Trade Agreements - D.R. Congo

Trade agreements between the DRC and other countries

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a member of several regional economic communities (REC) including ECCAS (Economic Community of Central African States), COMESA (Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa), SADC (Southern African Development Community ) and the CEPGL (Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries).

Regional Agreements Signed and Ratified

Southern African Development Community - SADC

Within the framework of the Southern African Development Community - SADC, the DRC has only signed the protocol on the service agreement but has not signed the protocol on the goods agreement.

Scope and Coverage:

1. The Protocol applies to all measures taken by Member States which affect trade in services:

• Coming from the territory of a Member State and destined for the territory of any other Member State;
• In the territory of a Member State for the benefit of a service consumer from any other Member State;
• By a service provider of a Member State, through a commercial presence in the territory of any other Member State;
• By a service provider of a State Party, through the presence of natural persons in the territory of any other State Party;

1. The protocol does not apply to the following air traffic measures:

• Traffic rights, regardless of how they are granted;
• Services directly related to the exercise of traffic rights;

1. The protocol applies to the following measures:

• Aircraft repair and maintenance services;
• The sale and marketing of air transport services;
• Computer reservation system (CRS) services

1. Services include any service provided in any industry, except services provided in the exercise of governmental authority.
2. A service provided in the exercise of governmental authority means any service that is provided neither on a commercial basis nor in competition with one or more service providers.

In other words, this service protocol covers five (5) sectors according to the W120 classification of the World Trade Organization, in particular:

The sector of transport, tourism, sector of communication, finance, professional service, construction and and the sector of electricity.

Economic Community of Great Lakes Countries : CEPGL is a sub-organization of ECCAS with only DRC, Burundi, Rwanda . This organization is redundant in terms of trade regime because these three member countries, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC, are also all members of COMESA. Within these zones, free trade is operational and effective, ie goods circulate between these countries without customs duties.

Bilateral trade agreement between the DRC and Uganda

The DRC and Uganda are committed to promoting cross-border trade. The two countries signed, on April 9, 2018 in Kasese, a protocol agreement aimed at improving bilateral trade relations. Several areas are affected by this agreement. These include, among other things, the diversification of trade in goods and services, the promotion of investment in the manufacturing industry sector, the elimination of non-tariff barriers, cooperation on customs and cooperation on immigration issues. With regard to the mechanism for implementing this memorandum of understanding, provision is made for the establishment at each border of a joint border committee which will hold regular evaluation meetings.

Regional agreements signed and not ratified by the DRC

SADC – COMESA – EAC: The DRC has also signed a tripartite free trade agreement since 2015 but has never ratified. The treaty is said to be tripartite because it brings together three regional groupings in Africa, including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa ( COMESA ), the Community of Southern African States (SADC) and the community of East Africa (EAC).

COMESA: Within the framework of COMESA, the DRC is a member of the COMESA free trade zone but the DRC has not yet joined the customs union although it had requested a moratorium to join the free trade zone. exchange. This moratorium has already ended.

The development of trade relations between the DRC and Zambia and South Africa does not result from the existence of regional agreements but from other factors such as the existence of a road and rail network.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECA, ZLEC or Zlecaf):

The DRC is among the 54 signatory countries of the African Free Trade Area agreement , but the process of ratification is underway at the level of parliament.

It has nevertheless finalized the tariff concession list which will be transmitted after validation to the African Union. 90% will be products liberalized for 10 years but 7% will be sensitive products to be liberalized for 13 years, the remaining 3% will be exclusion products which will not be liberalized.

Regarding services, out of the 12 sectors and 166 sub-sectors, the Head of State has chosen 5 sectors to be liberalized; namely: the service sector provided to businesses (professional service), transport, tourism, communication and finance sectors. The others will liberalize. Gradually.

International Agreements

W orld Trade O rganization _ _

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the 51st original member of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) to join the World Trade Organization, two years after the entry into force of the latter on January 1, 1995. As a Least Developed Country (LDC), DR Congo receives additional attention at the WTO . All the agreements recognize that it must benefit from the greatest possible flexibility.

The objective of the WTO is to facilitate the exchange of goods and services between countries, international cooperation and free trade by controlling customs tariffs.

Unilateral agreement of the European Union quotEverything but arms - TSAquot

The member countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), of which the DRC is a member, negotiated the economic partnership agreement with the European Union (EU) within the framework of the quotEverything but armsquot initiative. which aims to grant full tax exemption and duty-free and quota-free access to the EU single market for all products except arms and ammunition. Provided that the products meet SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) product quality standards. But so far this economic partnership agreement with the European Union has never been signed by the DRC.

Africa Growth and Opportunity Act – AGOA

Until 2010, the DRC had the status of privileged economic partner conferred on it by the law of AGAO (Africa Growth and Opportunity. This law instituted since 2000 in the United States of America by former President Clinton, offers beneficiaries sub-Saharan Africa access to the US market, duty-free and without quota limitation, for almost all products under the generalized system of preferences.However, since January 2011, the DRC has been removed from the list of the beneficiaries of this Agoa law for non-respect of human rights.

contacts:

General Secretariat for Foreign Trade

Floribert Kwete Mikobi

Director of studies and planning

Civil service building

Ref. : In front of the Central Bank of Congo

fkwetemikobi@gmail.com

+243815187776