mining sector. The WTO Secretariat report on Botswana's trade policies states that Botswana's strong economy and export structure make it the least dependent of the BLNS states on revenue distributions from South Africa. Liberalization of services, such as telecommunications, finance, insurance and transport, will help Botswana develop its considerable trading potential. Meanwhile, the development of new transport routes via Namibia will encourage diversification of trade. The report notes that given Botswana's potential, the country has an active interest not only in reforming the internal structure of SACU but also in establishing a tariff which reduces the current anti-export bias and encourages further opening towards the broader south African region and to the rest of the world.
Botswana's export trade consists mainly of diamonds (around 70 per cent of merchandise exports) of which over 70% go to the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The UK is also the largest market for Botswana's beef exports, which gain duty-free preferential access under quota to the EU. On the import side, South Africa is by far the largest supplier. Imports from South Africa, however, include goods from other sources coming through South Africa to land-locked Botswana.
The report notes that manufacturing activity has expanded strongly, principally in the textiles and motor vehicles assembly sector. In regard to services, the telecommunications sector has grown rapidly. Banking services are open to new competition and tourism is a potential major source of fore
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
