Authors:  Ron Sandrey and Hans G. Jensen Introduction: The overall generalisation is made from the study that South Africa does not ‘measure up’ in terms of economic size, but fits the middle patterns of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in recent years where the perceived concept of the BRICs dynamic GDP growth is biased due [...]

Author: Paul Kruger Introduction: The main focus of this paper is the effect that international obligations and commitments can have on the local establishment of foreign companies. The relevance of international commitments made by South Africa at the multilateral level became prevalent during the recent merger between Walmart and Massmart. What is the role, in [...]

Author: Prof. Colin McCarthy Introduction In June 2004 the writer presented a paper at a conference On the euro outside the euro-zone: the South African perspective.  The paper addressed the lessons that southern Africa could learn from European Union (EU) monetary integration and specifically whether the region can take their cue from the euro. The [...]

Author:  Taku Fundira Introduction: Since the beginning of the new millennium we are increasingly noticing the influence on the structure of the world economy not only of some major emerging markets, namely Brazil, India and China, from a developing country perspective, but also of the rise of Russia (since the collapse of the Soviet Union). [...]

The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) is a non-reciprocal trade programme that has been adopted by a number of developed countries to provide trade preferences to developing and least-developed countries. The GSP had its formal origins in 1971 when exemptions to the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle were introduced under the General Agreement on Tariffs [...]

The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite was created in 2006 to assist in the process of harmonising programmes and policies within and between the three Regional Economic Communities of COMESA, EAC and SADC and to advance the establishment of the African Economic Community.  The three main pillars of the Tripartite strategy, as contained in the Vision and Strategy [...]

Introduction It is envisaged that the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) will not only cover trade in goods, but also trade in services. One of the general objectives stated in Article 3 of the draft Tripartite Agreement is the creation of a large single market which would include the free movement of services. It [...]

Over the past four decades Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have received preferential access to the markets of most of the major developed countries under various Generalised System of Preference (GSP) programmes. While a number of GSP programmes offer duty-free and quota-free access to LDC beneficiary countries for virtually all products, the RoO that underlie such [...]

The purpose of this paper is to consider the relevant provisions under GATS on the preferential liberalisation of trade in services within the context of EAC and then to assess compliance of the EAC Common Market Protocol with WTO law. The next section will discuss the multilateral rules for the establishment and notification of EIAs. [...]

We note that the issue of sensitive products for exemption from tariff liberalisation in the different countries/regional groupings may become an area of contention in the tripartite FTA negotiations, simply because much of the basis for this exemption designation is likely to be arbitrary, and the sensitive products are more likely to reflect protectionist interests [...]

Capacity building at tralac: Geek week outcome Report by Ron Sandrey (tralac Associate) As a part of the tralac-NAMC capacity building exercise Geek week was held at Rhodes University during the last few days in August and the first few days in September. It was attended by three persons from dti, two from the National [...]

Key point summarySuccessive rounds of multilateral trade negotiations have led to a decrease in the use of tariffs as barriers to trade. However, the reduction in tariffs has been substituted by the utilisation of non-tariff barriers (NTBs). NTBs are defined as any barrier to trade other than import and export duties. This includes export taxes, [...]

Rules of origin play a very important role in preferential trade arrangements to prevent trade deflection.  This will also be the case in the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area, that will consist of the 26 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for East [...]

Summary and key pointsIn this chapter we examine the implications of the so-called tripartite countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) entering into a genuine Free Trade Agreement (FTA). We use the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP)  latest pre-release [...]

Introduction: Sugar and sugar policies are at the heart of agriculture in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regions, and therefore the implications of changes to the sugar policy and trade regimes in the region are important when considering a regime change such as the proposed Common Market [...]

tralac has been collaborating with the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) in South Africa during the past year  on a project which focuses on the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA).  The Tripartite FTA is envisaged to consist of the 26 member states of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for East and [...]

tralac has been collaborating with the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) in South Africa during the past year  on a project which focuses on the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA).  The Tripartite FTA is envisaged to consist of the 26 member states of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for East and [...]

tralac has been collaborating with the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) in South Africa during the past year  on a project which focuses on the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA).  The Tripartite FTA is envisaged to consist of the 26 member states of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for East and [...]