Other East African Community (EAC) partner states have formally started the process of joining the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Kenya and the United Kingdom.
Trade Principal Secretary Alfred K’Ombudo said on Tuesday that if successful, this will enable the EAC countries to harmonise their tariffs on goods from the UK.
“The EAC has already opened through a decision of the Sectoral Council for Trade, Investments, Finance and Industry an instruction to the Secretary-General to begin an exploration on talks for the establishment of an EAC-wide Economic Partnership Agreement with the UK,” said Mr K’Ombudo.
The UK–Kenya EPA is open for other EAC member states to join anytime. Article 143 of the trade agreement allows any EAC country that wishes to join the deal to submit a request for accession to the UK-Kenya EPA Council.
The Council would review the impacts of accession and may decide on amending measures that may be required.
According to the PS, the EAC countries now want to join the trade deal as a bloc.
“Once this conversation takes off and that is concluded then it will harmonise the tariffs in respect of Kenya and the rest of the EAC,” he said.
The UK–Kenya EPA took effect in March 2021 and facilitates duty-free and quota-free access of Kenyan goods to the UK market following its exit from the European Union. Kenya is a major exporter of fresh produce such as tea, cut flowers, fresh vegetables, and fresh fruits to the UK.
Kenya, in turn, has committed to a phased liberalisation of goods from the UK, but retained tariffs for some goods deemed sensitive domestically.
Mr K’Ombudo was responding to concerns that Kenya could find itself at loggerheads with fellow EAC member States over its decision to charge a lower tariff on some UK-made goods than the EAC Common External Tariff (CET).
Kenya has started to charge a duty of 25 percent on wines, gin, and whiskies from the UK in line with the EPA, a move away from the 35 percent CET it has been charging in line with other EAC members.
The UK had complained to Kenya over the higher taxation, which had made British-made liquor more expensive in the Kenyan market, dealing a blow to UK alcohol makers.
The EAC is a regional economic bloc made up of eight countries namely Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia, and South Sudan.
The EAC had wanted to negotiate with the UK as a bloc following its exit from the EU. Kenya, however, raced to negotiate a bilateral deal to enable its goods to continue to access the UK market without duty and quotas.
This is because unlike other EAC member states that are categorised as least developed, Kenya is classified as a middle-income country and therefore does not enjoy the same preferential treatment as its EAC partners.
