COMESA Secretariat is coming up with a model legislation to assist Member States in implementing the One Stop Border Post (OSBP). The model will be shared with Member States early 2015 for their input. 

This decision was made by the Council of Ministers during its 33rd meeting in Lusaka on 9 December 2014.

The OSBP is one of the highly successful initiatives in facilitating smooth flow of intra-regional trade along the major transit corridors especially those connecting landlocked countries to seaports. Currently, three OSBP namely Chirundu (Zambia/Zimbabwe) Malaba (Kenya/Uganda) and Nemba/ Gisenyi (Rwanda/Burundi) are operational. Other border posts whose work has already begun for development of OSBP include Mchinji, Nakonde, Namanga, Akamnyaru Haut, Mpondwe/Kasidi and Rubavu Goma.

In making the decision, the Council noted that OSBP are critical in easing transit trade since the longest delays occur at borders. The OSBP thus reduce the time it takes to cross borders whose effect has great potential to facilitate trade.

The Chirundu border-post is perhaps a best practice for replication across more borders in COMESA and beyond. Since the introduction of the OSBP, waiting time for trucks has reduced from up to nine days, to 20 minutes for accredited clients and a maximum of two days for clients who don’t declare their documents in advance.