By VICTORIA OJEME

ECOWAS leaders are to meet in Dakar, Senegal in October in an extraordinary session to decide on three issues critical to the financial health of the region – the Common External Tariff (CET), the Community Levy and the lingering Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations with the European Union (EU).

The just-concluded 43rd Ordinary Session of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in Abuja, which was dominated by the political and security situations in Mali and Guinea Bissau, touched on the three issues, but deferred decisions on them until the Dakar summit, whose actual date would be communicated to member states.

The CET is a precursor to a regional Customs Union, which is predicated on the harmonisation and convergence of national fiscal, monetary and trade policies of member states for the attainment of economic integration by the 15-nation economic community with a combined population of more than 300 million people.

At their March meeting in Praia, Cape Verde, regional ministers of finance had endorsed a new five-band tariff regime for West Africa, subject of ten years of internal negotiations driven by the technical committee of the Commissions of the ECOWAS and the eight member West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) following the 2006 decision by the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.

Some 5899 tariff lines are covered under the new tariff regime with tariff ranging between zero and 35 percent for the 130 tariff lines that fall into the category of specific goods that contribute to the promotion of the region’s economic development.

Under the new regime, five percent duty is applicable for 2146 tariff lines under the basic raw materials and capital goods category, 10 percent for the 1373 tariff lines that qualify as intermediate products category while 20 per cent duty is reserved for the 2165 tariff lines under final consumer products.

The ministers agreed that the concerns expressed by some member states such as the treatment of raw sugar, and the request for special treatment for Cape Verde because of its location and vulnerabilities should be addressed within the framework of trade defence measures.

They also agreed on the creation of a 1.5 percent Community Integration Levy whose scope and operationalisation would be the subject of further regional reflection as part of the mechanisms to enable the region cope with the challenges of implementation of the new tariff regime. The levy will replace the two existing community levy regimes in the region – the ECOWAS Community levy and the counterpart Community Solidarity levy – for the UEMOA, the major sources of funding for the two Commissions.

The replacement will also help ensure uniformity in port charges in compliance with the requirements of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). For the effective implementation of the new CET, the ministers had also urged the ECOWAS Commission to expedite the finalisation of the trade defence and other support measures.

The Dakar Extra-Ordinary summit to be attended by the Council Ministers, Ministers of Finance and Trade, will take a decision after examining the pros- and cons on the CET arguments and also agree on measures to fast-track the negotiations on the EPA between ECOWAS and the EU.