Moreover, a critical mass of IT and operational officers has been trained on how to develop message specifications based on the WCO Data Model.
Over the years, under the framework of the WCO-SACU Connect Project funded by the Government of Sweden, SACU Member States have successfully developed a standard framework for Customs systems interconnectivity and the electronic exchange of trade data, based on the WCO’s “Globally Networked Customs” concept that was adopted by the region in 2015. To date, the region is still pacing towards achieving this long awaited objective. The efforts of the SACU region in establishing Customs systems interconnect iv it y and real-time electronic/automated exchange of trade data can be traced back as far as 2005. It also supports a wider vision where deeper regional integration is seen as a tool to promote development and create an ever closer community among the peoples of Southern Africa, including moving towards the establishment of an economic community in the future.
Member States’ shares from this component are based on a number of developmental indicators.Įxchange of information among SACU Member States is also critical to the fight against commercial fraud and to creating a level playing field for companies in the region. Moreover, the SACU revenue sharing formula also provides for a development component into which a fixed percentage of excise duties that have been collected across the Common Customs Area is paid. Obviously, this requires reliable trade statistics, especially on goods moved between Member States. Customs duties are shared on the basis of intra-SACU trade (imports), while excise duties are shared on the basis of a Member State’s gross domestic product (GDP) as a percentage of SACU’s total GDP.
The SACU common revenue pool consists not only of Customs duties, but also excise duties. A common information technology (IT) system would address issues related to trade data used to determine the revenue share of each SACU Member State. The situation translates into unsatisfied traders, unreliable trade statistics, controversies around Member States’ allocations from the common revenue pool, and high revenue leakage risks. A lack of Customs systems interconnectivity coupled with delays and inaccuracies in the paper based exchange of cross-border trade data between Customs administrations continues to negatively hamper trade facilitation and regional integration efforts in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).