- Launches ECOWAS Electronic Certificate of Origin
The ECOWAS Commission has highlighted the benefits of origin-to-destination digitalization of the ECOWAS certificate of origin as one of the instruments needed to facilitate cross – border movement of goods within the sub- region.
Such procedure, the Commission said, not only transcends national to regional levels, but will assist to eliminate signatures, human intervention, drastically reduce fraud and engender transparency.
Its Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Mrs. Massandje Toure – Liste, said this at the launch of the ECOWAS Electronic Certificate of Origin, in Lagos.
Represented by the Director of Customs Union and Taxation, Mr. Salifou Tiemtore, she said the new regime besides boosting confidence will also facilitate cross border movement of community goods.
The event brought together representatives of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, African Development Bank, GIZ, World Customs Organisation, UEMOA Commission, Regional Economic Communities, TradeMark Africa, ECOWAS member states and members of the organised private sector.
She said the new clearance regime is expected to have a significant and positive impact on the cross-border movement of goods in the ECOWAS region.
Observing that the proliferation of free trade agreements around the globe has become a way of creating markets and stimulating the productive capacity of countries with its attendant economic benefits, she said the development, however, poses significant challenges to developing and least developed countries in Africa.
She said: “These countries have weak industrial capacity and are highly dependent on border taxes for economic development.
“The erosion of customs revenues and non-compliance with origin requirements and procedures further destroy the already weak industrial landscape of these poor countries and exacerbate the already precarious economic situation in which they find themselves.
“Parties to a free trade agreement must ensure that goods eligible for tariff preferences or differentiated treatment must meet the origin requirements which underpin the agreement to enable the parties reap the full benefits of trade liberalization within the framework of the agreement.
“Simply put, for the purposes of providing preferential tariff treatment to goods in international trade, such goods must meet the origin requirements that the importing country subscribes to, with the proof of origin being a valid certificate of origin in most cases.
“Unfortunately, as we have experienced over the years in West Africa, the manual process relating to the application request for certificate of origin, its delivery as a paper document, approval by Customs prior to export and presentation to Customs of the country of importation as proof of origin and therefore eligible for tariff preference have become
cumbersome and very often, subject to fraud.”
The ECOWAS Commissioner said: “This has eroded confidence in the proof of origin with falsified paper certificates of origin being used to secure tariff preferences thereby denying parties the benefits of trade liberalization.
“I must say that Customs administrations spend a longer time verifying the authenticity of certificates of origin.
“The entire certificate of origin regime has, therefore, become an impediment to the free movement of goods in an era where trade facilitation is the name of the game.
“In the ECOWAS region, the idea of using information and communication technology to reform border procedures and automate customs instruments with the view to making cross-border movement of cargo more efficient has long been a subject of immense interest to member states since over a decade ago.
“In addition to the automation, the Community transit procedure which has led to the development and implementation of the “Automated System for the Management of Transit Goods” (SIGMAT), ECOWAS has reformed the procedures under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) with a functioning website and web portal and embarked on the ambitious project of dematerializing the ECOWAS certificate of origin and indeed digitizing the entire certificate of origin regime.”
“Since 2019, ECOWAS begun the project of digitizing the community certificate of origin and developing a regional electronic certificate of origin Hub (e-CO Hub) for the transmission and reception of the digitized certificates whilst at the same time working with four pilot member states to automate the application for and delivery of the certificate of origin at the national level.
“The ECOWAS e-CO Hub connects the Customs of the exporting countries to the Customs of the importing countries in accordance with the famous international customs slogan “Borders divide, Customs connects”.
Also speaking, ECOWAS Commission’s Head of Program, Bernard Tayoh, expressed excitement over the launch, describing it as a significant milestone.
He said: “We hope it will go a long way toward facilitating the determination of the origin of goods by border agencies. For the Community, it will surely enhance intra-community trade and boost the economic competitiveness of Member States.”
Source:The Nation
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