SACU Agreements
SACU Agreement, 2002 (as amended in 2013)
- The SACU Agreement of 2002 was signed by the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland (now Eswatini) and came into force on the 15th July 2004. This Agreement sets out a broad framework for enhanced integration with a new legal and institutional architecture, decision-making structures and revenue sharing formula. It outlines a clear mandate and the objectives of SACU. The SACU Agreement of 2002 was amended in 2013, to provide for the institutionalisation of the SACU Summit. The amendments entered into force on 16th September 2016.
- The following are some of the key features of the SACU Agreement, 2002 (as amended in 2013):
- Article 3 of the Agreement provides for the establishment of the Headquarters of SACU in Windhoek, Namibia. This heralded a new dispensation for SACU as an international organisation with a legal personality as well as the capacity to sue and be sued;
- several institutions including the SACU Summit are established in terms of Article 7. The institutions have specified mandates to implement the Agreement;
- provision is made for a rules-based dispensation and joint decision-making by the Member States. Decisions in all institutions are taken by consensus, as provided for in Article 17. The exception is the ad hoc Tribunal which, in terms of Article 13, takes decisions by majority vote;
- provision for a Common Negotiation Mechanism is made in Article 31 of the Agreement. This requires external trade policy to be jointly determined by the Member States as articulated in Part Eight. No Member State shall negotiate and enter into new Preferential Trade Agreements with third parties or amend existing Agreements without the consent of the other Member States. The SACU Member States have established a Common Negotiation Mechanism through which a unified approach to negotiations with third parties is pursued.
SACU Agreement, 1969
- The 1969 SACU Agreement came into existence as a result of renegotiation of the 1910 Agreement following the independence of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. The latter was concluded between the Governments of the Republic of South Africa, Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Kingdom of Swaziland.
- The objectives of this Agreement were:
- the maintenance of free trade among the Member States;
- to afford all the Member States equitable benefits arising from trade among them and with other countries; and
- to encourage the economic development of the less advanced members of the Customs Union and the diversification of their economies.
- The following were the key features of the SACU Agreement of 1969:
- South Africa retained responsibility for setting trade and industry priorities, which determined and set the CET and other trade measures such as excise, anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duties on imports into the Custom Union;
- all customs and excise duties collected by the four members were pooled into a Consolidated Revenue Fund administered by South Africa;
- the shares for the Member States were determined based on a Revenue Sharing Formula, which had an explicit provision for a compensatory payment to Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland for the loss of fiscal autonomy;
- any SACU Member State could enter into a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with third parties, provided that the terms of such an Agreement did not conflict in any way with the provisions of the SACU Agreement; and
- a provision for infant industry protection to meet competition from other producers or manufacturers in the Customs Union, which would encourage diversifying growth through industrialisation.
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Testing heading 3
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Testing heading 3
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Featured
Member States
Botswana go there
Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation. Botswana is trying to reduce its economic dependence on diamonds, moving to boost local business and employment by encouraging more value to be added to diamonds locally.
Eswatini go there
The Kingdom of Eswatini is an independent Monarchy, rich in traditions and heritage, led by King Mswati III, since 1986, as Executive Head of State with parliament and consultation prescribing laws and Customs.
Lesotho go there
The Kingdom of Lesotho is made up mostly of highlands where many of the villages can be reached only on horseback, by foot or light aircraft. During the winter shepherds wearing only boots and wrap-around blankets have to contend with snow.
Namibia go there
Namibia, a large and sparsely populated country on Africa's south-west coast, has enjoyed stability since gaining independence in 1990 after a long struggle against rule by South Africa.
South Africa go there
Diversity is a key feature of South Africa, where 11 languages are recognised as official, where community leaders include rabbis and chieftains, rugby players and returned exiles