COMESA scales up efforts to facilitate movement of agricultural and food products in the region

One of the main barriers to the movement of agricultural and food products among African States is the existence of different Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regulations and standards in these nations. A common problem that these goods often face is that they often are not admitted in the destination markets because they contain additives, contaminants, or levels of aflatoxins that are superior to the tolerated thresholds admitted by national laws.

Article XX(b) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the WTO Agreement on SPS establish that members of the Organization have the right to adopt measures necessary for the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, on condition that they put in place all the efforts necessary to minimize the restrictive effects on trade of such measures. The same principle has been embedded in one of the Annex (Annex 7) to the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in Goods, which calls for the harmonization of technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment among AfCFTA State Parties so that their divergences do not create obstacles to trade. This work is being guided by the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO), an African Intergovernmental organization whose main mandate is the establishment of a conformity assessment system to promote the quality of African goods and services as a means of facilitating intra-African trade as well as accessing global markets.

Some Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have achieved a high level of harmonization with regard to sanitary and phytosanitary measures and standards. Almost all East African Community (EAC) Partner States, for instance, in 2013, adopted the EAC SPS Protocol, that defines principles and steps for achieving this harmonization. Moreover, almost all its member states have harmonized the aflatoxin levels on a wide range of products. They also mutually recognize each other’s product certification schemes and the standardization marks they place on a large variety of goods circulating in their territory (including food products) in order to demonstrate compliance with their national product safety standards.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is also particularly sensitive to the issues related to SPS barriers, being one of the African RECs that made the most significant progress in facilitating trade among its members. From September 2–6 in Nairobi, Kenya, a workshop attended by experts from COMESA Member States finalized the revision of the COMESA Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regulations, strategy and implementation plans. The initiative aims to eliminatedivergences in SPS measures and regulatory approaches that hinder trade in the region. Organized in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the workshop analyzed all the possible solutions to increase levels of  harmonization of SPS measures, establishing equivalence in standards, risk assessment and ensuring transparency in the implementation process among member States. It is expected that such harmonization will streamline cross-border trade, reducing the need for repeated testing and certification that raise the cost of export of many goods, especially in the food and agricultural sector.

The finalized regulations and implementation plans will be submitted for approval by COMESA’s Policy Organs at the end of this year for formal approval. Additionally, Member States also developed a strategy that aims atbuilding capacities in both public and private sectors and enhancing coordination and collaboration among national and regional competent authorities on SPS-related issues. The strategy focuses on developing human, and institutional capabilities to establish harmonized, science-based SPS systems.