South African Customs Union

Southern African Customs Union Latest News

India and the five-member Southern African Customs Union (SACU) recently signed the Terms of Reference (ToR) to start negotiations for a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), with an aim to  conclude the trade talks within a year.

About Southern African Customs Union 

• It is an African regional economic organization. 
• It is the world’s oldest customs union, which was established in 1910.
• Member countries: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).
• The SACU Secretariat is located in Windhoek, Namibia. 
• The five member states maintain a common external tariff, share customs revenues, and coordinate policies and decision-making on a wide range of trade issues. 
• Like other customs unions, a key feature of SACU is the application of a single tariff regime − the Common External Tariff (CET). 
  • This means the member states form a single customs territory which provides for a free movement of goods where tariffs and other barriers are eliminated on all trade between them. 
  • The CET applies to goods imported from all territories that are not members of SACU.  
• South Africa accounts for around 91 percent of the bloc’s total economic output and is India’s largest trading partner within the grouping. 
• SACU countries are also part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), together with Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; as well as the island nations of Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, and Madagascar.

News: NIE

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